Another outstanding book by Becky Chambers. Although this is a novella and short, it was superb nonetheless. Describe in just single words: Claustrophobic, tense, thrilling, intriguing and of course brilliant. Packed full of science and facts, paired with the describing was very interesting. I won’t give out any spoilers so will leave by saying more please.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a sci-fi novella from Becky Chambers, whose Wanderers sequence met widespread acclaim. This novella, though, is something new. And, not to give the game away, it’s rather good. It has a lot of the elements I’ve come to associate with Chambers’ writing: complicated characters with both believable issues and an undeniable warmth. A detailed, vividly imagined world. A story that wants to explore things, to look at both what’s in the universe, and what place humanity has within it. All of that and more help to make this novella a singular experience.

Part of that is the places the story wants to take us. In a not-overly distant future, humanity has reached out for the stars. Their instruments, volunteer search teams willing to go into cold storage, to go to the ends of space, through time, to see things that have never been seen before, and to report it all back to a world that is now nothing but a distant memory. And what stars they’ll see. Each is something unique, and the thrill of discovery for our interlocutors is one that seeps viscerally off the page and into your bones. Each new biome is an adventure, a discovery, something truly new. That isn’t to say it’s always nice, that each instant is one of rare beauty – but each moment is definitely singular. And these worlds – well, the prose is lively, the descriptions sparkling and imaginative. Each of these worlds is somewhere entirely new, and that feeling never fades. I did appreciate that these worlds, their mystery and possibility, are shown to us in parallel with thoughts on our own Earth, whose news remains as interminably unpleasant as ever – and for whom, as ever, hope is never entirely lost. The people exploring the edges of our known space are human enough to want to go home, and human enough to want to keep on going into the dark.

Speaking of which; the text centres around one survey team, as they move from planet to planet, dipping into and out of time like cranes on a lake. In between the descriptions of new worlds, and the surprisingly compelling scientific rigour it takes to explore them, we sit beside these people, and see them at their worst, as well as their best. They are people though. In between their professionalism are under(and over) currents of friendship, the sort of banter that evolves between four people who’ve worked together in close quarters for a long time. There’s wit and sass by the barrel-load, and I found myself chuckling more than once at a particularly clever remark. But these aren’t ciphers either
They’re emotionally present, and if not always entirely honest with themselves about their baggage, at least trying to be. There’s a warmth and strength in the group dynamic, in a small team with a shared purpose trying to do a good job, and also be healthy, and be there for each other. There’s a transhuman element as well, exploring the changes these people have had to make in order to explore strange new worlds; but that sits alongside the human element, and accentuates it. No matter what these people look like, or sound like, or how they feel, or who they feel it for, they’re always people.
That’s a positive message coming out of the text, and one that’s interwoven cleverly through each line of the text. These are people; in their diversity, they find strength, and humanity – and that strength, that humanity, helps keep these people feeling like people as we share their troubles and triumphs across the universe.

I won’t go into the plot, past the exploration of worlds that I’ve already alluded to. But the story is there, between the interactions of the characters, and the new places they set out to discover. It’s in each line of dialogue, each new variety of fauna. There’s stories here about people and acceptance and difficulty and crisis, and each of them feels real. There’s ethical problems and small worries and world-changing choices. There’s some dark moments and choices that have to be faced, and there’s the sort of optimism and hope that makes you want to build In short: it' a space programme all of your own for these people. It’s not a story that relies n explosions and one-liners to get your attention, but it’s a story that will keep your attention by being honest, and by having interesting things to say. In short, it’s a damn good read.

Should you read it? I think so. It’s saying interesting things, asking interesting questions, and doing so with characters I quickly came to care about, in a world that feels very real.

This review will be posted on 20/8/19.

Becky Chambers will forever have all of my love and respect. That’s it, that’s the review.

Just kidding, but really that’s all you need to know about this short novella. I’m not usually a fan of short stories, as I tend to think they either a) have no point or b) end far too quickly. However, To Be Taught was just perfect. It was the perfect length, there was the perfect amount of intrigue and the perfect amount of story. Everything about it was fantastic.

I should probably tell you what it’s about before I continue to gush about one of my favourite authors. So, in To Be Taught, we’re following a four-person space crew as they go on an expedition to survey life on other planets. There are four planets in total, and there are different things to learn from each of them – about the planets, about the astronauts themselves, and about each other.

