A Closed and Common Orbit

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Wayfarers series. There are four books in this series. I bought a copy of this ebook from my Kindle.Thoughts: This was another wonderful installment in this series. I was a bit sad to leave the Wayfarer crew behind and be stuck planet-side for this book, but it was still an excellent story. This story follows Lovey (Lovelace, the Wayfarer's AI) as she adjusts to her new (illegal) human-like body. Pepper is helping Lovey navigate her new situation.The story alternates between present-day with Pepper/Lovey/Blue and the past where we follow a character named Jane, who we quickly find out is actually Pepper as a kid. There are heavy themes about artificial intelligence again, which is a theme Chambers really likes to explore (I also just finished reading the most recent Monk & Robot book, that whole series is very focused on AI).This is very much more a space opera type of book than a sci-fi adventure one. I missed the Wayfarer crew and their adventures through space. This story is about what it means to be human; it is thought-provoking and heart-breaking at times. The characters are incredibly well done and I loved all the different alien cultures. We spend a lot of time watching Pepper get some closure and watching Lovey figure out what it means to have a body and will of her own.The writing here is incredibly easy to read and well done. I love Chambers' writing style; it's very engaging and personable. I did miss the broader more action-packed plot that was present in the first book. This story is isolated to one location and is a very personal story for Lovey and Pepper; there really aren't politics, adventure, or any action scenes involved. So, while I adored this story, it was much different from what I was expecting going in.My Summary (4.5/5): Overall this story ended up being a lot different from what I was expecting but I still really loved it. Chambers is an amazing writer and creates such believable characters. I enjoyed the alien races and discussion about what makes a race sentient. There is a lot of discussion about AI as well, which is always interesting. I would recommend this series to those who enjoy the more intelligent and softer side of sci-fi; there is a lot of food for thought here and the characters are incredibly engaging. I am eager to read the third book in the series, "Record of a Spaceborn Few".

Becky Chambers' second novel continues in the Wayfarers universe and is equally wonderful, albeit a little less fun. My favorite part of her debut "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" was the interaction between the diverse crew which was witty, positive, and entertaining. The characters here are just as complex and wonderfully drawn up, but the tone is a little more serious this go-around. The story is very focused and forgoes more of the "side quest" adventures of the first novel and instead the world building is accomplished through Lovelace's forays into new places as she experiences new cultures, learns social norms, and tries various food and drink in her "kit" (aka her body) for the first time.The novel switches back and forth each chapter between the current day adventures of Lovelace and the past trials of a girl named Jane, from which one end story line eventually develops. This leads to probably my biggest gripe with the story: there is no real "end goal" in sight until very late in the book. The stakes are already relatively low in the Wayfarers universe, which is wonderful and by design. Instead of "saving the universe" we get to experience the wonderful worlds and shared cultures of the everyday residents as they go about their daily lives. The unfortunate downside to this is that we as the reader still want to feel like we're on some sort of adventure with an end goal in mind. With ACaCO, that end goal is kept hidden away from us until about 3/4 of the way through the book so you feel like you are just going through the motions a bit with seemingly unrelated chapters and events (especially in the current timeline) until Jane's story is fleshed out.What I love about the Wayfarers books is that Chambers has crafted a wonderfully accepting universe where many different cultures live in relative peace and are mostly accepting of everyone. Residents are sex-positive, accepting of different lifestyles, species, and colors, and generally seem to be better off as a shared community. Chambers has still found soft spots with which to make us think, however. Lovelace is an AI and her sentience is not recognized (or authorized) in a body kit - but what makes her so different from so many of the other characters we meet? You'll have an opportunity to decide for yourself as Chambers raises many wonderful moral questions and puts her characters in situations where they have to face those questions and challenges head on. It provides you with the opportunity to reflect on your own personal views and doesn't provide a clear answer or judgement. You need to decide for yourself.While not as lighthearted, fun, and adventurous as her debut TLWTASAP, this follow-up offers the same wonderful universe, rich character development, and positive outlook previously experienced in the Wayfarers universe. Tonally it is a bit more serious, but it is still a positive and uplifting story that poses many interesting questions. I can't wait to read the next book!

