A Closed and Common Orbit

‘Life is terrifying. None of us have a rule book. None of us know what we're doing here. So the easiest way to stare reality in the face an not utterly lose you s*** is to believe that you have control over it”

I pretty much love everything Becky Chambers writes so this being a 5-star read is not a surprise for me. An AI in human form is something I haven't read yet surprisingly (although the Ann Leckie series that does this is on my list). “A Closed and Common Orbit” had more conflict than the other books I've read by Chambers but it was still a cozy sci-fi nonetheless. If you are interested in reading a cozy sci-fi about an AI in a human body you actually do not have to read the first book in the series to read this one, although I recommend that one too! There are some nice twists in this novel too which is a nice addition as I don't recall any in the first one or in the Monk and Robot series.

I really look forward to reading the next one in the series!

(Clarification first: this is not a sequel to [b:Angry Planet 22733729 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405532474l/22733729.SY75.jpg 42270825]. There's a connection, but it's tenuous at best. Don't expect any of the same characters or situations.)And, with that out of the way, squee again! Not at first — I was slow to catch feelings for these characters — but catch them I did, and it all just kept getting better and better up to the very end. In this book, Chambers speaks to the Broken Ones: those of us with physical and/or psychic trauma, different, weird, hurting. And she writes about grit, compassion, caring, finding one's tribe, one's purpose, one's self. There's a whole lotta love in these books, and okay it can be a little thick at times, but right now I'm A-OK with that.

I'm in two minds about this book. On the one hand, it's a better, more coherent story than [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 25201920 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438590529l/25201920.SY75.jpg 42270825]; it becomes quite gripping and interesting; and it has a happy ending. On the other hand, it has fewer significant characters, and much of the story is a tale of discomfort and suffering.On picking it up again after a gap of almost 4 years, I thought of what I was letting myself in for, and wondered whether I really wanted to reread this thing. Tales of discomfort and suffering are not what I go looking for. In fact, I've reduced it from 4 stars to 3, because I shouldn't be in doubt about whether I want to reread a 4-star book.I persevered and reread the whole thing, and I thought it was good in its way. I complained mildly about the cuteness of the characters in [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 25201920 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438590529l/25201920.SY75.jpg 42270825]; here the only similarly cute character is Owl. If I try to be objective, I think this is the better book of the two; but reviews and ratings aren't objective and can't be objective, they're about your personal reactions to the subject. And my personal reaction is that I'm somewhat reluctant to reread this book, because I have to wade through plenty of unhappiness before reaching (eventually) the happy ending.Even the happy ending is somewhat qualified. Pepper in particular still has problems that she's never going to lose, as a result of her deprived childhood. Sidra has found something that suits her in the short term; she may become bored with it later. And she's still under sentence of death if her secret leaks out, although all the characters seem to have stopped worrying about that by the end of the story.Most sf authors suffer from anthropomorphism to some extent: non-human characters tend to function pretty much like humans, because that makes them easy to understand and sympathize with, and they can then function better in the story. Most sf aliens, including Becky Chambers aliens, function pretty much like humans would if they were born with different bodies and brought up in a different society. They have humanlike minds.I've been reading sf for a long time, so at least I'm accustomed to that. What bothers me here is that the intelligent machines (AIs) have humanlike minds too: they feel humanlike emotions, and can appreciate and enjoy art and literature.These are AIs designed to run a spaceship. Humanlike emotions and artistic appreciation aren't merely useless for this purpose, they're counter-productive: they distract the AI from its proper functions and are likely to degrade its performance. They wouldn't be designed in deliberately.You could argue that humanlike emotions and artistic appreciation come with intelligence and can't be avoided if you want intelligence. This theory is fairly common in sf, it can't be proved or disproved at present, but it irritates me when authors just assume it to be so without even trying to make it seem plausible. Why should intelligence require these extra features? The only argument seems to be that, well, we're intelligent and we have these features. By the same argument, everything possessing intelligence should also have ten fingers, ten toes, an appendix, and so on.I also have a specific minor niggle about the story. The young Jane suffers a broken leg, and the story glosses over how she recovers from that unaided. I suspect that in real life it would take longer and never fully recover, after being inexpertly set. I think the author should have chosen a somewhat less serious injury. But I'm not a doctor, I have no relevant expertise.

I think the most amazing part of Becky Chambers' work is the overwhelming empathy she communicates between the reader and her characters. You care for these characters in a way very rarely experienced in Sci-Fi novels.

I'd love to learn more about her world-building process because it is a Masterclass in itself. I saw a youtube interview with her and gleamed a hint of what could have produced such a talent. Becky is a dedicated D&D DragonLance player, and spoke briefly and with great affection of her groups campaign over many years.

Her books are social, deep, intelligent and brilliant. Highly recommended and will continue to be in your consciousness long after you've finished each tome. BRILLIANT

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.