To be honest, Ariadne wasn’t the most intriguing protagonist, but I could deal with that because the exploration of the planets and the people was so lush and vivid that it made up for it. I completely felt what they were all going through, even though I have never and absolutely will never go into space myself.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot itself because this is such a short book that I could summarise it in a couple of paragraphs, but just know that Becky Chambers handles everything with respect and grace, and it turns out to be a very hopeful story about the human race. It gives me chills and other good feelings every time I think about this novella.

Also, I’m just going to end this review by saying that the planets thing was SO CLEVER and I had to gush about the progression and the parallels to everyone that would listen. This is super vague, because of spoilers, but PARALLELS.

Read the book.

For such a small novella this really packs a punch.
Wrote in a letter format to an unknown source it details the lives of 4 astronauts over the course of many missions over many years.
It is a quiet unassuming beautiful book. With wonderfully wrote characters and incredible settings. I have never read anything like it. Without a doubt 5 stars.

'He offered his hand to Elena. She took it gladly. We became a molecule, distinct components attached by natural bonds.
'It is beautiful' I replied, looking out at the nothing. 'Its the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.''
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This novella centres around the lives of 4 astronauts on a mission to visit 4 different planets and do years of research on each. The book is written as if it is a message to earth, we find out about what they discover and how it affects them.
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This is one of the best short stories I've had the pleasure of reading. Chambers is clearly a very skilled writer and I found myself lost in this book even though it was only 134 pages. The relationships between the 4 characters were fascinating, and how the book explored the psychological aspects of space travel was so well done. The science was complicated it parts but I never felt lost.
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This one is out now and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy, especially if you love space. Thank you to Hodder Books for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review 😁

To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a love letter to science, creativity, curiosity, and knowledge. As an aspiring researcher myself, it made my stomach fill with butterflies and re-awakened my passion towards research.

Huge technological advancements at 22nd century have revolutionised space travel. Ariadne travels 15 light-years away from Earth with a group of other explorers to study 4 different worlds. Their biological supplementations make it possible to absorb radiation, adjust one’s body to different environments and travel for impossibly long distances asleep.

The group studies these worlds respectfully, documenting their findings and daily challenges. But as the group shift through both form and time in search for knowledge, life back on Earth has also changed.

This novella is a collection of documents of what the group finds from four different exoplanets. The characters are diverse, realistic and so incredibly human. All of them have left their home, knowing that when they finally make it back to Earth most of their close ones have already passed away. They have decided to do it anyway, and join a mission that speaks to their soul. Each character’s passion for what they do is heartbreakingly beautiful. I honestly felt like weeping from joy when the group found little beings under the ice in Aecor. I lived the exploration with the characters and I felt like I was invited to join their happiness.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate feels so realistic, complex and intricate that I was blownaway by it. You could say that nothing much happens – but that is not the point. This is a character driven book about the love of science, not for profit and future impact, but simply for knowing and being better for it. This book can speak to all of us who have been captivated by how the world works. It is similarly written to Becky Chamber’s amazing Wayfarers -series, but you do not need to have read any of her previous books to enjoy this novella.

I want to stuff it into everyone’s hands so that they can be inspired by its underlying message; live to learn, be curious.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

It is the 22nd century and Ariadne O’Neill is flight engineer aboard the spacecraft Merian. She and her three crew mates have travelled, as part of the Lawki Program, to explore four habitable worlds in a solar system several light years from Earth. Each of these worlds challenges, delights, frightens and astounds the crew members as they come into contact with other life forms and reflect upon the role of humanity among the stars. Messages from home, which take fourteen years to reach them, are rare and vital, until the day they stop.

Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer novels are such a joy to read, full of the wonder of space exploration, yet feeling so real due to their stunning depiction of characters, both human and not, and the beautiful, witty writing. There was no way I wasn’t going to read To Be Taught, If Fortunate (another curious title from this fabulous author). The difference this time, apart from the pretty big fact that it isn’t part of the Wayfarer series but stands alone, is that To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a self-contained novella, of about 140 pages.

