To Be Taught, If Fortunate
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers is $1.99! This one, I believe, is a stand alone sci-fi novel. Chambers is an auto-buy for most of us and if you’ve missed it, check out the podcast episode she did with Sarah!
In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves.
Adriane is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.
Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.
Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky’s first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.
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PODCAST RECOMMENDED: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is $2.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal, so grab it while you can. Courtney Milan recommended this one on her latest podcast episode with us, and I’m sure a lot of us trust what Courtney has to say.
An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens her new home and her fragile place in it, in a stunning sci-fi debut that’s both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.
Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying—from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total.
On this Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. Now she has a nice apartment on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. She works—and shamelessly flirts—with her enticing yet aloof handler, Dell, as the two women collect off-world data for the Eldridge Institute. She even occasionally leaves the city to visit her family in the wastes, though she struggles to feel at home in either place. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security.
But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined—and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.
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The Anatomist’s Wife by Anna Lee Huber is $1.99! This is a historical mystery that we tend to recommend to readers who want Deanna Raybourn or Lady Sherlock read-alikes. If you loved this series or Huber’s books, keep a look at as Sarah as an upcoming podcast episode with the author.
Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister’s estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes.
Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.
When Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim…
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The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is $1.99! This fantasy novel has been recommended several times in the site’s comments over the years. Some readers felt their interest in the main character waned, but overall, they enjoyed the plot. It has a 4.1-star rating on Goodreads.
A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions.
But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge — an act that will mark him as a tool of the miraculous . . . and trap him in a lethal maze of demonic paradox.
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Skye Warren’s PRIVATE PROPERTY is a 99-cent KDD today. This is the first book in Warren’s Rochester Trilogy and is a modern (and darkish) retelling of JANE EYRE (I would almost describe it as JANE EYRE-adjacent as opposed to a direct retelling). The second book, STRICT CONFIDENCE, is available but not on sale. Both first and second books end on cliffhangers and the third and final book, BEST KEPT SECRET, is not due until January.
One of my all-time favorite (non-romance) books, John Kennedy Toole’s A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES (written and set in the 1960s but not published until 1980), is a $1.99 KDD today. It’s a very New Orleans-centric picaresque tale of Ignatius J. Reilly, his quest for philosophical peace, and the numerous people who he feels get in his way.
Oooh, The Space Between Worlds looks good. And it’s on sale on Kobo too. Just bought it.
The Chambers and Johnson books are both excellent for completely different reasons. As usual, Chambers asks us to think about our impact on environments before we get there, to protect them and to learn. Societies are unraveling and the ending is bittersweet but appropriate.
THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS is a fresh take on timelines, world-hopping and secrets. There is violence, IIRC, and the MC faces some hard choices and disquieting facts about herself. The plot is complex and absolutely worth the ride.
I recommend The Curse of Chalion which is listed above. For those who like the Penric novellas, this is the first book that the author wrote that is set in that world. (As I recall, this is set in a later time.) It was published in 2001.
I just read The Curse of Chalion this fall for the first time and it was one of those perfect right book, right reader, right time miracles. I had started it a couple of times before in past years but not gotten hooked, but this time everything clicked and it was Good Book Noises from beginning to end. Still have a bit of book hangover from it!
And, yes, there is something of a May/September romance in the Curse of Chalion. I read the book for the first time a few years ago, and it’s become something of a comfort reread.
What a fabulous selection of books on offer today! Wish I could buy and read them for the first time all over again.
Loved the Becky Chambers – so many feels! And what a wonderful and unique perspective on space travel. It feels longer than it is (in a good way!) when you are reading it.
I’m one of those who recommends the CURSE OF CHALION (or any of Bujold’s books) at the drop of a hat as it is a main comfort read for me. Love to disappear into Chalion for a time and watch other people deal with Bad Problems.
I second (third? fourth?) the Curse of Chalion recommendation. If you get the book on Kindle for $1.99, you can add the audio for $7.49, so you can get the amazing audiobook for under $10! The narrator is wonderful. You do not have to be an Audible member to take advantage of Whispersync deals like this.
The Curse of Chalion is highly enjoyable. And there’s a sequel, Paladin of Souls, that I may like even more.
And the third “Chalion” book, The Hallowed Hunt, which I find unsettling – but which links most closely of the three to Penric and Desdemona.
I’m probably in the minority, but I found To Be Taught If Fortunate disappointing, especially the ending (or the lack of one).
The Hallowed Hunt is indeed unsettling but it’s the one I reread the most. The unfolding mystery’s plotting and pacing is done so well, it grabs me and gets me to reread the whole thing every time even though I know the ending. The supporting characters are great too. CW for death, grief, necromancy, kidnapping, demonic possession.
My younger brother, the genius, gave me The Curse of Challion as one of his recent favorite books. As usual, he is a genius: the book is excellent and re-readable.
I also really enjoyed The Space Between Worlds (also courtesy of the same brother). Would definitely recommend, as did he. So, two books twice recommended. Enjoy.
I enjoyed the Space Between World but wanted to confirm Darlynne’s comment that there’s quite a bit of on page violence and also not explicit but still on page dub con/non con sex and arguably abusive relationships. I really enjoyed the unique take on the multiverse but was not expecting quite so much violence. There is a sweet lesbian romance but l definitely wouldn’t characterize it as a romance novel.
Chalion is probably tied for My Favorite Book. There’s just so much that’s awesome in it and I want to go back and spend time with the characters every year or so. Of course, that’s true of basically everything Bujold writes…