A Closed and Common Orbit is the sequel to Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I read it right on the heels of its predecessor (Wayfarers #1), and am grateful that I did. Had I not, I don’t know that the transformation in the narrative would have been as stark to me. Where Long Way told the story of a group of characters (a team, a family, a what-have-you), Closed and Common is essentially two stories – each of one person. This allows the narrative to blossom, changing the shape of the story to better suit its purpose. Much as Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead evolved the narrative that Ender’s Game began, so too does Closed and Common stand as an evolution of the story Long Way started.Many of the things I praised Becky Chambers for in Long Way are not present in this book; here she doesn’t make space feel so wide open and dangerous and beautiful, but instead makes cities and planets feel small and special and homey. Similarly, she doesn’t spread her attention equally among a cast of characters as she so expertly did in her first book, but keeps us near to two women whose paired stories illuminate the universe held within Closed and Common. This isn’t to say that this sequel showcased none of the same qualities as the first. As in Long Way, Closed and Common features a diverse cast of alien characters and as before Chambers wastes little time in the clumsy or drawn-out introductions that so often plague science fiction stories. She makes them clear to us, at once thoroughly understandable and completely alien. And as in book #1, Chambers mixes lighthearted humor with dread and fear and heartbreak and all manner of loves, so that her book is as thrilling and entertaining and emotionally restorative as it is illuminating.If I’m being dramatic (as I so often am about science fiction) this book is proof that the kind of science fiction that serves to examine what it is to be human is alive, is well, is thriving. It would not be exaggerating to say that in reading Chambers’ A Closed and Common Orbit I came to a better understanding of myself and the place I choose for myself in society. I literally stopped and took notes – not for this review but for myself, for later, for living.In short, Becky Chambers writes with an earnest voice and tells stories full of complexity, transcending taste and style and allowing her characters, her stories, and her messages to speak to readers all over. If you have even a passing interest, this book is worth the read.

I’ve long enjoyed Becky Chambers’ writing, and “A Closed and Common Orbit” is no exception. The intertwined stories kept me engaged and wondering where they were leading, and a delightful surprise awaited me as I wound toward the story’s end. The characters were fresh and completely alive in my imagination as I read chapter after chapter. Well done, Ms. Chambers. A lovely story, beautifully and creatively told.

Ok, I have a quick rant first. Ms. Chambers, if you're reading, this is for you. I *really loved* this book. BUT. I want more of the Wayfarer crew from your first book!! I need more Kizzy!! I need more Jenks, more Rosemary, more Dr. Chef, more everyone!! MORE KIZZY!!Better now. I really did spend the first third of this novel being mad that the story was about Pepper and Sidra. Then I gave up being mad and just got totally and completely sucked in to this wonderfully put together tale.If you've read Chambers first book (and seriously, why would you not) then you feel right at home with more of the now-familiar alien species and excellent world building (galaxy building really). This book focuses on a side character from the first (Pepper, a human) and a sort of rebirth of a previous main character (Sidra, a sentient AI). As with the previous book, I love the depth of the galaxy Chambers has built, experienced mostly as glimpses seen by Pepper and Sidra.What really blew me away though, was that Chambers tackles a really great Really Big Idea - namely, is a sentient AI really all that different from us biological sentients - but couches it in a story that is so gripping and well paced it's almost an afterthought. Experiencing this through the eyes and thoughts of an AI is a nice twist. I also hugely enjoyed Chambers' use of flipping between the characters' present and past timelines. While this technique is nothing new, Chambers employs it in stunning fashion - every time I got to the end of a segment I couldn't wait to get back to it, only to find myself thinking the same at the end of the next, alternate time segment also.Overall a greatly enjoyable read that I whole-heartedly recommend.

This book is less of a sequel to A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and more of a spin off, as Pepper is the only character from the original books in the series.Like many of Chambers' stories, it's definitely a slow burn and I found myself struggling to get through the first quarter of the book due to how slow the pacing was (this is the only problem I have with the book). However, like many of Chambers' stories, the rest of the story is fantastic and finding the themes and metaphors in the story is almost as fun as the world building that Chambers makes in her story.The themes in this book are autism and trauma. The chapters switch between the perspective of two of the characters, Pepper and Sidra. Sidra is the AI from the first book who had their memory wiped. The AI was put into a "kit", which is a machine resembling a human body. Reading the emotions that Sidra was experiencing and it was easy to tell that the AI was exhibiting autism symptoms.Pepper's story I found to be more entertaining. Her childhood story starts with her as an enslaved person in a factory who escapes and finds a ship with an AI named Owl. Pepper spends years fixing the ship to make her escape.The true beauty of Chambers' works is almost always in her ability to describe the world around the characters. It's often more fascinating than the plot itself.