The story is told by Ariadne, as a message or a report that will be sent home to Earth and sections cover each of the four worlds, from the moment when she and the others awake from years of ‘torpor’, their sleeping state in which they travelled to this far destination. Everything is described in mesmerising detail and, once more, Becky Chambers displays her knowledge and depth of research. There is plenty of science to marvel at and, in my case, occasionally be baffled by, as we approach hard science fiction territory, and it is pleasingly fascinating.

Each of the environments they land on is distinct and the descriptions of what they find there are marvellous as the crew settle to their task of cataloguing life forms, not all of which are easy to fathom. But there is more more to these pages than that. This is also a philosophical tale about the role of humanity in the universe, its insignificance, its danger to life around it, its need for society, its need of purpose.

So much is packed into these few pages and, as is usual with me with a good novella (and the reason why I read so few of them), I wanted much, much more. I needed more time to consider its conclusions and so its ending did leave me a little dissatisfied. Nevertheless, To Be Taught, If Fortunate is excellent. It’s clever, feels real, is full of awe, and yet tells the story of four very human, very normal men and women, whose genetics have been temporarily modified to enable years of life in space, but whose minds and hearts remain fallibly human.

I look forward to reading every word that Beck Chambers publishes and I love the enormous boost to science fiction that her original, clever, heartfelt, witty stories contribute.

Other reviews
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
A Closed and Common Orbit
Record of a Spaceborn Few

It's hard to know when to pick up a high-concept Becky Chambers book, even one as short as this. On the one hand, To Be Taught, If Fortunate (named after a quote from UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim's speech on the Golden Record sent with Voyager) is a novella that's being lauded for its big ideas: in particular, the way in which humans might adapt themselves for future interstellar space travel, and that suggests that it's a novella that will require careful attention to get the most out of it. On the other hand, Becky Chambers is an author most known for bringing radical comfort fiction to space, delivering a series in The Wayfarers that rejects ideas of necessary conflict or drama between diverse people while offering some great adventures and characterisation. To Be Taught, If Fortunate definitely delivers on both sides of that equation and requires engagement from its reader at the same time as it offers a fundamentally optimistic outlook in the face of the universe's many challenges.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate focuses on the voyage of four humans, sent to explore a set of four habitable worlds fifteen light-years from earth. The narrator, Ariadne, is the flight engineer for the Lawki 6 mission, part of an ecological survey sent to various exoplanets in the early 22nd century, joined by xenobiologist Elena, geologist Jack, and botanist Chikondi. The novella wastes no time in establishing the context in which Ari's mission has been launched: humans spent most of the 21st century confined to Earth as global problems increased, but never stopped sending probes to explore the wider solar system, and by the time of Ariadne's birth, the fact of life outside that on earth has been well established. The narrative, told in the form of a communication back to earth by Ari, details the crew's mission to each of the planets in the system: icy Aecor, life-rich Miribalis, ocean-covered Opera and extreme, tidally-locked Votum. Although she's not a scientist first, Ari is utterly devoted to the scientific value of the mission and eager to fold in both the technical and scientific elements of the mission to her narrative; it soon becomes clear that the reason she's doing that, and the underlying tension in the book, is the lack of communication from Earth for much of the mission, and the fear that their home planet has lost the ability or the will to respond to their work.

Because of all the science, the novella ends up being slow and almost meditative, and there's plenty of pages which are pure worldbuilding: from the scene-setting history of the first pages to a long discussion of molecular chirality and its implication for the origin of life at the end, there's a lot of descriptive content here, and it's not always obvious what purpose this information is serving. The blurb of the text makes a lot out of one particular technological feature, which are the genomic adaptations the crew undergo at each planet to adapt them to it, from general adaptations like increased radiation tolerance to world-specific changes such as increasing muscle mass on a high gravity world. This idea doesn't go anywhere direct, but it provides a compelling background, albeit one which never explores the ethical complexities behind it, particularly when it comes to the "baseline" corrections almost all of the characters receive - there's a lot of eugenic implications to unpack here which this narrative simply doesn't have the space for. That aside, there's clearly a lot of love and interest that's gone into the scientific elements, which are made narratively relevant by having a protagonist who is equally engaged. I'd suggest that the real highlight here is the weird and wonderful non-sentient life on each planet visited and the writing does a brilliant job of transferring the excitement of the crew with most of their discoveries - be it a garden of otherworldly vertebrates or a confirmation of microscopic life - onto the page and offering it to the reader.

