A CLOSED AND COMMON ORBIT | Becky Chambers
(Wayfarers #2)
03.14.2017 (first published 10.20.2016) | Harper Voyager
Rating: 4/5 stars
The sequel to THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET focuses on Lovelace, who was once the artificial intelligence inhabiting the Wayfarer spaceship. She has awoken in a new body after surviving a total system shutdown and reboot. She has no memory of what came before. Lovelace’s guide to navigating the universe in this new body is Pepper, a spunky, excitable engineer who wants to help her learn and grow. Together they find a way to exist together and in the vast universe they call home.
Becky Chambers has completely solidified herself as an auto-buy author for me with the Wayfarers series. I fell in love hard with THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET and I was worried how the other books would hold up. I won’t lie that I was a bit taken aback and slightly disappointed when I initially found out this book didn’t focus on the whole crew. How could Chambers take away all of the characters I had just fallen in love with? Fast forward a few pages into the book and I completely forgave Chambers!
A CLOSED AND COMMON ORBIT alternates between two narratives from Lovelace and Jane. At first it isn’t clear how these narratives overlap, but they’re both so captivating and unique that I didn’t mind. I loved how both narratives were fully developed stories that could have worked easily as a stand alone reads. Chambers weaves together the themes of loss, loneliness, and belonging into what I can only categorize as feel good science fiction. There’s an overall optimism in the face of adversity theme to these books, which makes my heart incredibly full. I can’t wait to see where the series takes me next!
This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository
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