A Closed and Common Orbit

, #2

Paperback, 364 pages

English language

Published Aug. 7, 2017 by Hodder & Stoughton.

ISBN:
978-1-4736-2147-3
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5 stars (21 reviews)

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.

12 editions

reviewed Zwischen zwei Sternen by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Wunderschöne Story und liebenswerte Charaktere

5 stars

Hach, was fĂŒr ein wunderbares Buch. đŸ„°

Der Fokus liegt hier auf den zwei Hauptprotagonistinnen, deren Charakterentwicklung und einen konsistenten Handlungsstrang mit merklich steigendem Spannungsbogen. Somit ist der ErzÀhlstil anders, als in Teil eins, dennoch ist das Buch mindestens genauso gut, wenn nicht sogar besser!

Die Story fand ich wunderschön und die Protagonistinnen und die drei Nebencharaktere durch und durch sympathisch und liebenswert. Auch dieses Mal habe ich wĂ€hrend des Lesens mehrfach in Emotionen geschwelgt. Wie sehr habe ich mit ihnen mitgefiebert, wie sehr mitgefĂŒhlt, wenn sie es schwer hatten, wie sehr ging mir das Herz auf, wenn sie schöne Dinge erlebt hatten. Und letztere sind zum GlĂŒck auch in diesem Teil wieder in der Mehrzahl, auch wenn diesmal ein bisschen hĂ€ufiger auch etwas bedrĂŒckendere Momente stattfinden, was die Bindung an die Charaktere aber umso mehr verstĂ€rkt.

Besonders angetan hat es mir Protagonistin Sidra. Nicht nur, weil ich es interessant 


feel good but real scifi too

4 stars

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 


made me cry more than once

5 stars

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.

gentle and fierce

4 stars

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.

Review of 'A Closed and Common Orbit' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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 


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