The Calculating Stars review

On my summer travels I broke away from my ereader and read physical books. I prefer reading a physical book as I can easily see where I am and flip back and forth. But, in the time confetti that makes up my everyday life toting an ereader around is more convenient. Over 10 days I got through two books that could be sequels, but aren’t—The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal and Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers (review will be next post).

Set in an alternate 1950s, The Calculating Stars, starts with a meteorite strike that sets off a cascade of climate change. Within decades Earth will become too hot to live on. To set up colonies off world, the space program is accelerated. In an interview, the author described the novel as 'punch card punk'—a great description for the era the book is set in.

The story follows, Elma, a former WASP pilot, with superpower level math skills. But, she's far from perfect, suffering from near crippling social anxiety. Since Elma faced so much sexism in her professional life, it was a refreshing surprise that her husband was supportive of her.

Elma starts out working for the space agency as a manual computer. While, working through the mathematical calculations needed to send rockets to space, she watches as the first men are sent to space. She aspires to be an astronaut and fights to get women accepted into the program. When the door is opened, she successfully gets through the selection process only to find she has to continue to prove herself.

I enjoyed the level of detail. There was enough to put me firmly into the time period and Elma's life without bogging down the story. The Calculating Stars is the first book of two, the sequel, The Fated Sky, where we get to follow Elma to space, is already sitting on my bedside table.