Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

41 reviews

athryn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A definite step up from the first book in this series. I really enjoyed the intertwining stories of
Sidra and Pepper
are very well done, exploring the world set up in the first book in different ways. The end was pretty touching to me.

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maeverose's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

2.75

TL;DR: I was very bored. I liked the secondary pov more than Sidra’s. I don’t like how gender is handled. I’m realizing I’m not a huge fan of Becky Chamber’s writing style…

I love her other books, but so far this series is not working for me and I’m considering dnfing it. I was so bored. I didn’t really care for Sidra’s storyline at all, even though I typically love sentient AI stories. Jane’s pov was far more interesting, but I really didn’t like her narrative voice. Her constant categorizing of things into ‘good’ ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, saying something is ‘real ___’ over and over, her angsty teen phase… It made complete sense for her character but it was overdone and got very annoying for me to read.

As well, it really bothers me how gender is handled in this series. Becky Chambers handles it much better in the Monk and Robot series (though it’s still not perfect). I think it was probably unintentional, but in this book and in small angry planet, she always strictly ties gender to biological sex. There’s an alien species that has four sexes, so they use different pronouns for each of those sexes, but none of the characters identify as trans, and when it comes to most species it’s treated as a given that they just identify as a man or woman based on their biological sex. They always rely on someone’s physical characteristics to judge what pronouns to use.

I wish I liked this series but I just don’t

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dancers_and_dragons's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Becky Chambers explores what it means to be a person in every which way throughout this poignant companion to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. While initially I was disappointed in not getting to see what the main cast of the first novel were up to, I quickly was swept up in the new family being found in this novel. 

This book was heartfelt and emotional in the best of ways, from the interactions between characters to the descriptions of memories, to the heart-wrenching low moments of the two main characters when they hit their lowest points. Without giving anything away, it's the story of two who are more alike than they know trying to make it through their respective journeys and managing the hiccups that come up along the way. I deeply appreciated the world building, much as I did with Chambers' first book, and I can't wait to read the next one when I have a chance. 

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solenekeleroux's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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joey_schafer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This was really good, despite being so far my least favorite Becky Chambers book. A little more depressing than her other books, but really well-written still. 

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yuyine's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Libration est un bijou. Un roman lumineux qui nous propose deux histoires d’adaptation, d’acceptation de soi-même et d’épanouissement avec de formidables réflexions pleines d’humanisme qui s’y intègre naturellement. Un de ces livres où on s’attache irrémédiablement aux personnages dont les destins nous touchent. Un coup de cœur évident. Lisez Becky Chambers! Il me tarde dorénavant qu’arrive le début de l’année 2023 pour le troisième tome en version collector. 

Critique complète sur yuyine.be!

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ventenne's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

becky chambers does it once again! and this time, i was crying before the book even finished. lowkey preferred it to the long way to a small angry planet, which isn’t to say that isn’t also a phenomenal book.

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theatrealpaca's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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overbooked207's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

📖 A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers Book Review 📖

6th book of August and 23rd of the year:

The sequel to one of my all-time favorite books, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, this book follows an important character from the first book along with a whole new cast of great characters. It was heartfelt, inspiring, adventurous, and fun, had lyrical, atmospheric, and beautiful writing, complex and lovable characters, and queer, PTSD, disability, anxiety, and more representation, and it explored what it means to be human and the importance of community and togetherness. The series is still heavily character-based, which I love, but this installment had more action than the first, so people who enjoy more plot-based stories will enjoy that aspect of it. Personally, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is still my favorite in the series, but this was another amazing adventure, and I definitely recommend it and all other Becky Chambers' books! TW for PTSD, anxiety, abuse, animal death, ableism, child death, death, child abuse, drug use, vomit, violence, grief, gaslighting, injury/injury detail, captivity, slavery, mental illness, gore, blood, explosions/fire injury, mentions of sex, mentions of food, murder, and medical content📚🚀🔭

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lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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