I waited a long while to grab this because suddenly, half of my city seems to be reading the Lady Astronaut series. I don't mind it, though, because that meant that my library also bought the third book (which I am going to be digging into as soon as it leaves the hold). Either way: this was worth the wait, though it stressed me out so much that I basically read it in one go last night.

Kowal's writing style remains a bit simple and a bit unpolished, sprinkled with too many rocket launch metaphors, but I suppose it's just one of those those things you slowly grow used to. There is a lot more at stake in this book, as we not only have sexism and racism, we have all of that... IN SPACE! If I'm honest, a lot of the How To Be A Good Ally segments felt clunky and out of place - the conversations didn't feel organic, but instead mirrored a lot of the helpful social media posts we saw pop up last summer which explained racism to the White people that somehow had lived under a rock their entire life. The first book handled this a lot more gracefully, but I do think a lot of the character's frustrations and information dumps (which didn't feel organic) were due to that. I suppose that this might actually be rather helpful for people who are as naive as Elma, because the POC characters repeatedly explain to her how race and class shape the world (and, as we soon find out, aren't just an Earth-problem). Still, a lot of the characterization of the POC figures boiled down to "here to teach Elma how to not be a jerk through occasionally yelling at and then apologizing to her" which leans dangerously close into the Magical Negro trope.

On the topic of characterization: I really enjoy Parker's redemption arc. Having forgotten about him between the first book and this, I wasn't quite as apprehensive of him and forgot for a long time that this was actually the asshat from The Calculating Stars. Still, he acted in character at all times and I wished more often than not for Elma to just step back and let things happen (in regards to him, but also the main conflict of the book). Further note: Nathaniel continued to act in character as well, but damn, what do we need to do to get some actual conflict between him and Elma? I want them to make up, of course, but it's just too fluffy and sugary for my taste, with the only fight between them ending within 3 minutes of it starting.

The pacing was even weirder than in the first book, with timeskips being signaled only by little text markers or anecdotes. Then again: reading about three years of space travel isn't that thrilling either. There's only so much gardening and toilet repairing one can do.

Despite all my critique, I fully enjoyed this book. I might not look forward to it upon reread, simply because the conflicts that take place on the ship(s) - beyond the racism - stressed me out so much that I couldn't sleep after my marathon reading.

I'm looking forward to following Elma along to the Mars colonies!