Reviews with content warning for Child death - A vida compartilhada em uma admirável órbita fechada

Once again, absolutely in love. Devoured this baby in less than a week.

I’m an absolute sucker for an AI/android story due to Detroit: Become Human forever altering my brain and gah do I love this one!! There are two timelines and two different, but intertwining, stories to follow with two different (and yet very similar) AIs. One of them has just been housed in an illegal synthetic body because even this far in the future, AIs are only seen as tools and are not allowed to have autonomous bodies, even the sentient ones. Of course this throws up a lot of questions and ethics and shit to ponder and this book has some veeeeery good bits on that. Absolutely bloody loved it. And this book healed the part of my heart the first one so rudely ripped out so that was very nice as well.

I love that Chambers goes into more detail of other cultures/societies that were only briefly touched upon in Long Way. Again, love the world-building. Can’t wait to read the rest!

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the_reading_wren's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.75

Wow, what a story! Far darker than the first book in the series, but with the same themes of found family, healing and growth that made it worthwhile reading for me. This book also focuses on the theme of feeling at home (whether in a space, with others or within your own body). Of course the world building is fantastic too, as I’ve come to expect from Chambers, and the political, social and economic systems are interwoven through the narrative to provide plenty of moments to reflect on our own world. Overall a really satisfying answer to many of the unresolved questions left by book 1.

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00phantom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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greystory's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

#2 in the Wayfarers series follows the stories of AI Sindra and human techie Pepper, who we met at the end of book 1, as they essentially explore the meaning of life. It feels too easy, too light to simply say "meaning of life." I'm not being flippant and I want it to really sink in what that means because that's what this book does - takes you on a journey of discovering what it means to live. Sindra has a great scene towards the end where she talks about how all sapient beings struggle with finding purpose as she tries to explain her own difficulties with the same task.

In many ways, A Closed and Common Orbit felt heavier than The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and there's probably many reasons for that. The subject matter of the meaning of life can be pretty heavy. We're focused on two characters in a linear, detailed story instead of the shorter vignettes with a more diverse cast from book 1. We watch Pepper's past as she learns just how cruel and cold the world can be. We watch Sindra as she struggles with the consequences of her own sacrifice and trying to find a way to belong and feel right.

As their stories unfold, we see both the good and bad of the universe and each character finding a way to not just survive, but make the best of what's out there and really live. I cried a lot while reading this.

With that in mind, I feel like I should include some trigger warnings:
* Past child abuse
* Child death (implied, not on page)
* Animal violence and death
* Injury/Illness
* Seizure (or something like it)
* Panic attacks

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withlivjones'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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

After the first instalment of the Wayfarers series turned out to be one of my favourite books of 2023, I was somewhat hesitant to read its sequel, and fully expecting to be disappointed that it wouldn’t live up to the very high expectations I had for it. I am extremely pleased to inform you that I was wrong - this book is just as heartwarming and wholesome as the first, this time with added heartbreak! I loved both Lovelace’s and Pepper’s stories, as well as the parallels between them both as they start new lives and everything is completely brand-new to them. I find that Becky Chambers has some of the best-worded takes on the human condition - even though in these books she’s not always talking about just humans! - and it’s so nice to occasionally read a book that gives you hope for society instead of despair.

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waqupi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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queersicles's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

4.25

The narrative splits between the intense and harrowing journey of a human born to be a child laborer and an AI who has been uploaded into a body kit. The ending was a bit of a letdown, found it resolved in a "shit I have a deadline and want to just trie things up in a bow without actually resolving the main themes and challenges of the book"

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