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A Closed and Common Orbit
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Nov 2018 READER Pick: A Closed and Common Orbit by Chambers
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Most of the story involves Lovelace/Sidra and Pepper, but there are a lot of interspersed chapters about Jane, from 20-30 years earlier. Jane is Pepper as a child.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is Wayfarers #1. I thought I would read this first since the local library had it. Thought I would mention it. I’m so compulsive I simply can’t read #2 knowing there is a predecessor that I haven’t read. Maybe I’ll get November’s read by the time December comes out. Again I have to say I appreciate these recommendations, which have led to some pretty good reading.
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When I first joined this group I spent a lot of time digging through the bookshelf. Found some great books I hadn’t heard of before that way!
Richard wrote: "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is Wayfarers #1. I thought I would read this first since the local library had it. Thought I would mention it. I’m so compulsive I simply can’t read #2 knowing ..."You don’t need to read these in any kind of order, really.
This is a shared universe rather than a linear story. It’s like Niven’s (early) Known Space, Banks’ Culture, Varley’s Eight Worlds, etc: there’s a loose timeline of when things happen, but you don’t need to have read any particular book before any other.
I agree with Trike, no need to read these in sequence - very different stories and settings.
Good to know exact sequence not crucial. I won’t sweat the order then!
I read Long Way a couple of years back, and have been meaning to read this ever since it was published.Long Way was one of my best books of the year in 2016, and I was prepared for a little let down.
It's different, as it's much smaller in scope than the first in the series, but that also means there are fewer characters to get my brain around.
The thing that blew my mind was the way the author really gets inside the AI's head. At first when she talked about 'her kit did' something, it felt like pernicketyness. But then, the whole thing about being an AI using the kit as a tool, and it not necessarily reacting as she expected, really got me. This is brilliant pyschology, as is Jane's adaptation to her sudden new world. I felt really emotionally connected to these people all the way through.
It may not be hard science, but it really is one of the best social science fiction books I've read this year.
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Teresa wrote: "Very good points, Jemima. I particularly liked how the AI who had been designed to monitor every part of a ship and exterior threats too was most comfortable in a high corner of a room. .."Proving that cats are AI.
Trike wrote: "proving that cats are AI."lol!!
By the way, the third book in this series is in the semifinal list for the Goodreads Choice awards.
Just saying!
I read this some time ago, and I thought it was a great improvement over The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. The first book, I thought, was trying too hard to be "cozy" and to evoke "feels", to the point where it skated away from conflict and darkness and overwhelmed the reader with love and hugs and tea and cake.The second book, by contrast, doesn't feel like it's shying away from the darkness of aspects of the setting (both the dystopian horrors of the planet where Pepper grew up and the unfair treatment of AIs). It also explores the limits of "niceness", with characters' levels of tolerance being tested by difficult situations.
I've been trying for over a week now to come up with the right words to express how I feel about this book. I loved The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, and I love this one just as much. Doing a fish out of water story with spaceship AI has many possibilites, and Becky Chambers hit the highlights and lowlights amazingly well.
Well I’m just wrapping up Long Way and I agree with Keith’s assessment, but the book has grown on me. I ended up enjoying it a great deal. I have Closed and Common Orbit ready to go (since that was the actual selection) and I am looking forward to it-though I will probably detour to Revelation Space to at least be current one month. I still would love to reread Forever War.
Finally finished Closed and Common Orbit. My favorite parts were Jane struggling to get off the planet-it had a kind of dystopian feel which I usually get engaged in. I’m not sure how much AI stuff I find plausible-I usually try not to analyze it too much since I don’t really know and it affects my enjoyment of the story. This book stretched it a little though. In retrospect I actually like Long Way a little more, but I’m glad to have read both. There’s something very appealing about science fiction with good, caring characters (often I short supply in sci fi, at least that I read), and I just know that I would like Becky Chambers. I would be glad to read anything else that she would write.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (other topics)A Closed and Common Orbit (other topics)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (other topics)
Official description:
Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an 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.
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. 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.
A Closed and Common Orbit is the stand-alone sequel to Becky Chambers' beloved debut novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effect and Star Wars.