To Be Taught if Fortunate, by Becky Chambers

In the mid 22nd century citizen science organisation OCA has revived space exploration, sending out six missions under its Lawki program. Each crew of four long-haul space explorers go into torpor for decades while travelling between stars, ageing only minimally over this period. While in the torpor state they undergo body modifications to adapt them to the environment they are heading for. The intent is to make minimal impact and not impose Earth values or bacteria on other moons and planets. Theirs is a purely scientific expedition to gather as much information as possible about life on other worlds. It takes 14 years for communications to go back and forth each way, so any news is old news and their experience and initiative must get them out of any trouble they meet. Apart from its strikingly poetic and profound title this slim novel is a departure from Chambers’ Wayfarers series, not least because the focus on hard science can be heavy going at times. She teeters on the edge of didactic exposition. Its very human orientation places the story as a long distant precursor to the earlier books. It does contain very interesting ideas and ask important questions. It will be fascinating to see if Chambers’ next novel is a sequel that answers some of those questions, or introduces a new world entirely.