Published Aug. 8, 2019 by Harper Voyager.
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. With the fragile body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.
Beautiful exploratory romp, a science mission to explore extrasolar planets faces wonder and complications, a joyful pace.
Lovely book telling the story of 4 scientists who are missioned to catalogue life on different planets.
"At some point, you have to accept the fact that any movement creates waves, and the only other option is to lie still and learn nothing."
Contrasts interestingly with:
[b:Aurora|23197269|Aurora|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436300570l/23197269.SX50.jpg|42742263] by [a:Kim Stanley Robinson|1858|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1376955089p2/1858.jpg]
Good:
thoughtful characters with warm, caring relationships ([a:Becky Chambers|8389735|Becky Chambers|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562580587p2/8389735.jpg] writes those really well!)
creative exoplanets
creative astronaut adaptations
concise format
Bad:
I'm bored with "utopian space explorers juxtaposed with dystopian ecologically destroyed Earth" trope
* "scientific finding" at the end should have been foreshadowed
Yet another amazing work by Becky Chambers. In this she manages to get under the skin of the fascination and fear of traveling beyond the bounds of our world. And somewhere between the exhilaration of discovery and the depths of boredom, she manages to do what she does best: explore what it means to be human.