Lovelace is learning to navigate to her body kit, something that she doesn’t consider part of her ‘self”, since she is really a program running inside of it. She is getting used to her new home with Pepper and Blue and they are getting used to having her, as they’ve had to make many changes to keep her comfortable. Lovelace doesn’t understand why Pepper is so adamant that she can survive in a kit; She feels like it’s not possible due to the way she was programmed specifically for a ship. She has no idea how Pepper grew up and what AI’s were in her life from a young age. Slowly, Lovelace learns to function in her new world and Pepper opens up about her dark upbringing.I’ve loved Becky Chambers since I got through the first 10 pages of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet last year. The way she creates and describes alien cultures is so real. Honestly, it makes you feel like these species have been around your whole life, not that you’re just learning about them now.In her last book, I loved the way Becky Chambers played around with gender. Some of the alien creatures she describes change genders throughout different periods of their lives. This also means that their pronouns change many times in the book. A Closed and Common Orbit was no different. Tak, one of Lovelace’s friends, changes from female to male. No one questions it or struggles with the pronoun change. Tak just is Tak and everyone adjusts to the way their identity changes. I think Chambers does an amazing job showing that gender is a social construct and, also, that it is completely different from sex. In addition, everyone is assigned gender-neutral pronouns until they indicate their gender or pronoun preferences. This kind of trans-inclusive language is key for transgender folx to feel safe and respected, and it really makes the reader think about the preconceptions we hold about people before getting to know them in our own society.Becky Chambers completely has the sci-fi formula down pat. She includes everything you need in a well written, page turning, science fiction novel. Some of these ingredients include a system of unique planets that house different species, space travel, artificial intelligence, alien cultures, and alien relationships. I have yet to come across another author who completes their sci-fi formula so efficiently. I swear, I could give A Closed and Common Orbit to anyone, even those who don’t enjoy classic science fiction novels, and they’d enjoy it. She really knows what she’s doing.Lastly, I want to point out the way Lovelace is treated– as a character. Yes, she’s a spaceship program loaded into a body kit. Yes, she’s not considered a full human in her world and is technically committing a crime by merely existing. Despite all this, Chambers treats her like a ‘real’ person and gives her the same existence as everyone else in the book. I know AI’s aren’t really part of diverse reading, but it was comparable, in my mind. Giving someone, who society considers a less-than, the same opportunities in a story as the rest of the characters is what queer characters, characters of color, and characters suffering from chronic illnesses want to see in literature. I know it’s not the same, but I felt really good reading A Closed and Common Orbit for this reason (and many others outlined in this review!).Just as I expected, I absolutely loved this book. It’s definitely different from her first book, considering most of the plot takes place on a planet and not space, but that’s not a bad thing in the slightest. I will continue to support Becky Chambers throughout all of her works, as I recognize the importance of the way she treats gender, in addition to the extraordinary way she describes alien species and their behaviors. If you’re looking for an outstanding science fiction novel, this is it.

I was hesitant about these space operas because I am a huge Alastair Reynold’s fan and I thought he is the true master of that IMO, but damn! These books are the most heart warming stories I’ve ever read. Great, fun adventure, but it’s the characters that shine in these. It’s a master class in love, compassion, and acceptance of those who are different than you, whether it’s by species, looks, by sex, by who and how they love. It’s a vision of what our world should be like, how humans should act towards each other. My wife is a pastor and we’d both love to meet the author someday. Becky, if you read these, you made this guy cry so many times and I’m absolutely hooked. Also, please forgive my bad grammar, lol. You are the master of the space opera now. Make more of these books please!

Easy to understand, engrossing writing once again by the author. Makes one ponder about the simple trivial things in life. Good experience reqding it.

What can I say about this author that hasn't been said already? This is a wonderful series of three novels that take place in an alternate universe setting. They're wonderful to read, entertaining and hopeful with all the Sci-Fi elements that a fan would want in a book. It reminds me of the ancillary Justice series. You won't regret reading this book or the others in this series.

Compelling plot and very thorough investigation into AI consciousness and digital minds. Much better structured and integrated than book one - the one thing I regret is that the origin of blue and peppers names either escaped me or weren't mentioned - which i would have liked. But a wonderful book, thoughtful and insightful!I just wish it had been a different AI than Lovey - whom I would have loved to see with Jenks.

I really enjoyed this book - the characters were complex and developed at a great pace. This universe has more to offer I’m sure.

A Closed and Common Orbit is heartwarming, funny, incredibly descriptive and made me shed a small tear at the end.If you want to know what happens to Pepper and Lovelace after the events of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet this is the book for you. And if you haven't read planet yet then what? Why - go do that now then come back...Becky Chambers writes so so beautifully and this world she has built is a vibrant, eclectic, multi-cultural joy to read about. Her characters are drop dead gorgeous, intriguing, fascinating and most of all so very authentic, you just live with them. I lived with the crew of the Wayfarer in the last novel and in this one I lived Pepper's past and watched in awe as Lovelace (Sidra) mapped out her future.Oh I don't know what to call it. Literary science fiction? No, whatever, it just IS storytelling at its very very best and most engaging. Roll on the next book. Any chance of getting the gang together again? I really really hope so.Simply Heavenly. That is all.Highly Recommended.