Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor is the fifth number in The Far Reaches collection of standalone stories set in outer space. The collection, produced with Audible in mind, presents stories by well-known science fiction authors. Okorafor gives us an Afrofuturist vision of third-world space exploration. A young woman nicknamed Tornado has her DNA matched with a semi-organic spacecraft and is sent to Jupiter space, where she meets several others of her kind. So far, so good. But the story lacks a central conflict, and we are never told why the pilots are sent out alone or what they are investigating in Jovian space. ( )

JUST OUT OF JUPITER'S REACH is Nnedi Okorafor's submission for Amazon's/Audible's The Far Reaches Collection. As for its place among the other stories, it is middle of the road. With too little focus on space or space exploration and too much focus on interpersonal relationships and sociology, Ms. Okorafor's short story did not resonate with me.

When any story opens with the presentation of a new form of space travel in which the ship is genetically matched to its captain, I want to know as much about this ship as possible. What happens with the genetic matching? How does that impact the spaceship? What happens to the captain? There are so many angles to explore here. Ms. Okorafor chooses not to explore any of those. Instead, her story focuses on the 7 days out of a ten-year experiment in which the few captains of these new ships get to meet up and see another human face-to-face for the first time in 5 years. This means that JUST OUT OF JUPITER'S REACH is really a novella about a sociological study instead of being about space.

Unfortunately, I didn't want a sociological study. Of course humans who have had no physical contact with anyone for five years would have some psychological issues. There are no surprises here. Even our heroine conducts herself questionably from a moral perspective but logically under a physiological one.

I wanted JUST OUT OF JUPITER'S REACH to include more science fiction. I want to understand how the Miris work, how they interface with their owners/captains, and how the captains influence their ships. I want to know how the genetic bond that connects them affects the owner. Moreover, I want to know what the purpose of this experiment is. They are to be in their ships for ten years. Why? What are they supposed to be doing? Answers to all these questions would help provide context for when the Miris and their owners meet up.

Délé Ogundiran does a fine job with the narration. It is not an easy job because there are seven distinct voices to narrate in addition to the various AI/computer voices. The seven captains come from all corners of the world and vary in age, gender, and upbringing, further complicating the job. It is a task that Ms. Ogundiran accomplishes quite well. I found her voice pleasant to listen to, with clear delineation between the characters.

Alas, Ms. Ogundiran's performance was not enough for me. I finished JUST OUT OF JUPITER'S REACH with disappointment as well as a sense of an opportunity lost. I understand that any discussion of space travel needs to address the psychological impact of such travel on humans, which is what Ms. Okorafor is doing here. Unfortunately, the allure of these genetically matched ships proved too distracting for me to be able to focus or appreciate the story Ms. Okorafor had to tell. ( )

Living sentient spaceships are cool, I like it when they show up in my sci-fi.

I’ve been following Nnedi Okarafor’s writing for quite some time, and I’m always moved by her stories, even when I happen not to fall in love with them. The writing here is intense and beautiful and I’d be happy to talk to any of the characters. It’s nice to see diversity done right, that is, without waving and screaming “diversity!” at the reader. I loved the spaceships and how they grew together with their humans.

This story felt like a fragment of a longer novel that I would be happy to read. As such, it felt incomplete. My three stars are probably there because I was in too logical a mood while reading, a “party pooper mood”. But whyyyyy would you go about space exploration in such an expensive, inefficient and risky way? It makes for a poetic story, sure, but I wanted more than space poetry, I suppose…

3.6 stars, rounded down. ( )

The writing in this short story is excellent. The concept of a spaceship growing and able to link to only one person was also particularly fascinating—it's been done similarly before, but I especially liked how it worked here. Our MC Tornado was enjoyable, and her fellow travelers were a mixed bag, but overall I liked the blend of personalities. It's at times happy and sad and introspective. ( )

This was another short story from Ammy's Far Reaches collection and is about deep space exploration and travel. In this one, living ships are developed and paired genetically to a single person. A group of ships are sent out on a 10 year journey. While they are traveling out each ship/person combination is on their own with no communication. After 5 years, all the ships get together to meet and see how all have changed. A very interesting examination on the isolation of deep space travel. Pretty good story. ( )