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

This book is a love letter to scientists and collaboration and humanity and instantly became one of my all time favourite books.
Chambers is amazing at interweaving sci-fi with philosophy and does it again here. The book has amazing and unique alien planets and applications of biotechnology, that made it super fun to read. I got so fascinated by the different environments, that I even forget the tension and mystery that the first chaper set up and got lost in the exploration, just like the characters.
And with the four main characters being isolated for a long time it also reads as a character and psychology study. The characters are really well-written and developed, which made the conflicts and discussions believable and grounded.

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the_reading_wren's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This book perfectly fulfilled the form of a novella; it’s punchy and got me thinking. I also like the inclusion of the bonus content in this edition, which gives more context about Chambers’ thinking behind the book and how she was able to weave so much science so well into the story.

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penofpossibilities's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed this alot and read it almost in one sitting, to me the pacing was really pleasant and I didn't feel infodumped upon despite the amount of new terms and concepts to learn. The only reason I am disappointed in the ending is that if you present a mystery to me, I am going to want it answered. Rarely does an open ending work satisfactory to me. I figured, after reading a psalm for the wild built, that Becky Chambers is more about creating a world and some characters in order to explore philosophical questions, and isn't particularly interested in developing a clear cut answer for you. That's nice and interesting, but I still wanted to know so many specifics

what happened to earth, what happened to the lawki 5,...

I don't want to criticise the book for this though - it's definately more a style/genre preference on my end than a fault of the book or the writing. I like Becky Chambers' writing a lot and will probably read her other works as well.

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theheartisawaffle's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

I don't think there's a single author (that I've found thus far) who makes me see the world with such new eyes as Chambers does. I loved this book.

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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cookiecat73's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

Loved this!! I had a couple of nitpicks, but overall I thought it was great, the main thing I want to be different is that I would have liked it to have been longer, it didn't even need to have extra plot thrown in, I just liked reading about these characters and this world

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gracek67's review

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adventurous challenging inspiring tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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wickedgrumpy's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Listened to this as an audiobook during a road trip and it kept me engaged the entire time. I don't think that this will be enjoyed by all since for a sci-fi it focuses more on the crew and slice-of-life moments, rather than the planets they explore, and the discoveries they make.

It does bring up the topic that there is a lot to be said about the ethics of science and experimentation. I think it all can be boiled down into something along the lines of having good intentions does not inherently guarantee that anyone/thing remains unharmed in the end or even in the midst of the process. This is true for the scientists themselves and/or their subjects.

Becky Chambers has done an excellent job of making distinct and memorable characters that feel real because the book runs the gamut of human emotions. There's quite a bit of existential dread, and it can be rather heavy at times, but it also has it's moments of fun, enchantment, excitement, joy, and happiness.

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