I keep my book review ratings simple—they’re either required, recommended, recommended with qualifications, or not recommended. If you want the TL;DR, this is it:

Recommended: Mary Robinette Kowal picks up her alt-history of the space program after a meteor strike and continues doing what sci-fi does best: throwing new light on present-day cultural issues by showing something that isn’t the present day. Where the first book looked head-on at sexism, the second carries that line forward but digs in on racism as well. And all this while still being an exciting novel with interesting characters and an engaging (if never quite surprising) novel. It doesn’t have quite the same magic The Calculating Stars did, but I still enjoyed it very thoroughly.