TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE

To Be Taught, If Fortunate is Becky Chambers’ fourth book and the first not to be linked to her Wayfarer series in any way, and if you’re a fan of her earlier work then I think you’re almost certainly going to enjoy this one.It takes place in the twenty-second century, following the development of a technique known as somaforming. This is a selective and temporary form of genetic modification that allows humankind to overcome the difficulties normally associated with long space journeys. This allows humanity to launch a series of small missions to nearby stars in search of life-bearing exoplanets.The story itself is told to us by Ariadne O’Neill, flight engineer and one of four crew aboard the Lawki 6 mission sent to a system fourteen lightyears out. Due to the distances involved and the lack of FTL travel the crew pass the journey to their target system (as well as their journeys once in-system) in a state of torpor, artificially induced hibernation, during which time their bodies are modified to make them more resilient to the harsh environments they expect to encounter. The details surrounding the somaforming and what it’s used for a covered quickly but efficiently before dropping us into the action as the mission ship, Merian, arrives at their first research site.The story is broken into four distinct parts, each pertaining to one of the four worlds the crew explores, introducing us to the various ecologies and environments of that far off solar system. These worlds are presented to us through the beautifully lush descriptions that will be familiar to readers of the author’s previous works, but it’s the way she captures the characters’ emotional and psychological development that really sets Chambers apart from so many others. Her writing is almost always focused on character first, situation second, and this is no exception. Even though the narrative is given through a single point of view, you quickly learn to identify the four individual crew members and empathise with them even when they’re not at their best.Despite this being a shorter than usual work for Chambers it doesn’t suffer from a lack of substance. The author raises several questions pertaining to humanity’s right to make its mark on the universe, and quite literally leaves the reader with the job of deciding for themselves if we should reach out to the stars, assuming we ever develop the ability to do so.As with all of Becky Chambers’ previous works, this isn’t action-driven, guns a-blazing science fiction. This is gentle sci-fi with plenty of heart, plenty of soul and plenty of feels for when you just want to curl up and feel a little bit cosy. Not quite a full five out of five stars, but definitely better than four.

To Be Taught If Fortunate is the latest book by Becky Chambers. Having read her previous novels (2 of which I thought were fantastic) I was on high alert for its release, and while I didn't have it pre ordered I bought it soon after release. This novella is not connected to her previous books.Once again Becky Chambers showcases her ability at world building and has put together a brilliant story. The research team are portrayed well, and their sense of wonder at visiting these new worlds, discovering new life forms on the way, is clear to see. There is a section in the early stages of the book where the crew are sketching the creatures they have found on a new planet - I would have loved if this section had included some of the sketches to back up the authors descriptions.The story is also wonderfully put together - as is standard with the previous works - and I was ultimately left wanting more.Although I don't want to be overly negative, I do feel like there was something missing this time around. There was something a bit more sterile. I didn't feel as invested in the characters this time around, but maybe that was because it was a shorter story.Unfortunately, I think I built this one up in my head and the book just didn't deliver for me. I think it might need a reread. While I might be coming across a bit negative, this is still a solid read, and one I would recommend to fans of sci-fi and speculative fiction. For me, however, it didn't hit the heights of Record of A Spaceborn Few - which I named my book of the year last year. If I was to give it a score it would be 3.5/5 (which is still a good score ;-))

I have read Becky Chambers Wayfarers series which I loved and would classify as space opera. Wonderfully written and very involving – all of them page turners. This is her next offering. Wow! This is a change in writing style – It’s still set in space in the future and is literary fiction written with sophisticated style and accomplishment – beautiful, lyrical writing. It’s written in the form of a very long letter from the leader of a space exploration, on the final planet of her team’s mission, to ground control on earth or to anyone who might pick it up, asking for further instructions. The writing covers details of the crew’s daily lives and feelings and their different experiences on the one moon and three planets they visit. I found the detail all engrossing. I couldn’t put this (short) book down. It also contains quite a lot of technical details, and hard science facts and invented but plausible facts are discussed in depth – Much to my relief, these were easy and clear to follow. It also contains a lot of information about space ethics in this future time. It is a deeply thoughtful, enjoyable and inspiring read. I loved it!

..and only because a novella is just not enough ! a challenging story that I finished in two sessions because it was cleverly done, contrasting 4 different potential planets with very different results All four main characters are developed but I just wanted more ...what was the decision...?the idea of long term flights being disrupted by events on earth has been done but I'm being shallow when I wanted a neat answer ..knowledge for knowledge's sake seems quite close to star trek but actually it's a good question - if it's just commercial advantage we're after this could get bloody

I have read all of Becky Chamber’s books. I really loved the first one, and hope that one day she will return to tell another story about that eclectic crew, and the second and third were both good, but I am less sure about this new novella. The characters are brilliant and well drawn, certainly people I’d want to spend time with, and I think I’m ok with the unusual ending (don’t want to spoil that by saying anymore) but there are long sections of science and exposition which, for me at least, detracted a little from this story. The issues raised by the book are real and important though so it’s still worth reading.