Name: jen's review of To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Item: To Be Taught, If Fortunate
Rating: 5
Author: jen

Becky Chambers

Adriane is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds, and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind, and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does. Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home. Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first book outside of the Wayfarer's series is sure to capture the imagination readers all over the world.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate

A stand-alone science fiction novella from the award-winning, bestselling, critically-acclaimed author of the Wayfarer series. At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in subzero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to journey to neighboring exoplanets long known to harbor life. A team of these explorers, Ariadne O’Neill and her three crewmates, are hard at work in a planetary system fifteen light-years from Sol, on a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds. But as Ariadne shifts through both form and time, the culture back on Earth has also been transformed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the story of the wonders and dangers of her mission, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.

sami

The mirror knows you're anxious to see yourself—but take your time, it says. I'm here when you're ready, and not a second before. It is the kindest object placement I've ever seen.

BECKY. CHAMBERS

In the future, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the galaxy transform themselves. *FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR* 'Extraordinary . . . A future masterwork' Joanne Harris At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life. Ariadne is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep while in transit, and wake each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on Earth has also changed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the wonders and dangers of her journey, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening. PRAISE FOR THE WAYFARERS 'Becky Chambers is a wonder, and I feel better for having her books in my life' JOHN CONNOLLY 'In a word, brilliant' ANDREW CALDECOTT 'A short but fierce ode to humanity and all our reaches and flaws. Unputdownable' NATASHA NGAN 'Outstanding . . . Chambers packs an immense amount of story into a novella worthy of full-length praise' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Starred Review 'Becky Chambers takes space opera in a whole new and unexpected direction' BEN AARONOVITCH

A Novella

David V.

The sort that looks like they cleaned out their grandmother's garage and put everything they found on the walls. Comfortable chairs. Good music, but not too loud. I want a cold drink and a dessert that looks ridiculous, and I want to sit in a corner and read a book and listen to conversations I don't understand between people I don't know.

such a gorgeously humble book, the depth of the relationships between the four characters filled me with so much hope and longing but it was also beautifully realistic in showing frustration and the issues of closed proximity and temporary loss of hope. chikondi means so much to me as a character he will live on in my mind forever actually

I cannot describe how much I loved this book, the character are beautiful, the new worlds are stunning and imaginative. The highs of this book are heartwarming and the lows are heartbreaking. For a book about outterspace this invokes a truly familiar, human experience.

Laoise Giblin

This book was a bit of a punch to the gut, and with our impending move, it almost brought on an existential crisis. 😅

Spooky Clair

Though technically a prequel (although it has no effect on the main novels), I believe it's much more powerful read after at least one of the novels. Great novella.

Simon Crocker

ploral

as a scientist this was delightfully sciencey!! becky chambers is so talented at what she does (writing low stakes sci fi that makes you think)

Lorelei Petcu

Jason Lo

Closer to a 3.5. Honestly would have put a 4 if not for the ending. Shallow grandiosity out of nowhere. God it blows.

It felt like I was reading field journals. The best comparison is older Star Trek with an emphasis of exploration for the sake of exploring, or if Interstellar only focused on the planets. 

Hyde F

This is not an adventure story but rather a quiet pondering of people tasked to do field notes on organisms on the far exoplanets while the Earth is in shambles. Makes you think about the ethical and moral responsibility of space flight and how much it matters in the grand scheme of things.

oh my god??? crying??? Becky Chambers, as always, is BRILLIANT. She understands, humanity, and just existence, in general, so well. A brilliant character author, on top of that. This one is short (and also maybe kinda a prequel to Wayfarers????), but it does not pack less of a punch. wow. sobbing!

(Bre)anne✨

TW to be added later

oh my god??? crying??? Becky Chambers, as always, is BRILLIANT. She understands, humanity, and just existence, in general, so well. A brilliant character author, on top of that. This one is short (and also maybe kinda a prequel to Wayfarers????), but it does not pack less of a punch. wow. sobbing!

incredible novella, I can’t recommend it enough. I listened to it on audiobook and after the ending of the third act I got chills and had such intense and existential Feelings about the book that I had to just sit in quiet for a bit. it’s also funny because I wouldn’t call this a spooky book but for most of the third act I was literally tense and worried and there are some kind of horrific yet realistic elements of the novella that I think got at the inherent horror of space travel. the somaforming was such a cool take on the logistics of space travel! I think it really struck the right balance of personal and profound, while also being kind of technical with the science. I will be reading the wayfarer series in 2024!! and anyone who likes sci fi should absolutely read this!!!!!!

fris🐝

treena

the only thing i didn’t like about this book is that it was a novella and i don’t get to read MORE

Danny Werhane

I didn’t fully understand the ending, lol to sciencey

Well it was an interesting introduction to Beck Chambers. 

I liked the idea around the story but I didn’t connect with the characters enough to appreciate the story

With all the science in it, I can say it could have been for me but meh it wasn’t enough. 

