Just Out of Jupiter's Reach

The Far Reaches Collection

By: Nnedi Okorafor

Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran

A revolutionary experiment in space opens a woman’s eyes to the meaning of solitude in a thought-provoking short story by New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor.

Tornado Onwubiko is one of seven people on Earth paired with sentient ships to explore and research the cosmos for twenty million euros. A decade of solitary life for a lifetime of wealth. Five years into the ten-year mission of total isolation comes a consolation: a temporary meetup among fellow travelers. A lot can happen in a week. For Tornado, who left a normal life behind, a little company can be life-changing.

Nnedi Okorafor’s Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach is part of The Far Reaches, a collection of science-fiction stories that stretch the imagination and open the heart. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.

©2023 Africanfuturism Productions. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Interesting exploration of the nature of humanity and space exploration

Excellent performance of an interesting thought piece on the nature of science and space exploration. I would enjoy listening to more of this work.

A missed opportunity

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.

Fun listen

Starts a bit slow but worth the wait. Interesting concept to present for space travel & for it’s effect on long term isolation.

Give kit a Chance

I read a couple of reviews before I started the book. that mentioned that they almost stopped reading. This helped me to keep reading. The beginning is so choppy and dry. But about 10 minutes into the story it becomes interesting, very interesting. I am glad that I gave it a chance.

The narrator was brilliant

Another great but short story. It grabs hold of you and leaves you wanting more.

Sentient Ships

Wow! This is my favorite so far from this collection of short sci-fi stories. Not only is it well written and well thought out but it contains so many interesting details pertaining to the future of space travel. It also made me wish I could grow my own sentient ship.
I highly recommend this short story to all sci-fi fans!

Interesting concept in time travel

It was an interesting time travel concept. The plot was well written, but a bit difficult to keep track of so many characters. It kept me interested and was hard to put down. I wanted to read the whole thing in one sitting.

Such an interesting experiment!

Thinking about whether I would be willing to do what the characters did was a nice thought experiment. How would I make my ship be?

Perfect in form and flight!

First a shoutout to the narrator, Anthony’s Trini accent was more credible than most. Engaging narration throughout. I am so on board for the human/architectural AI-interface in Okorafor’s work. If you enjoyed this short and have not read “Mother of Invention” then pour yourself some quiet and go read it. By way of indulgence, I appreciated the insight that Okoraforj brought to Anthony - as soon as poor Ravi’s pets were introduced I knew what a character like Anthony would think because it is truly the first thing that any Trini would think, and still, the tension mounted beautifully and then, craftily dissipated (Daoud’s smile/Tornado’s inquiry), allowing us to continue the journey with each of the characters. I appreciated a future where blackness and being trans are present in quotidian, unremarkable ways, a nod to why Afro and African futurism matter. Just a lovely, sober reminder that wherever we go we take ourselves and so on earth, roaming the galaxy, the dilemmas that we wrestle with abide. An enjoyable listen.

Interesting Idea, Not Well Executed

I didn't care for this story much. It had an interesting premise, but got bogged down by a slow middle section. It was actually less interesting when the group met up. Everyone didn't get along, then the heroine got knocked up. Not much of a point. Pales in comparison to the superb Slow Time Between the Stars, that was outstanding. Narration was a bit monotone as well, not much emotion. Glad it was a borrow.