A Closed and Common Orbit

Wayfarers, Book 2

By: Becky Chambers

Narrated by: Rachel Dulude

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Series!

A Publishers Weekly "Best Books of 2017" pick!

Nominated for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel!

Shortlisted for the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award!

Winner of the Prix Julia-Verlanger!

Embark on an exciting, adventurous, and dangerous journey through the galaxy with the motley crew of the spaceship Wayfarer in this fun and heartwarming 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 shutdown 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 listeners 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 ragtag collection of crewmates.

A 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.

©2016 Becky Chambers (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Even better than her first book!

I continue to be impressed by the author's rich universe full of depth and character. Chambers is not afraid to tackle the big questions and she does it with flair and nuance.

a delightful surprise, again

What does it mean to be human? AI? Family? this book investigates all three, with a loving, generous touch and a great story. excellent read, though a definite departure from the first book. loved it and can't wait for the next!

My new favorite book!

I've never cried over a book before, but this book made me cry. In a good way tho

A Sequel that moves beyond

Wayfarers 2

This sequel focuses on two minor characters from the first book in this series, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and this made me wonder if I’d like it.

I loved it. The book explores identity, community, isolation and sense of being through the struggles of the characters to understand their sense of self worth and identity in ways I felt hit so close to home. And without clubbing the reader over the head with clumsy explanations, instead just telling the story and letting one discover what is happening.

I don’t want to say more and reveal anything, because I was so pleased while hearing the book and discovering them for myself.

Excellent and appropriate reading by Ms. Dulude, who reads the other books in the series.

If you need a break from sci-fi that covers intergalactic wars, espionage and planet-shattering weapons, give these books a try. There is still fun technology, aliens and aliens culture, AIs with personality and self-awareness, and yes: danger and problems. But these stories are really about people and how they get along (or don’t). Wonderful stuff!

Never thought Sci-Fi could make me cry

I never thought a sci fi book about Artificial Intelligences could make me cry. I was wrong. This winding story of two sentient AIs and their effect on the humans around them brought me to tears and is going to stick with me for a long time.

Others have summarized the story better than I can, so I will just say that you will be surprised and drawn in to the protagonists in ways you cannot imagine.

Note: Although this is book 2 of the Wayfarers series, you don't have to have read the first novel to understand what is going on.

Heartwarming

This story was even better than the first!!! Really enjoyed getting to know pepper and sidra and blue. Gosh. What great characters. I really felt for them.

Good in Universe Sequel

This is not a direct sequel for the Wayfarer crew. It is a tangential story, but a good one. If you liked the first book you will probably enjoy this one was well. However it isn't quite as good. It felt too long at first, until the ending where it went by too quickly. I wasn't a big fan at first, mostly because I wanted a continuation but I got over it eventually and started liking the new set of characters. By the end I was STARTING to get invested in the characters, but that's the problem when you made a series of books that are all tangential to each other. Every book you reset and relearn characters when you want to know what happened to the people you just spent 12 hours with. I think it is a shame Becky Chambers took this route, but I still love the universe and her writing overall so with a few caveats you need to prepare yourself for, I still think this is worth a read/listen.

Good, But Slightly Disappointing

Was not what I was expecting, but still really good! Pepper became Kizzie several times, in action and attitude, which threw me off. That, and the complete lack of pretty much every lovable character from the first book was a tad disappointing... Was really hoping Jynx would show up at the end or something to get to know the new Lovelace, that would have been enough, honestly. In truth, if I hadn't expected a sequel, I think it would have been more enjoyable.

Thought provoking and friendly

We continue to learn more about the Galactic Commons (GC) world in this second Wayfarers book. Be advised up front, this volume continues to explore the universe presented in A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but does not directly continue the story of those characters. Instead, it takes us on a deep dive into two figures briefly introduced in the first book. As in the first book, more and more of the GC universe and its background story is revealed. Also as in the first book, this work provokes questions about identify, humanity, social philosophy, and more, but does so in a very friendly, very accessible way. Loved it.

My new favorite book

This book is so thoughtful and amazing and I can wait to read the next.