I disliked Elena and the others were forgettable. 

Despite that I get why this book is loved as long as you connect with the characters. The questioning at the end of the book was interesting though.

One thing I can take from this book for sure, is this quest of telluric planets similar to ours will never replace the goods we have in our own planet. Hypothetically 

Amira BEN

Well it was an interesting introduction to Beck Chambers. 

I liked the idea around the story but I didn’t connect with the characters enough to appreciate the story

With all the science in it, I can say it could have been for me but meh it wasn’t enough. 

I disliked Elena and the others were forgettable. 

Despite that I get why this book is loved as long as you connect with the characters. The questioning at the end of the book was interesting though.

One thing I can take from this book for sure, is this quest of telluric planets similar to ours will never replace the goods we have in our own planet. Hypothetically 

lisa roeling 

sorry bente. classic case of "it's not you, it's me".
i get why other people love it. i, however, was a bit bored

Midori Kobayashi

To be taught if fortunate is a very idea-driven novella which revolves around the setting of a bunch of people stuck in the space(exoplanet) and their journey forward. As much as the scientific details around space travel and chirality were fun to read about, the characters and their development is equally spot on and I very much loved the whole experience of reading this book. The only thing I didn't like was the length of it, I WANTED MORE!!!!

Mudita

Finishing this book left me feeling quiet and peaceful, something about it forced me to slow down. I think it's going to be one of my favourite books for a while and I've fallen in love with the observations and gentle curiosity of the narrator and her friends. I'm going to keep coming back to this for the honest and refreshing ideas it out forth. Can't wait to read more of Becky Chamber's writing.

Wonko the Sane

“We celebrate the tree that stretches to the sky, but it is the ground we should ultimately thank.”


A beautiful book. The above quote struck me as I first read it so I wanted to save it here - I feel like it encapsulates something the author is trying to convey about human collective experience. We are a community, we interconnect and depend on each other, and no-one does anything great without dozens, hundreds, or thousands of unseen supporters holding them up.

As with all great sci-fi, this book leaves you with so many questions (literally, the narrator spends the last few pages actively questioning the reader) and a lot to think about. I found it a really hopeful work, despite the bleakness of some parts. Given all that’s happening in the world, the terrible things our species is capable of, it’s nice to get a reminder of what is best about us too - our curiosity, our sense of adventure, our desire to learn. In the end, a joyful book.

Janice Hopper

What a lovely book this was. Becky Chambers just keeps getting better.

I heard a podcast review of this book that was very favorable, so I bumped it up in my queue. I listened to it one evening while I was finishing up doing laundry, and then finishing up spinning a bobbin of yarn.

Four astronauts are sent out on basically a mission just to explore. It's not a mission to do anything else, really. They're set to visit 4 different planets and then return home decades after they leave. And that's what they do. But partway into their mission on the second planet, they stop receiving updates from earth.

The story is basically this, then: do you keep going and doing the work you set out to do, not knowing if there is anyone back home to share it with? What then would you do at the end of your mission?

These days it's a bit of a challenge to find fiction with a generally hopeful turn. It genuinely cheers me that there is an author who looks at exploration and science as good in its own right, even though you do have to ask questions about why you're doing something, and what it means to persevere.

About that title. (view spoiler)[Every time I read the title of this book, I thought the phrasing was awkward at best. At the very end, we find out that it came from a quotation from Kurt Waldheim that went on the golden record with the Voyager spacecraft back in 1977. The whole sentence is "We step out of our Solar System into the Universe, seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we’re called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate." Knowing the whole context makes it a little better for me. (hide spoiler)]

Anna Troughton 

I absolutely loved this! The thing I found most charming and unique about this sci-fi was that its very character driven (which I love) but it also discusses the ethics surrounding space travel. And this is what I believe really sets it apart from other sci-fi books, its not necessarily a deep space adventure driven plot with many things going wrong, instead its very wholesome and rather describes the beauty of space travel.

A cool story with some gorgeous world building but the style isn’t for me. My first science fiction book, would love to try some more! 👽👽👽

Sarah Christine Gill

Marion

J'ai beaucoup aimé l'approche scientifique, aussi bien les concepts inventés par l'autrice que les réflexions abordées tout au long de l'histoire. Le rythme est assez lent mais pas ennuyeux. On a l'impression de vivre l'exploration avec les astronautes.
Le seul reproche que je peux avoir (et encore ça n'en est pas vraiment un) : c'est trop court, j'en veux plus !

Marisa Petri

The scientific descriptions and technicalities didn't really interest me and they're quite a big part of this book. The story is overrall interesting though + this book gives the reader very interesting subjects to reflect on. Worth a read.

Aditi

I love Becky Chambers' writing and her approach to sci fi. I never get bored during this science-y bits and her characters are diverse and easy to love. The world building in this one was also really good with how each planet felt different and real. I really liked the ending though I wish this was a full length novel so I could spend more time with these characters.

jen &
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

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To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers