Jul 17

Jul 17 A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2)

Author: Becky Chambers
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

Embark 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.

Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in a new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. 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.

Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together.

TL;DR Review

Like the book that comes before it, A Closed and Common Orbit is heartwarming and fun and beautifully written with the universe’s absolute best characters.

For you if: You like soft sci-fi about found family and self-acceptance that feels like a hug when you read it.

Full Review

A Closed and Common Orbit is the sequel to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. When I learned that it was set in the same universe but not about the same crew of characters, I was sad. And tbh, I would definitely still read a sequel about those characters specifically. But this was also so lovely that I ended up anything but disappointed! I shoulda known Becky Chambers would deliver.

The main character of this book is an advanced AI program who’s been decoupled from the ship she was created to run and placed inside a body kit. That’s illegal, though, so she goes to live with a side character from TLWTASAP, work as her assistant, and attempt to blend in. The story is about her struggle to adjust to a body that isn’t *her*, explain that dysphoria to those who love her, and forge authentic friendships of her own. At the same time, we get more and more backstory on the woman she lives with, until the two plots come together into an exciting ending.

So, that sounds very sci-fi, and obviously that’s the genre, but again, Chambers’ books aren’t about the AI or the science or space battles; they’re about characters and found family and self-acceptance. I was blown away by how much this said about real people’s experiences with body dysmorphia and society’s xenophobia through the metaphor of an AI living in a human body.

Another heartwarming, cozy, beautiful read from an author who will never disappoint me.