Paperback, 364 pages
English language
Published Aug. 7, 2017 by Hodder & Stoughton.
Once, Lovelace had eyes and ears everywhere. She was a ship's artificial intelligence system - possessing a personality and very human emotions. But when her ship was badly damaged, Lovelace was forced to reboot and reset. Now housed in an illegal synthetic body, she's never felt so isolated. But Lovelace is not alone. Pepper, an engineer who risked her life to reinstall Lovelace's program, has remained by her side and is determined to help her.
A Closed and Common Orbit is a great exploration on how civilisation will handle sentient AI's and how these beings (are they?) think and search for meaning.
If you are only slightly interested in our AI future, this is a must read.
I :: liked :: "A long way to a small, angry planet", but it didn't blow me away. It was a fun read, but it left me sort of luke warm. By chance, I decided to read this sequel, and I'm so glad I did. I loved it. Maybe I was just in the right mind-space for this book, or maybe it's that Becky Chambers found her stride with the second book in the series, but somehow it all hung together much better for me.
It was great reading about FRIENDSHIP and not romantic love. This really is about that idea of the found family.
I found the various characters' stories gripping and believable, and I cared what happened to all of them. I loved the way they look after one another, and still have believable disagreements and frustrations. The whole thing about what it must be like for an …
I :: liked :: "A long way to a small, angry planet", but it didn't blow me away. It was a fun read, but it left me sort of luke warm. By chance, I decided to read this sequel, and I'm so glad I did. I loved it. Maybe I was just in the right mind-space for this book, or maybe it's that Becky Chambers found her stride with the second book in the series, but somehow it all hung together much better for me.
It was great reading about FRIENDSHIP and not romantic love. This really is about that idea of the found family.
I found the various characters' stories gripping and believable, and I cared what happened to all of them. I loved the way they look after one another, and still have believable disagreements and frustrations. The whole thing about what it must be like for an AI who used to inhabit a ship, to now inhabit a body was fascinating and beautifully handled.
A great book to read if you're feeling a little bit bruised by the world.
The second book in this series by Becky Chambers, I was much more taken with the first book than by this one. The alien species she has come up with, the universe she has constructed is wonderfully interesting, I love how she plays with gender with the aliens both in the first book and in this one. But where the first book had a sense of adventure -- even though the main Task of the book wasn't really what the book was about -- this book feels more like two novellas linked together at the end. Of the two, I found the story of Jane way more interesting; I'd hit a chapter break and be back in the Sidra story line and be impatient to get back to Jane. It's definitely not in the "scifi adventure" style! I can see from the other reviews that other people are thrilled with …
The second book in this series by Becky Chambers, I was much more taken with the first book than by this one. The alien species she has come up with, the universe she has constructed is wonderfully interesting, I love how she plays with gender with the aliens both in the first book and in this one. But where the first book had a sense of adventure -- even though the main Task of the book wasn't really what the book was about -- this book feels more like two novellas linked together at the end. Of the two, I found the story of Jane way more interesting; I'd hit a chapter break and be back in the Sidra story line and be impatient to get back to Jane. It's definitely not in the "scifi adventure" style! I can see from the other reviews that other people are thrilled with the focus on the human elements in these two stories, I'm guessing mostly the Sidra one, but that really didn't grab me here. I don't think I'd recommend this second book to friends, to be honest, but I'm definitely reading the next in the series if there is another. I can see a lot of room for interesting stories in the universe she has constructed.
I tore through the paperback in only two days as it combined two genres I really like: sci-fi and the upbringing of "feral" children. At first I was a bit disappointed that this book was not about the crew of the Wayfarer (or at least not all of them) but that quickly wore off because, like the first book, it was such an engaging read. It is told from two changing perspectives in two different times and still manages to keep up a steady pace and not get confusing. Again I was impressed by Chambers' skill in worldbuilding and character composition. And am looking forward to her next work, wherever it will take place!
A wonderful sequel
This book went an entirely different direction from the first in the series, yet it was just as enjoyable. My favorite part of the book was the structure in which the two stories were told in parallel, coming together into a great finish. Can't wait for the third one!
A wonderful sequel
This book went an entirely different direction from the first in the series, yet it was just as enjoyable. My favorite part of the book was the structure in which the two stories were told in parallel, coming together into a great finish. Can't wait for the third one!
A wonderful sequel
This book went an entirely different direction from the first in the series, yet it was just as enjoyable. My favorite part of the book was the structure in which the two stories were told in parallel, coming together into a great finish. Can't wait for the third one!
I really enjoyed this book. Strong characters, compelling plot, and an interesting take on an AI personality.
4.5 stars
It was strange reading a sequel that had very little to do (character wise) with the first book. But after the initial jarring expectation, the book was every bit as good as the first. It was a sweet tale about beings figuring out who they were, and who they wanted to be.
More focused than the opening book, still branches out where needed to build a solid perspective on the characters. It was really refreshing to go through a story where individuals are fundamentally good, where people are there for each other and try to be understanding.
Brilliant. Satisfying and brilliant. At first I wasn't sure how thrilled I'd be with a story that, at least in its premise, I'd've assumed would be more suited to the short-story format, but I'm delighted to be wrong; Chambers did an excellent job fleshing out a deeply intimate story of love and belonging in a future we'd be honored to herald.
I didn't get what the fuss was about Angry Planet, really.. it was a fun read, nice humanist (alienist) SF, but not very deep. This sequel (reading Angry Planet first is not really necessary) takes most everything that was good about Angry Planet and adds lots of depth in character growth, parallel storylines, philosphical questions. Devoured 300 pages in less than a day. Recommended if the world is getting you down.
(Also, one of the protaginists is a perpetual motion machine and also becomes effectively a pregnant virgin at the end. Funny bone tickled.)
This is the sequel to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. If you haven't read that book this review might be a little spoilery.
At the end of the book, the Artificial Intelligence, Lovelace, that runs the spaceship is put into a body kit to be transferred off of the ship. For Lovelace this is a huge adjustment. She is used to monitoring the vastness of space. She is used to having cameras in all the rooms of the ship. She is used to having a constant flow of information from the data stream that she is hooked into. Now she sees only through her eyes. She doesn't know the answer to any question that she is asked. She feels fragile and vulnerable.
She is taken in by Pepper, an engineer that helped with her transfer. Pepper takes her to her home and tries to teach her how …
This is the sequel to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. If you haven't read that book this review might be a little spoilery.
At the end of the book, the Artificial Intelligence, Lovelace, that runs the spaceship is put into a body kit to be transferred off of the ship. For Lovelace this is a huge adjustment. She is used to monitoring the vastness of space. She is used to having cameras in all the rooms of the ship. She is used to having a constant flow of information from the data stream that she is hooked into. Now she sees only through her eyes. She doesn't know the answer to any question that she is asked. She feels fragile and vulnerable.
She is taken in by Pepper, an engineer that helped with her transfer. Pepper takes her to her home and tries to teach her how to respond to the world. They have to make her look natural. Putting an A.I. in a body kit is illegal.
The themes of this book are identity and belonging. How do you go about making your own identity? How do you decide where you belong?
I did not like this book as much as the first one. I think that is because Long Way was one of my best books of 2016 and this one had a lot to live up too. I missed the larger cast of all types of species in that book. This novel is much smaller in scope. It focuses on Lovelace's life with Pepper and Pepper's past as an escaped slave child being raised by an A.I. I would still recommend this book. It is not strictly necessary to have read the first one but it is recommended. So much world building was done in the first book that this book assumes that you already know.
I would still recommend this to anyone who loves sci fi and enjoyed the first book.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
Common Orbit is just as good, compassionate and lovely as Angry Planet. I'm just overflowing with love for these characters; despite everything they go through they remain good people.
The story uses two timelines, one following on from the end of the previous book and the other is 20 years earlier and focuses on Pepper's past. Pepper feels she is the ideal person to introduce Sidra to the world because she was brought up by AI. Which AI is not as obvious as it first seems. Pepper’s early life was in a factory sorting scrap, with all the other genetically engineered Janes. I loved her story of how she got to be where she is now; full of true bravery and friendship. Insanely gripping too, I often forgot I knew the outcome.
I love how Becky tries to view the universe in other than human eyes. Sidra doesn't experience her …
Common Orbit is just as good, compassionate and lovely as Angry Planet. I'm just overflowing with love for these characters; despite everything they go through they remain good people.
The story uses two timelines, one following on from the end of the previous book and the other is 20 years earlier and focuses on Pepper's past. Pepper feels she is the ideal person to introduce Sidra to the world because she was brought up by AI. Which AI is not as obvious as it first seems. Pepper’s early life was in a factory sorting scrap, with all the other genetically engineered Janes. I loved her story of how she got to be where she is now; full of true bravery and friendship. Insanely gripping too, I often forgot I knew the outcome.
I love how Becky tries to view the universe in other than human eyes. Sidra doesn't experience her environments as one would expect a human to, despite the form of her body kit. She is meant to be installed in a ship not in a human and the novel explores the challenges of that and how she overcomes them. It's partly about hiding her true identity but I liked that it didn't linger too much on the illegal aspect.
Sidra’s thirst for knowledge helps the story introduce and explore some of the amazing world-building started in Angry Planet. Whilst the Lovelace programming prevents lying, Sidra befriends a species who also has difficulty withholding the truth, btu for biological reasons. It also uses the species’ gender fluidity to show how gender identity doesn’t change the person, just the pronouns used change.
So often there are plot devices used in novels that end up putting the character in a negative situation, but Becky does the amazing thing of writing positive outcomes out of things where the reader might expect something else. It's hard to explain but Josh described it as cosy when I was trying to explain to him. And these books are cosy, but not in an overly simple way.
It is described as a standalone sequel and for once I do think it could be read and fully enjoyed by itself. Although it would obviously spoil Lovey's storyline in Angry Planet. It isn't about Lovey though, as Sidra is a completely new AI, learning and forming her personality from scratch.
I've never known any other books that do so much to humanise AI. Whilst laws mean an AI can just be turned off or overwritten, Common Orbit explores the morals of doing that to a sentient being, even if they are made with code.
Purchasable
https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-closed-and-common-orbit.aspx.