The interpersonal relationships also very much as you'd expect from a Chambers novel, which is to say they're a completely refreshing delight. Because the novella spends its time focused on a small crew, Ari, Jack, Elena and Chikondi all feel fleshed out and nuanced, and Ari narrates the challenges of being in close proximity with just three other humans while being matter-of-fact about how they accept each others' quirks and give each other both the support and space they all need. It's impressive how convincing this claustrophobic group's interactions are, and while I definitely did not come away from it feeling that I would want to hop in a spaceship with three other people for years on end, this nevertheless feels like a very real crew. The elements of connection with Earth and with other missions are brief but also believable.

Even with so many individual ingredients available, I have somewhat mixed feelings about what To Be Taught, If Fortunate adds up to. The overt plot is simple and episodic, as the quartet travel to each planet on their list in turn and then consider their next move in the face of an uncommunicative Earth. Different challenges on each planet affect the group more or less - a "contamination" incident on Miribalis, for example, is given huge weight while it's happening but then doesn't affect anything further, and there's also a lot of tension around the departure from Opera that is resolved as "actually it was all fine". On one level, this constant release of tension from individual incidents is quite nice - no need to worry about Chekov's gun on the mantlepiece, in this universe it's going to stay right where it is. However, it also means that the link between individual incidents and the emotional arc of the novella - as the characters grapple with their place in the universe, without a link to Earth calling them back - is either subtle or non-existent, depending on how generous one feels. The discussion of chirality (whether a molecule is "right handed" or "left handed" and why it matters in biological terms) that almost closes out the novella is a big example of this: on an overt level, the connection between Lawki 6's molecular discovery and their decisions about whether to return to a possibly-dead earth are tenuous, but it adds an interesting data point as the characters consider their position in the universe. There's just so much going on that I found the lack of explicit connections and resolutions to be slightly frustrating, even as the individual elements as delightful as expected.

Ultimately, I suspect that To Be Taught, If Fortunate, is going to delight most of Becky Chamber's existing fans, while probably continuing to confuse anyone who isn't on board with her writing. Regardless of how you feel it adds up, it's a novella that packs a huge punch in a relatively small space, and it certainly delivers on the big ideas in spades without compromising on any of what Chambers' writing is known for. Whether those two elements totally work together will be a matter of personal taste, but there's certainly plenty here to keep a reader thinking.

https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2019/8/6/to-be-taught-if-fortunate-by-becky-chambers

Fifty years ago, we saw possibly one of our finest achievements as a species sending the first crews to the moon. Over that period while we have sent Voyager across the stars our desire to explore has been focused on using robots and satellites to reach out in that final frontier while human space travel and humans has really only been orbiting the planet with a few industrialists pedalling their wares wanting to industrialise space and a few tyrants trying to badge a space force to show off their egos. In this amazing novella that instead praises science and human wonder Becky Chambers poses us an intriguing question – why we should go into space? In the process of doing so they also explore how humanity needs each other to survive.

In the 22nd century space flight is now effectively crowdfunded across the world. Thousands of people make contributions to explore the wider universe. No longer a source of national jingoism or business targets this is the simple desire to see what is out there. Ariadne has been chosen for one of the missions alongside the happy go lucky Jack, the experienced and driven Ellen and the scientifically curious Chikondi. They’re on an eighty-year mission to explore four planets spending a lot of the time in induced comas before working a few years at a time exploring the planets’ ecosystems and geologies. But while their bodies are changed through the new science of somaforming that allows a body to survive the cold of deep space and feed on cosmic radiation the crew themselves change as does their home world. The crew have to learn to operate together; to adapt to the world and also the isolation of space travel and ultimately decide where they go next…

This novella is I think one of Chambers’ most impressive work to date. In some ways this is almost on the cusp of being a hard SF tale with a careful explanation of how deep space tupors work to manage the body being asleep for decades at a time as well as the making the reader understand the ethos of somaforming. This is not space mission to show off national pride, conquest or terraform this is a group who want to leave the faintest of footprints behind; mitigating the risk of destroying/mutating new life as much as possible. Somaforming is a brilliantly conceived idea where for worlds far from the sun the body has added light receptors (or as the astronauts point out glittery skin) to high gravity world where the bodies are significantly enhanced with muscles. The astronauts’ delight in being able to cast off a human body and on top of this the key theme is they do the hard work. This is not the world of a one-hour space mission but one when their craft lands the team is expected to spend four years just eloign and cataloguing life. What I loved though is that Chambers does not make this sound boring. She captures and explains the pure wonder and joy of people seeing their first alien life form; the human ability to examine and then understand an ecosystem or different ways of evolution and what this means for understanding our own world. In these section it’s a love-letter to curiosity and our desire to know the universe. Chambers challenges the reader to come along for these science sections and actually get us to understand the ramifications of the discoveries.

