Book of the Month: To Be Taught if Fortunate

I read my book of the month this month on the plane out to Malaga, which is why I'm squeezing it between some posts about Malaga (yes, I'm not done yet!).

To Be Taught if Fortunate came in a bundle of books by Becky Chambers that Connor gave me. I read her first novel last year (it was Book of the Month last July) and have since read two more set in the same futureverse. I'm not sure where this book is meant to be set. It feels like it could be a prequel to her other works but it also functions fine as a standalone.

The story is a broadcast home to Earth by a long-range exploration team of astronauts. The book's title is part of an address included on the Voyager space probe. This team has been sent out by a crowdfunded humanitarian grassroots space agency, which felt like the most far-fetched part of the whole thing to be honest. 

What I like most about Becky Chambers' science-fiction is the careful consideration she gives to details like how waking up after being plugged into a machine would feel, and why you would want to wake up alone and not surrounded by your crew members. It all feels properly thought through and things like hibernation aren't just plot devices to get the characters into the action.

The crew experience some difficulties, but are never really in jeopardy as they explore the exo-planets they have been sent to survey. The psychological disconnect from Earth is very realistic. News messages are 14 years old when they arrive, and so they become meaningless. The astronauts switch off long before the broadcasts cease with no explanation. 

So the astronauts send a long message home outlining their activity. It's sent in hope of a reply but with low expectations. The conclusion is left very open and the story could go in any direction from where it's left off. I liked that ambiguity.