364 pages
English language
Published Nov. 11, 2017
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.
Chambers is a great author and I love immersing myself into her universes.
More feel-good scifi. (No spoilers:) It's Pepper backstory, and another minor character from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. I think this one benefits a lot from taking it slowly and focussing on just two characters.
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.
I found this much more emotional of a read than I expected. The questions about what makes a person a person, and a home a home, and a family a family, not to mention what is the relationship between ourselves and our physical bodies— it’s a lot to handle! And the book does is so gently even as it’s really fierce on valuing lives and loves. Anyway. She’s so good, Becky Chambers.
How amazing was this book? I had put this one off for a while, because I like plot-heavy books, and as I stated in my review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, I had my issues because there was no plot as such in there. Instead it had a huge ensemble cast of characters and their stories. A Closed and Common Orbit follows the events of the first book, but it's not a return to the crew of the Wayfarer at all. Instead this book has a very tight focus on two characters: Sidra and Pepper. Sidra, the AI formerly known as Lovelace, was installed in a body kit at the end of the previous book, and she starts over a new life on Port Coriol with the aid of Pepper. The latter is a friend of Jenks from the first book, a tech with a repair …
How amazing was this book? I had put this one off for a while, because I like plot-heavy books, and as I stated in my review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, I had my issues because there was no plot as such in there. Instead it had a huge ensemble cast of characters and their stories. A Closed and Common Orbit follows the events of the first book, but it's not a return to the crew of the Wayfarer at all. Instead this book has a very tight focus on two characters: Sidra and Pepper. Sidra, the AI formerly known as Lovelace, was installed in a body kit at the end of the previous book, and she starts over a new life on Port Coriol with the aid of Pepper. The latter is a friend of Jenks from the first book, a tech with a repair shop on Port Coriol. With a different PoV in each chapter, we learn about Sidra's struggle to adjust to life in a body, and learn Pepper's quite heartbreaking backstory of why she is so fond of AIs.
You still have all the hallmarks from the first book, with diversity oozing from every page. I loved every moment of this.
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.