Reviews with content warning for Animal death - To Be Taught, If Fortunate

TO BE TAUGHT, IF FORTUNATE presents a delightful and intimate portrait of long-term space travel with a small team of scientists who undertake this journey knowing that it means saying goodbye to everyone they knew and loved.

Ariadne has strong bonds with her other three crewmates, singly and collectively. Their personalities come through very well and her interactions with them are a delight. They're all affected differently by certain plot events, despite being generally in the same situation as each other, and by the time things get stressful I had a enough of a sense of them to resonate with their reactions. The science explanations are just a much a part of the narrative as Ariadne's conversations with her team. Everyone's enthusiasm for their work makes this a delight to read.

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Ohh I love this, just like everything else Becky Chambers writes. This is different from the other books I've read by her, but still absolutely engaging and interesting and compelling.

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jurizprudence's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective

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

4.0

i've always been fascinated by space travel—more by the idea of it rather than the technicalities, and while i admit that oftentimes the terms in a sci fiction get lost to me, i found myself devouring everything ariadne said in this letter-like/travel-diary novella. i am not the biggest fan of science textbooks from our school, but i loved learning about some areas of the subject in here. a bonus because the whole crew exploration of exoplanets reminded me of interstellar and the martian, topped with reflections of humanity and humility. and the question ariadne left hanging towards the end about how we would view their contributions as astronauts—are all they did just an unwanted and wasteful research to us? do we really care?— was bittersweet and hard-hitting, because even though i said that i am fascinated about space exploration, i, too, have mixed feelings about its necessity on the whole. i really wished my teachers taught chemistry as great and approachable as chambers explained chirality

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This stand-alone novella struck me as very different in tone from Becky Chambers' other books I've read, far more serious. It's not that her other books aren't serious; rather her other books seem hopeful. Maybe I was just bogged down by the action on Opera, the ocean planet, and also bothered by the ambiguity and the not knowing of the ending.

There are only four characters, Ariadne the engineer and her astronaut companions. There's a biologist, a geologist, and a meteorologist. All were appealing as was their congenial relationship. They all still loved each other as colleagues and friends despite being stuck together for so many years. Their warm companionship gets them through some tough times.

I also liked the wildly different planets (and moon) they explored - Becky Chambers is excellent at bringing her vivid imagination to life on the page and I was left wanting more of Mirabilis. The bizarre creatures - the different shapes and bodies and functions of both flora and fauna. are amazing, intriguing, and horrifying.

Not being a scientist, I didn't really get the part about chirality and the discovery at the end, but that's just me. I always look forward to Becky Chambers' books - she writes some of the most fun and fascinating sci-fi available.

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readingsofaslinky's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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massivepizzacrust's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved so much about this book but I've never read an ambiguous ending I liked, so if you're like me you should know that going in. There were several scenes that made me tear up even in this short of a time. I want to hug all of these characters and I'm going to spend some time staring into space now (pun intended)

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storykath's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A four-person astronaut crew explores life-filled planets light-years away from Earth, thanks to the technology of somaforming. As they explore each new world, they learn more about the universe, and also about themselves, each other, and human nature. As they leave Earth farther behind, they must confront the possibility of what they will find when they eventually return.

I am a big Becky Chambers fan - the Wayfarers series has a special place in my heart. To Be Taught isn't too far removed from Wayfarers, in that it's speculative, cozy sci-fi with diverse characters and engaging moral quandaries. That being said, To Be Taught doesn't quite live up to Wayfarers for me. I miss the multiple perspectives and lengthier narratives that get sacrificed in novella form. Some of the science is believable and well-explained, while other aspects feel less fleshed-out. For instance, the narrator Ariadne's role on the crew often feels contrived; she doesn't actually do much as the ship's engineer, which conveniently leaves her with plenty of opportunity to help the others and thus observe and narrate their actions. When she does act in her role, she can be indecisive and unscientific, with a lot of "probably"s and "I don't know"s that never get methodically addressed like I would expect.

As always with Becky Chambers, To Be Taught is an interesting, easy-to-read sci-fi that effectively uses outer space and science to reflect inwardly on humanity. While I can't rave as much about this novella compared to any of the Wayfarers books, I am still glad to have it on my shelf.

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