To Be Taught, If Fortunate

Mmmm, I love it when you talk nerdy to me. Blend it with meaningful human connection and I'm all yours. This is the most scientifically literate work I've read by Chambers, and it's exquisite. Four beautiful, complex characters (one trans, one ace!) in a loving polycule, all of them committed to an achingly lonely mission of searching for extrasolar life... and no human yet has experienced this level of commitment, in which the Earth you return to—if you return—will be unrecognizable. The emotions of leaving your home and loved ones behind could merit a book in themselves, and are not the main focus here, but Chambers does a respectable job with them.

There are big plot holes: crowdfunding six deep-space missions, uh, not likely. Onboard fuel and energy. And, four planets, with only one landing site each? That goes into “inconceivable”[1] territory. But the story wouldn't work otherwise, and oh, how the story works. The bioadaptation gimmick is fascinating; the exotic life forms tantalizing, the moral dilemmas heartbreaking. And, finally, this is Chambers, so her characters are on the too-good-to-be-true side (virtuous, decent, flawed but self-aware and self-correcting) and I just love that. It gives me hope for what we can be.

[1] “You keep using that word.”