A Closed and Common Orbit

I loved Becky Chamber’s first book. I don’t think you have to have read that to enjoy this, but if you like this one, by all means go back and read the first one.

When I sat down to read this book, I was a little nervous. I had loved the first book so very much, and that’s a lot of pressure to put on a sequel, even a stand-alone sequel. But this book is, if anything, even better. Although the setting for the series is very much space and colonies and aliens and even the occasional space war, the focus is really on the characters and the cultures that they come from.

This book is about what makes a person a person, and how being a “manufactured” person affects how one emerges as a person. Although the two main characters are a human and an AI in a human body (a “kit”), the book is filled with many other people from different species and cultures. A great deal of the story concerns learning to become a person when you were built more to be a thing (a slave or an AI). The multitude of interesting, well-conceived aliens surrounding the two main characters help illuminate that journey.

Mind you, this is in no way a classic Campbellian “hero’s journey”. It’s about the journey of having to invent oneself with no good role models for how to be the kind of person you are. Amidst a dazzling array of people from wildly different backgrounds, the book explores the weightedness of names (both main characters name themselves, for different reasons, but in both cases, the act is heavily symbolic), the difference between the interior and exterior view of the same person, the way one’s background determines the degree to which there is congruence between the self and the body in which the self resides, and oh, so very much more.

The characters have depth, the setting is intriguing, and I could go on raving about how mich I loved this book. But you shouldnt be reading this comment — you should be reading the book. If you like character-driven stories set in solidly world-built locations and a writer with a real appreciation for the depths of cultural differences, you are in for a real treat.

Becky Chambers’ second novel continues in the Wayfarers universe and is equally wonderful, albeit a little less fun. My favorite part of her debut “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” was the interaction between the diverse crew which was witty, positive, and entertaining. The characters here are just as complex and wonderfully drawn up, but the tone is a little more serious this go-around. The story is very focused and forgoes more of the “side quest” adventures of the first novel and instead the world building is accomplished through Lovelace’s forays into new places as she experiences new cultures, learns social norms, and tries various food and drink in her “kit” (aka her body) for the first time.

The novel switches back and forth each chapter between the current day adventures of Lovelace and the past trials of a girl named Jane, from which one end story line eventually develops. This leads to probably my biggest gripe with the story: there is no real “end goal” in sight until very late in the book. The stakes are already relatively low in the Wayfarers universe, which is wonderful and by design. Instead of “saving the universe” we get to experience the wonderful worlds and shared cultures of the everyday residents as they go about their daily lives. The unfortunate downside to this is that we as the reader still want to feel like we’re on some sort of adventure with an end goal in mind. With ACaCO, that end goal is kept hidden away from us until about 3/4 of the way through the book so you feel like you are just going through the motions a bit with seemingly unrelated chapters and events (especially in the current timeline) until Jane’s story is fleshed out.

What I love about the Wayfarers books is that Chambers has crafted a wonderfully accepting universe where many different cultures live in relative peace and are mostly accepting of everyone. Residents are sex-positive, accepting of different lifestyles, species, and colors, and generally seem to be better off as a shared community. Chambers has still found soft spots with which to make us think, however. Lovelace is an AI and her sentience is not recognized (or authorized) in a body kit – but what makes her so different from so many of the other characters we meet? You’ll have an opportunity to decide for yourself as Chambers raises many wonderful moral questions and puts her characters in situations where they have to face those questions and challenges head on. It provides you with the opportunity to reflect on your own personal views and doesn’t provide a clear answer or judgement. You need to decide for yourself.

While not as lighthearted, fun, and adventurous as her debut TLWTASAP, this follow-up offers the same wonderful universe, rich character development, and positive outlook previously experienced in the Wayfarers universe. Tonally it is a bit more serious, but it is still a positive and uplifting story that poses many interesting questions. I can’t wait to read the next book!

Like its predecessor (which is not necessary to follow and enjoy this book, but why wouldn’t you read it?!), this book introduces us to a huge variety of species, cultures, ideas, and lifestyles–but all through the emotionally potent viewpoint of a few key characters. You may come for the space opera, but you stay for the people, whatever form they take. And yet throughout it all, you are taking part in a conversation about what it means to be a person, to be part of a family, and to have purpose. Wonderfully well done; I hope the author continues to explore the universe she has created!

The followup to Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is more of a companion novel than a true sequel. Set in the same universe, it follows the AI Lovelace as she learns how to “be human”. This is a science fiction trope going back to the beginning of stories about robots. There’s not a lot of new ground to cover, but there are some neat ideas. This is only half the story. The other half of the novel follows Jane as she attempts to repair an old ship to escape a planet. I loved Becky Chambers first novel. While this novel is just as well written it didn’t engage me in the same way. I started and stopped it several times. I will say as the two stories finally dovetail together, there is a decent payoff. There is an underlying theme of acceptance that isn’t overstated but well done. I recommend it but don’t expect a direct sequel to Long Way.

Beautiful. Wonderful. Character-focused, philosophical, moral, full of stories and thoughts and places and the universe, all in one beautifully woven storyI knew I adored Becky Chambers writing from her first book, but this just cements it. She has a way of weaving everything in together and telling a story while youre caring about the characters that means youve suddenly got to the end of the book and youre somewhere between crying and smiling, but youre not sure why.

Its a gentle and sweet read, but one that also tugs you along; I was reading this on my commute and I did not want to put it down. I was reading it while making dinner and kept forgetting to stir things. I actually let my tea go cold! I had to read one more chapter, one more paragraph, just to find out what happens next

We get to see more of the universe and the cultures in this sequel, and its all so inventive, so different and yet everything works together. Yes, theres horrible people and places, theres bureaucracy and frustration and anger and hate. But theres so much love and hope, and I think thats what I love most. You come away from the stories realising that even if everyone is so, so different somehow, they can make those differences work.

The story itself is sweet; the two timelines follow Jane from her start as a worker in a factory, sorting scrap, and Lovelace taking her first steps in a human kit-body after being a ships AI. But the two stories wind together at the end, and I love seeing both of them grow.

So yes. Sweet, adorable, thoughtful, growing and wonderful. Read it. Read the previous one. And then read them again.