Reviews

This book makes me ache. I'm doused in feelings of wonder, homesickness, awe, despair, guilt, regret, and intellectual joy. It has flaws. It's not perfect. The characters don't, I believe, change much or learn new things. But we see them go through good and bad very realistically, and they do have their own personalities. They also seemed to perfectly fit within the range of "NASA's ideal astronaut personality," which added realism.

The details of their explorations and discoveries seem probable and realistic, too, and I enjoyed reading what I suspect is a distilled version of things and experiences scientists expect to encounter on life-bearing exoplanets.

The story takes a while to get going. I was wondering why Ariadne was being so wordy in what was essentially a progress report. There's not much of a story arc, per se, either.

I don't care. This book brought the feels. Wondrous, and devastating. I thought of Bradbury and Interstellar.

But please, never send me to Opera. Thx.

kiayaa's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

lotte_t's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

aude's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

blaze_o_glory's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

To Be Taught, If Fortunate makes me think about a lot of things. How we conduct ourselves as a society and the things stopping us from doing it better are chief among them. The current version of humanity has much to learn.

ember_is_gay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I fell in love with Becky Chambers last year through her book ‘the long way to a small angry planet’ which was one of my top reads of the year. Since then I have wanted to read everything she has written. Again, a very easy 5 stars. I adore her writing and the premise of all her books are so thought provoking which I love.

Her world building is incredible and the way she looks at human life and dissects what that means blows my mind. The thoughts and questions I have after reading this; the decisions I would make, how I would cope, who I am. Her writing and stories move me in such an intense way, something I haven’t found in a lot of books.

pagesofash's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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