A Closed and Common Orbit

Executive Summary: While not as fun/light as the first book, by the end I enjoyed this one nearly as much.Full ReviewI only came across Ms. Chambers and her book [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] about a month ago, but I thoroughly enjoyed that book. I was excited to learn that a sequel was due out so soon.Except, this isn't so much a sequel as it is another story told in the same setting with mostly new characters. This follows the events of the first book, but could nearly be read stand alone apart from references back to it.The story is split in two alternating stories. The first story is about an artificial intelligence, Lovelace, that was created to serve about a ship, but now finds herself in a human analogue. The other story is about the past of Pepper, the technician whom we met as a minor character in the original book.Pepper did not have an easy childhood. Lovelace is not having an easy time of her new situation. That made this book a bit harder to read than the first. I enjoyed the first part, but the fun of the first book was missing. I found Lovelace's parts slow at the start as well.As the book went on though, I was just as caught up in it as I was in Long Way. This was a very different book, but it was still an interesting story to be told. The main theme of the book, if I had to pick one is what does it mean to be alive/sentient? What things make us all the same? How can we come to understand and accept the differences of others?Some might think that is preachy. I know I read criticism of the first book with that complaint. For me though, it's what sci-fi has done for years. Evaluate big ideas in a futuristic and imagined future. You can have escapism and thought provoking story telling at the same time.Overall, I found this book very heartwarming, though a bit of a tough read at times. I hope we get another Wayfarers book at some point in the future. I'd love to revisit the characters in either this book or the first one. I'd be just as happy to read another story set in the same series with entirely different characters though. Ms. Chambers has shown a talent for writing the kind of sci-fi I enjoy, and I will be interested in picking up her next book, no matter what that is.