Alongside this is the exploration of the human condition and there is a great level of emotional depth that is explored very subtly. Our crews have all signed up for missions that mean they never see their families again. The painful consequences of this are not explored in big dramatic scenes but in a very quiet matter of fact description of standard astronaut operating procedure that manages to be as sorrowful in a way a big emotional family scene probably would not have worked. The way the astronauts change over their missions is fascinating and possibly has parallels to people themselves growing up in a hugely changing world. The joy of the bubbly positive-minded kickstarting community the crew is part of gets reduced as they start to see how the world has moved on and that human development is not just a series of progressions; instead wars and bad governments plus ecological disasters continue and the crew start to hide away from the news plunging themselves into their work.

In the latter half of the novel the crew find themselves stuck in their capsule unable to leave due to adverse weather and that internal isolation starts to have serious impacts on their well-being. Possibly by cutting themselves off from everything they realise they still need a pull to humanity and a desire to explore the universe. This almost feels a metaphor for us in this direst of decades were the temptation to hide from the world is ever pressing but as Chambers demonstrates not always going o have the best outcomes. This however is not a story of people digging deep into their emotional resilience the key to moving forward is the group coming together and supporting one another. They’re not military professional this crew has their own complex emotional relationships with one another sometimes on edge with one another but ultimately knowing this is all they have out many years away from home. I loved the way that Ariadne realises she is slowly aging but importantly maturing – this is her greatest ambition she is living and knowing she is no longer a wide-eyed newbie is fascinatingly demonstrated in just a few chapters but now her crew has to decide what do they want to do next?

The ending is beautifully open-ended and gives us the reader a final decision to make for this crew. I think this makes us ask ourselves what we want from space travel and this is a novella where we will be considering our answer and what it tells us about our own ambitions for humanity long after we finish the final page. In an age where space travel feels both tantalisingly close to being back on our agendas yet is being cross-pollinated with nationalism and commercialism to an extent we have never seen before this story is a beautiful reminder that for many of us exploring and understanding the universe is the absolute definition of being human and if we forget that wonder and joy we risk turning ever inwards and harming ourselves and others.

This was exactly the type of science fiction I like to read. Its a simple premise as it focusses on a group of Astronauts who are sent to explore exoplanets with genetic patches allowing their bodies to adapt to the new environment they are to face on each one. Whilst her afterword makes it clear that she has extensively discussed the potentials of many of the ideas in this book with scientists, and therefore some of the options may not be completely hers, she takes the various potential paths for life to take on each planet and makes them feasible and awe-inspiring.
I've never read Becky Chambers before but will again. This is a superb example of modern science fiction which I highly recommend.

I was provided with a free copy of the book via Netgalley but this has not influenced my review in any way.

To Be Taught If Fortunate, is the new novella from Becky Chambers, one of the current stars of science fiction and she continues to show why in this book as she takes us on a journey through some of the planets I can only hope we discover something like in our neat future.

Spoilers are ahead.

What I love about this book is everything. Written in four chapters in the first person, we are given a memoir by our narrator Ariadne, who tells us about the planets her team on the ship are visiting and what is discovered on these planets. The lush worlds that Chambers creates in these short chunks are stunning from the incredible explorations of the planet Mirablis to the dark depths which the crew find themselves on planet Opera.

Considering how short this book is, the characters she crafts across this story are so rich. Ariadne is a fantastic character, but the humanity she brings to the people in her stories, is so brilliant. Characters such as Jack and how the impact of ending up on Opera impacts him and Chikondi, just Chikondi I love this character with my whole goddamn heart in this book, and how he deals with the circumstances thrown at him in one of the stories made my heart hurt.

And all this with this with the science. Chambers is clearly a nerd, and I love it. Her detail and research is so clear throughout this book and I felt like I was taught and I feel fortunate for it, and the way she ends this novella just makes me want to build a rocket right now and send some messages.

