Closed and Common Orbit

by Becky Chambers

English language

Published Oct. 8, 2016 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-256942-4

(275 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.

15 editions

Another Hopeful Fool reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

I Cried

4 stars

The dual stories, told in short, impactful chapters is such a powerful mechanism, and Becky Chambers wields it perfectly.

Both stories are riveting for their own, very different reasons. But both have to do with social justice, and personhood denied.

I found myself getting to the end of one chapter and being oh but I want to stay with this character! only to get embroiled in the other character's chapter immediately.

It's like an anti-cliffhanger. Rather than leaving you hanging, it pulls you in to the next segment, and then pulls you right back into the following.

If you liked The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - the previous entry by Becky Chambers, then I can super-recommend this.

phonner reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Review of "A Closed and Common Orbit" by Becky Chambers

5 stars

A well-paced and surprisingly emotional and affecting story that touches on serious themes (like classism, refugees, person-hood, belonging) but not in a heavy-handed way. Fun and well-written, and a solid example of sci fi working both as a good story and as contemporary commentary.

Diana reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Happy I continued this journey

4 stars

I fell in love with the characters in Becky Chambers' first book of the Wayward series. When I realized the second book didn't include (most of) them, I almost stopped reading.

Thank goodness I didn't. I fell in love with these characters too. Which made picking up the next book even easier.

Chambers writes intelligent, insightful stories that are so smooth, I flow through them like talking with a good friend.

KnitAFett reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Honestly felt this was better than the first.

5 stars

And I loved the first book. This one for me benefitted heavily from having less characters, so you were able to get a better feel for everyone overall and learn about them on a deeper level.

Pepper's background story was great to go through. Even with the time jumps, you felt like you were actively watching her grow and mature in the storyline. It also heavily covers the reasons that Pepper is so keen on people being more accepting of AI as being close enough to human to care about.

Lovey trying to figure out how to be ok being in a body that she did not pick out was an unexpected twist that I would not have thought about. Chambers really made me look at a lot of things from a different angle with this book and that's always a good thing.

My one complaint would likely be that …

And I loved the first book. This one for me benefitted heavily from having less characters, so you were able to get a better feel for everyone overall and learn about them on a deeper level.

My one complaint would likely be that the ending just felt a little rushed. I didn't really feel like I was lacking any story, it just felt like a little too much happened in too short of a time.

ToadyNerd reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Another great science fiction read from Becky Chambers

5 stars

I really liked "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet", and so decided to pick up this one. I'm so glad I did. It is basically two story lines that make you think about sentience and life purpose. I'll have to pick up another book in the Wayfarers series.

Courts reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Another Lovable Book from the Wayfarers Universe

5 stars

The books from the Wayfarers series can be read standalone, but I recommend reading them in order so you get a feel for the universe and an introduction to the characters (ok, I've only read the first two right now). Things will make a little bit more sense.

Anyways, this was another really nice, character-driven book.

Lauma Pret reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

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

4 stars

This book is not about whether (g)AI could be people. It is about how does it feel when someone doesn't see personhood in you or in someone you love.

Alex reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Finding life and identity

3 stars

Two stories, a young girl trying to survive and a synthetic "person" looking for it's purpose, and how they are both trying to fit in with society.

I think I enjoyed the young girls story more and was more engaged in her "plain" survival and how she tried to repair a space shuttle. For the synth not so much, it's story felt like it was a simple "confused teenager messing around" drama.

Jack 💜 reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

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

3 stars

Loved the concept, but the story kept hitting the same plot beats. I liked it overall, but it still felt a little disappointing coming off of the first Wayfarer book.

Pataclop reviewed Libration by Becky Chambers (Les voyageurs, #2)

Libration de Becky Chambers

5 stars

Le tome 2 des Voyageurs. Du coup je m’attendais à retrouver l'équipage du tome 1. Pas du tout ! Par contre l'histoire est centrée sur des personnages déjà présent dans le tome 1. L'histoire est la quête d'identité et de sens de deux personnes, l'une humaine et l'autre IA. Comme le premier tome c'est bien écrit, et on attend qu'une chose : lire le tome 3 !

TQ@wyrms.de reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

The two main characters just weren't for me

3 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed the worldbuilding and the story, but I felt like I had to do the work to relate to the characters. They both start off at points in their lives that are unique, interesting - and hard to wrap my head around. The author does a great job giving them distinct voices and letting them grow over time, but I just found them too far removed to really get into the book.

The secondary characters, however! I really loved reading about them from the perspectives of the protagonists, and as always, the interactions are wonderfully crafted.

mahdi reviewed Dvě místa na slunci by Becky Chambers (Poutníci, #2)

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4 stars

Druha cast navazuje volne na predchozi dej, kdy Sidra, byvala lodni UI Lovelace, obyva lidsky telo. Je to opet poklidny, pohodovy cteni a plyne nak tak samo.

Kdyz se nad tim zamyslim vic, tak flashback cast je dost slusne propracovana a pride me tenhle dil o poznani kvalitnejsi.

Second story focuses on (not only) troubles of former spaceship AI moved to human body. There's also flashback to Chilli's childhood, painting careless society growing genetically modified kids for labor. It's somewhat more complex than first part and I like different timelines, despite being it a bit predictable.

Chema Hernández Gil reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Lovely book, feels like a two in one

5 stars

This is a great book. It is effectively two stories that converge in a lovely way. Perhaps event better than the 1st in the series.

Eph (they, them) reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

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

5 stars

Chambers is a great author and I love immersing myself into her universes.

AndreasD reviewed A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Tight and tense plot, and some big thoughts

5 stars

Using the trope of a computer or AI to discuss about what it means to be a human is not new, but Chambers does something interesting with it. It's more about human as a social animal than the question of consciousness. I think that was a far more interesting question anyway.

I found Pepper's story to be really engaging as well, and this time it felt like the author did develop her skills writing plot driven as well as character driven. Chambers has become one of my favourite writers.