To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Liz

Aug 30

60th book of 2022

In the future, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the galaxy transform themselves.

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.

CW: animal death, confinement, suicidal thoughts

Rating

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Review

I liked this SciFi book, even if it's not a genre I'm used to reading.

I think the element that made me continue and like the book was the contemporary undertone of the book. Even if the book's primary setting is space, as we follow a crew which travels into space, you have a ton of references to Earth, especially at the beginning. This makes the starts a little hard to follow, but it's worth it as it is easier to be anchored in the story.

This book feels like a letter or a report to anyone on Earth. So, you have this recoil of the main character, Ariadne, toward Earth and our behaviour toward our environment. This feeling is amplified as the crew discovers new territories in space and studies them "without" disturbing them. It's the kind of book that use the future to make you think about now.

You travel to four planets, and each of them is entirely different. However, the level of details is insane, and the scientific explanations are great and not dull or incomprehensible.

I think I will continue to read Becky Chambers' books. It's SciFi but easy to read.

Liz.

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