What a lovely and heartfelt, book. While I enjoyed her first book, this one pulled me into the lives of the characters and their arcs more than “Long Way to Small Angry Planet.” Possibly because she focused on fewer characters than in the first book.

Close and Common Orbit is really a story of people discovering who they are, the importance of friendship and bonds, and the need we all have for companionship and to feel at home. I can't recommend it enough- we don't usually think of sci-fi as touching or moving, but this was both.

Following on from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet where the Wayfarer has been almost destroyed in an alien attack. The AI that runs the ship has been blitzed and when it was rebooted it reverted to a brand new install, having lost all it's memories and relationships with the crew.

In this book the AI has been transferred to a body kit and the story from here explores the difficulty of the transfer from ship to body. Running parallel is the story of Jane, a ten year old girl who was artificially bred to be a factory worker. Chapters alternate between the cloned human working out her life and the AI in an artificial body working out her life. Their respective struggles are intermingled with the strange relationships between various aliens that populate the planet.

It's the cozy scifi of Becky Chambers with the same sense of optimism of the Angry Planet story. This time she deals with themes of identity and acceptance in a deeper way. It got a bit bogged down in the expository stuff in the middle but suddenly sparked up again once we got back to characters instead of concepts.

I actually like this addition to the Wayfarers series more than I do the first. Chambers takes all the best of her world-building and character development skills from A Long Way to Small Angry Planet, and compounds it by adding a beautiful narrative with themes of self-identity and what it means to be human in this book.

oh wow. I read [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 22733729 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405532474l/22733729.SY75.jpg 42270825] a WHILE ago (for a podcast! and really liked it, more than I was expecting to given my usual wariness toward sci-fi. But then when I heard the 2nd book in the series wasn't about the Wayfarer ship anymore I was like “girl IDK”. And then I put it off long enough that by now I've forgotten most of that book so this was fresh to me, and I loved it! Really thoughtful world-building designed to support a nice cozy found family. You love to see it!

I was expecting a continuation from the first Wayfarers book but this can almost be read as a standalone. A ship AI struggles with finding her identity and sense of purpose after being placed (illegally) in a human-like body. At the same time we follow the story of a genetically modified girl, Jane 23, destined to spend her life working in a factory, who escapes and has to figure out how to live in the outside world. Even though it tackles some heavy subjects, it's just such a cozy, comfy sci-fi thanks to the relationships the different aliens and AIs build with each other.

Wow, probably my most surprising read of the year in the best way possible. I gobbled up this audiobook in two days. It was beautiful, tragic, heart-breaking and heart-warming. This is the sequel to the Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, which read to me like an amazing episodic multi-species space crew show (read: Star Trek). This second book is not that, it's not even a continuation of the same story. This is a deep dive into two side characters' lives and it was completely unexpected. It stole my heart and A+++ for story-telling, world-building, themes and pulling on my heart strings.

it's a becky chambers novel so i'm fully into it. really loved this one's themes about the disconnect between body and mind and what you can do to bring the two together. as a trans person, this hits with me pretty intensely!! the idea of “purpose” and how we inherently do not have any but need to make one for ourselves, is something i really connect with too, and it's cool to see it crop up here a little before becoming a major part of one of her later works. super bummed that it both seems like the wayfarers series has ended/gone on pause and that the very nature of it means i probably wont see sidra and pepper and tak again, or at least for a while. wanna check in with them right away!!

Lovelace was meant to be a ship’s AI, processing and monitoring her crew. But when circumstances push her towards uploading into a kit, her grasp of purpose and understanding begin to unravel. Pepper stays by Lovelace’s side, as she tries to process the new world around her from the eyes of a human looking kit. Along the way, readers will discover Pepper’s tragic past and heartwarming experience with artificial intelligence.

Through Lovelace, or as readers come to know her as Sidra, there are many moments where the new perception of the world is too much for her to handle. She has what amounts to panic attacks and struggles with feeling the kit is not actually her own body. The way Becky Chambers can capture these internal struggles is heart-wrenching. But no matter how difficult it may be, Sidra has the love and support of her friends.

And one of those friends is Pepper, a woman who has gone through a traumatic past. As Sidra’s story grows and develops, readers are also taken back to when Pepper was known as Jane. While there are hints at her past in the first book, A Closed and Common Orbit will dive fully into Pepper’s abusive upbringing and escape. It is a sad read, but knowing that Pepper is around to help Sidra in the future lets readers know there is hope for her in the end.

The two storylines interconnect and show how acclimating to a new society and worldview isn’t easy regardless of who is experiencing it. They also are in line with the understanding AI’s are much more than just pieces of software, yet the world at large still doesn’t want to accept it.

A Closed and Common Orbit may be the sequel to A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but it can also be standalone. However, if you do read this book first there will be major spoilers for book one. While book two may not follow the same cast of characters from the prior novel, it is no less phenomenal. I could hardly put this book down and highly recommend it to fans of sci-fi.