![]() “As good, smart and satisfying as its predecessor.If there was such a thing as a Cosy Space Opera subgenre of Speculative Fiction, Becky Chambers’ series would likely be listed alongside the equally excellent On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard and Binti by Nnedi Okorafor.” - Book Smugglers “ A Closed and Common Orbit may be smaller in scope than the book before it, but in its focus and its force, in the sheer delight it takes in the discoveries it documents, it’s as fine and as fantastical and as fun as Chambers’ absolute darling of a debut.” - Tor.com “Warm, engaging, properly science-fictional, A Closed and Common Orbit is a very likable novel indeed.” - The Guardian “Chambers uses her considerable talent to take a more focused and contained look at a gut-wrenching story of self-determination and personal autonomy No matter what beautiful and strange world Chambers takes us to, we can count on her to lead with humor and heart.” - RT Book Reviews (4 1/2 stars) “As with her amazing debut, the power of Chamber’s second space opera is in her appealing characters Her protagonists might not all be human, but they possess more humanity than most” - Library Journal (starred review) ![]() Praise For A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2)… When she joined the crew of the Wayfarer, an intergalactic ship, she got more than she bargained for-and learned to live with, and love, her rag-tag collection of crewmates.Ī Closed and Common Orbit is the stand-alone sequel to that beloved debut novel, and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effect, and Star Wars. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet introduced readers to the incredible world of Rosemary Harper, a young woman with a restless soul and secrets to keep. Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who’s determined to help her learn and grow. When she wakes up in a new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. Clarke Award!Įmbark on an exciting, adventurous, and dangerous journey through the galaxy with the motley crew of the spaceship Wayfarer in this fun and heart-warming space opera-the sequel to the acclaimed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Nominated for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel! One I won’t soon forget.Ī Closed and Common Orbit is available on Amazon.Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Series!Ī Publishers Weekly "Best Books of 2017" pick! In a year filled to brimming with excellent reads, A Closed and Common Orbit may have fallen short of where it otherwise might have been on best-of lists. This book takes time to show the confusion, fear, pain, and the joy, wonder, and curiosity that are part of the conscious experience. ![]() There’s no doubt that it’s possible to write a compelling adventure that deals with the essence of personhood. I am sure that, by making a categorical statement, I am shooting myself in the foot. From a quick search, I gather that the pacing presented a problem for some readers, but I feel that a book about asking difficult questions and exploring them with genuine care should take it slow, be methodical, and not detract from it’s central premise with an epic dressing. There isn’t an adventure at the heart of A Closed and Common Orbit, but there is action and change, despite the slow pacing of the novel. (Personhood as opposed to humanity is something particularly interesting to explore, given our own proximity to artificial intelligence and our somewhat limited understanding of consciousness.) Whether the AI learning the limitations of a single body, an escaped genetically engineered slave finding out about the world outside her prison, a ship AI exploring motherhood, or an alien shifting between genders with fluidity, each character arc deals with the question of personhood. The characters are rich and honest, the universe is extensive and fascinating, and the writing is excellent.Īt the core of A Closed and Common Orbit is one question, explored from several angles: what is personhood? While I haven’t read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, the first book in Becky Chambers’s Wayfarers series, I found A Closed and Common Orbit, last year’s Hugo-nominated sequel to that volume, a deeply enjoyable and approachable read.
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