The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal has written another gripping story of alternate history space exploration. The fourth book in the “Lady Astronaut” series reads like it should be happening today. I had to keep the fact that this book was set in the '70's firmly in mind when it came to societal attitudes.

Potential problems around establishing a habitat on Mars are well thought out and don't overshadow the human side of doing just that. There's a lot of little details that Robinette Kowal includes that make you think “oh, right, they're on Mars, things are more complex”.

One of my favourite series, I would recommend this for older teens and up. Start from the beginning to get the full effect.