Book Review: To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Originally posted on 29 Dec 2022
- Title: To Be Taught If Fortunate
- Author: Becky Chambers
- ISBN: 978-0-06-293601-1
Another Becky Chambers novelette? Another Becky Chambers novelette! This one was hanging out on the shelf at my local public library, for which I’m grateful. It’s not released by a publisher that provides DRM-free epubs, so I wouldn’t have been able to read it without the hard copy.
The story follows four space explorers, members of humanity’s first teams sent to visit (hopefully) life-bearing exo-planets. Over the course of this small book, the explorers visit four planets. The book is about that, and so much more.
It’s a thoughtful piece of work and, while it doesn’t shy from difficult situations and questions, I feel it’s an optimistic one as well. That said, I found myself irritated with how it ended, simply because I wanted more. There were too many open questions for my comfort, but perhaps that was intentional. I enjoyed it, despite the unsatisfying ending.