A stunning book with wonderful characters, I am itching for more from this writer.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing and eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.


To Be Taught, If Fortunate was my first Becky Chambers book. I knew she wrote a lot of character driven sci-fi, so I set my expectations according to that. I wasn't disappointed.

This novella centres around 4 astronauts, sent on a mission to visit planets in a certain vicinity and catalogue any alien life present on those planets. While on this mission, they receive regular updates from Earth... until those stop.

Although very short, it manages to encapsulate everything Chambers wanted to include. We get a diverse cast of characters, space, the excitement of finding life on alien planets, learning new things, and dread of being alone and disconnected from the society.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a poignant and thought provoking story of knowledge and its worth, and what we as people decide to do with it.

At the turn of the 22nd Century, there was a scientific breakthrough that made long-distance space travel a realistic possibility for the first time.

The main obstacle to human spaceflight had always been that it was almost impossible to design a ship that could protect its human occupants from the hostile environment of space, for the length of time it would take to get to planets that were many light years from our own.

In the end, the breakthrough came by coming at the problem from a completely different angle. It was discovered that human bodies themselves could not only be adapted to counteract these effects, but they could also be endowed with different abilities to allow astronauts to be ideally suited to the environments they may find on other planets. This process was called somaforming.

Humans were, at last able to explore the heavens and search for the evidence of life on other planets, rather than just speculating from afar!

Ariadne and her three fellow astronauts are on a research mission to explore four exoplanets fifteen light-years from Earth. It has taken them 28 years to reach their first destination, and while they have slept, the somaforming process has done its work, keeping them safe and also developing special attributes for their mission. Between each new planet, the astronauts will be transformed while they sleep, so they will wake up in the form best adapted to the conditions they will find on the surface of their new destination.

As the mission progresses, Ariadne records their experiences and details of the different life-forms they encounter. All their recorded data is sent off to Earth, even though it will take many years to reach there. This is a mission that will take many years and by the time they have completed it, the Earth will be a very different place to the one they have left behind.

Indeed, the World they have left is changing more than they thought possible. Does anyone at home still remember they are out here? Is anyone still listening?

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This is the first time I have been introduced to the work of Becky Chambers and I am very impressed.
There is a lot going on in this novella, despite the fact that it is only 160 pages long, and it leaves you with many things to ponder when you have finished - plus an experience that has you with your heart in your mouth most of the time! You will find yourself alongside the astronauts and experiencing everything they see and feel - right from the moment they wake-up at each new planet.

Right from the start, you are aware that these characters are "ordinary people", despite having the most extraordinary job. Their mission has taken them a long way from home, both in time and distance, and there are many things they miss from Earth - not least the families they will not see again.

The overwhelming thing that struck me about this story is the dedication of the astronauts to their mission of discovery. They are fully aware that they are only in Space by the grace of all the people who have contributed to the space programme - since this is now funded by public donation, rather than government backing. This inspires them to do a good job for the benefit of all humanity. They are very aware that they are here to discover, without harming the environments they find themselves in and do their best to follow this protocol at all times - although there are certainly some hiccups along the way.

It is clear from this book that the idea that being in space for a prolonged period is likely to affect the mental state of the astronauts, as well as their physical condition. Although lots of thought seems to have been put into protecting them from and adapting them to the rigours of space travel, their psychological well-being has not been considered as thoroughly. Yes, they have the comfort of routine and protocol to follow, but look what happens when things do not go to plan? It is admirable however, that whatever their adventures throw at them, the astronauts are able to fall back on the very idea that humanity knows best about the reason they are actually on this mission in the first place and they are ultimately able to rely on each other to pull through. Don't get me wrong, they are not on this mission simply out of sense of duty, as they want to be here on the cutting edge of space discovery and are enthusiastic about their work - but they never lose sight of why they are there.

I love space travel stories and am fascinated by them. The idea that other lifeforms may exist somewhere out there is a compelling one, but I have no wish to leave the safety of our little blue planet myself - the thought of being isolated from everything I know and love, and possibly being unable to get back home, terrifies me. Therefore, I found the very nature of this story incredibly chilling, but it is intensely thrilling at the same time.

