To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The good:

I honestly enjoyed the science bits and exploring the worlds. I kept thinking of Peter Watts' book, Starfish, where the people alter themselves for the harsh environment rather than the other way around. But unlike Peter's book, this is downright mild and doesn't go for the mental health issues. At least, it doesn't go for them in quite such a hardcore way.

The bad:

This is hard-SF, and while the cool focus is mostly on biology rather than physics, we still have to ignore quite a few things. My main concern is that it felt quite a bit like the dozens of short stories, novelettes, and novellas that go this same route to one degree or another. The only new thing this brings to the table is HOW the story is told, and even that is... okay. I still had a good time.


But all told? Interesting worlds and a slightly interesting end.

Never mind that we can almost always expect Earth to fall apart during ANY space exploration attempt. That's always a done-deal.



View all my reviews