Paperback, 364 pages
English language
Published Aug. 7, 2017 by Hodder & Stoughton.
Once, Lovelace had eyes and ears everywhere. She was a ship's artificial intelligence system - possessing a personality and very human emotions. But when her ship was badly damaged, Lovelace was forced to reboot and reset. Now housed in an illegal synthetic body, she's never felt so isolated. But Lovelace is not alone. Pepper, an engineer who risked her life to reinstall Lovelace's program, has remained by her side and is determined to help her.
Loved the concept, but the story kept hitting the same plot beats. I liked it overall, but it still felt a little disappointing coming off of the first Wayfarer book.
Easy to read, difficult to put down once you started.
Thoroughly enjoyed the worldbuilding and the story, but I felt like I had to do the work to relate to the characters. They both start off at points in their lives that are unique, interesting - and hard to wrap my head around. The author does a great job giving them distinct voices and letting them grow over time, but I just found them too far removed to really get into the book.
The secondary characters, however! I really loved reading about them from the perspectives of the protagonists, and as always, the interactions are wonderfully crafted.
Chambers is a great author and I love immersing myself into her universes.
i enjoyed A Closed and Common Orbit even more than the prequel one. (which has not enough story to keep up--for my taste at least) i think of it as a kind of double bildungsroman, with two developing characters between which the novel is split.
Chambers connects her scifi(-world) convincingly and smoothly with the problems most of us are facing and can relate to. it's how scifi should comment the present. and although the focus is always on the personalities, there are also a lot of social themes and thoughts.
a lot of readers mention the caring characters throughout the story, which make it so satisfactional to follow. I can support that! but it would be sad to think, it's just another form of escapism, a tweak to the genre. this is a shortcoming of understanding the themes Chambers is working on.
the real impact makes Chambers skill in building …
i enjoyed A Closed and Common Orbit even more than the prequel one. (which has not enough story to keep up--for my taste at least) i think of it as a kind of double bildungsroman, with two developing characters between which the novel is split.
Chambers connects her scifi(-world) convincingly and smoothly with the problems most of us are facing and can relate to. it's how scifi should comment the present. and although the focus is always on the personalities, there are also a lot of social themes and thoughts.
a lot of readers mention the caring characters throughout the story, which make it so satisfactional to follow. I can support that! but it would be sad to think, it's just another form of escapism, a tweak to the genre. this is a shortcoming of understanding the themes Chambers is working on.
the real impact makes Chambers skill in building up and writing emotional scenes. and because i was listening to the audiobook: R. Dulude did a great job on this one (too).
I absolutely adored this book. I realise that part of this is that it was a perfect little escape while I was stuck at home with covid, but I do also think it's really wonderful.
It has some similar strengths to the first in the series, in that it's mostly about the relationships between a few outcast characters that become a chosen family and just happen to be in space. But if anything I think it's better written (I guess Chambers getting into her stride with book 2), and benefits from being a more focussed story of a smaller number of characters. And has some weightier things to say about embodiment, the tension between fitting in and freedom, and loyalty & reciprocity.
I am excited about the rest of the series.
Becky Chambers' approach to sci-fi has ruined me. No longer will I accept grungy and dystopian worlds that don't have redeeming character arcs filled with friendship, love, and care. This book is just so good.
When we last saw her, Lovelace left Wayfarer with Pepper, to get away from the crew that sorely missed her previous self. Now, she has to learn to live while recognizing she's outlaw in the strictest sense: if authorities notice she's an AI, it means a certain death sentence.
A Closed and Common Orbit has two story lines: one is about Sidra learning to cope her new life of not being installed in a ship but possessing a body kit. The other is about Pepper's childhood as a genetically engineered factory slave. Both stories deal with definition of life and surviving in a hostile environment. Sidra's story is more about the former, Pepper's about the latter, and together they complement each other even if they rarely mix.
[b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet|22733729|The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)|Becky Chambers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405532474s/22733729.jpg|42270825] was a feel good story …
When we last saw her, Lovelace left Wayfarer with Pepper, to get away from the crew that sorely missed her previous self. Now, she has to learn to live while recognizing she's outlaw in the strictest sense: if authorities notice she's an AI, it means a certain death sentence.
A Closed and Common Orbit has two story lines: one is about Sidra learning to cope her new life of not being installed in a ship but possessing a body kit. The other is about Pepper's childhood as a genetically engineered factory slave. Both stories deal with definition of life and surviving in a hostile environment. Sidra's story is more about the former, Pepper's about the latter, and together they complement each other even if they rarely mix.
[b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet|22733729|The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)|Becky Chambers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405532474s/22733729.jpg|42270825] was a feel good story that had lovable characters but was a bit superficial: it focused on people, places and backgrounds so much that the plot itself was left lacking.
This one has no such problem. This book, as well as the first one, is about people and relationships, but now there's a clear focus. Both storylines have a protagonist that is always present, and both have a clear starting point and an enjoyable ending.
A Closed and Common Orbit definitely isn't hard science fiction. It's a story about friendship, caring and humanity, and as such it could be set against any background. In this story, though, one of the main characters happens to be of artificial origin, and that makes all the difference. In a genre that seems to be filled with dystopias and darkness, I, for one, heartily welcome something like Wayfarer books.
A wonderful sequel
This book went an entirely different direction from the first in the series, yet it was just as enjoyable. My favorite part of the book was the structure in which the two stories were told in parallel, coming together into a great finish. Can't wait for the third one!
A wonderful sequel
This book went an entirely different direction from the first in the series, yet it was just as enjoyable. My favorite part of the book was the structure in which the two stories were told in parallel, coming together into a great finish. Can't wait for the third one!
Purchasable
https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-closed-and-common-orbit.aspx.