Also being a fan of an obscure book title, I was intrigued by the fact that this one is called To Be Taught, If Fortunate. What does this actually mean? Well, dear readers, it is part of a quote which was recorded by Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations 1972-1981, the full text of which was on the Golden Records placed aboard the Voyager probes from 1972. The full text is below, and it serves to explain the meaning behind this novella. It is very thought provoking.

As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of the 147 member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet Earth. I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.

This book offers the very best of science fiction writing: the story is absorbing, there is plenty of imagination, and there is an abundance of scientific detail, but it also has the necessary elements to make this a thought provoking piece of work. Good science fiction should make you ask the question "What If?" and this novella does that in spades.

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.

One of the best speculative sci-fi writers I've been lucky enough to read. A perfect balance of humanity and the worlds that we discover. Beautifully described, with trademark gentle humour and an imagination that reaches far into the depths of space.
Do not be deceived by the small size, this lbook packs one hell of a punch!

This book read almost exactly like Interstellar, however condensed. Interstellar also happens to be my favourite film so it was exciting to read something reminiscing on it as it appeared to expand on philosophical conundrums that I wish the film had gone into more - such as the idea about the ethical wasteland of funding space travel when humans/earth are literally dying. What this book did that I preferred over Interstellar was five an ambiguous ending (which also happens to be my favourite). The ending gave the so-far-feeling-like-a-hug book a real sad twist which made it all the more human. I loved this book a lot and I don’t think I ever will be able to put into words all that was so great about it

*I requested a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*


Becky Chambers has done it again! I was initially wary of the prose, as it was report-style but she was still able to bring the gravitas present in her constructed universe. This comes off as a bit more personal than the others because it only follows one character - the engineer. This seems like a prequel to the first book, or to her universe, really. I’m not a fan of reading prequel books especially if you already know the endgame, but her universe is so rich so I would read anything written about this world. I would love to see her tackle an alien species perspective though - while other life beings are present in the narrative, she still writes mostly from the human perspective. This is a well-written novella, and worth the read.

A quick read but a thought-provoking one. In the future, humans have mastered a way send themselves on long space missions, adapting to their environment on each planet they visit. Ariadne documents her experiences, along with that of her three fellow astronauts, and what it means to be so far from home. I love the authors writing; she captures her characters so well they just jump off the page. The ending was everything I hoped and left me thinking long after I'd finished the book.

Once again, Becky Chambers hits it out of the park with this stunning novella. Those familiar with her Wayfarers novels will find To Be Taught, If Fortunate shares much in common with that trilogy; namely, using space exploration as a way to explore the nature of humanity and the meaning of life, but with a lightness of touch which belies such lofty goals. Highly recommended.

‘To Be Taught, If Fortunate’ falls into the same “hopeful sci fi” bucket as author Becky Chambers’ excellent ‘Wayfarers’ series. Unlike those books, with their multitude of alien races and cultures, this is a far more believable tale of deep space exploration. That’s not meant to be in any way a criticism of Chambers’ other books, which I love dearly (if you haven’t read them, you really should). It’s just that ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’ and its sequels are so far removed from modern day life on Earth as to seem quite fantastic (wonderfully so). This latest novella from Chambers feels far closer to our current reality. Yes, the scientific advances the book details are some way away from current technology, but it’s not impossible to join the dots between now and then.
The book describes the voyage of a research ship travelling to various alien worlds to investigate the primitive life that exists on them and report back. It’s told in the form of an extended message from one of the crew members, Ariadne, to the people of Earth. It’s a linear tale of their journey and explorations, packed with detail about their mission.
As with her other books, Chambers’ focusses as much on the emotional impacts of the science as she does the raw, technical detail. I was particularly taken with the practicalities of space travel. It involves long periods in suspended animation (“torpor”) which means nail clippers close to hand are essential on awakening. The duration of the voyages also necessitates saying goodbye to loved ones before departure. The voyagers take off knowing that if they do see their families again, they will have missed decades of their lives. In a similar vein, when they first receive a video communication from Earth after waking from their sleep, the clothing and hairstyle of the technician contacting them are completely alien.
I’m not sure anyone combines science, emotion and imagination quite as well as Chambers does. The result here is a book that is different from her others in many ways, but just as gripping, enjoyable and thought-provoking. It’s a love letter to space travel that is heartfelt, convincing and a pleasure to read.