Book: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Read From: 22nd September - 26th September 2021
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: Following along from the events in The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, we follow three of the side characters through the past and the present.
That’s all I’m going to give you by way of summary I’m afraid, because I’m determined not to spoil anything from The Long Way! At the same time, I’m determined to give this book its own review because it’s more of a companion novel rather than a direct sequel, and also I’m really loving this series at the moment! I ordered the third book straight away, and it’s currently on my shelf waiting to be read after I finish the books I was procrastinating due to loving the Wayfarers so much!
It wouldn’t be a spoiler to say that this 2/3 main characters in this book are Blue and Pepper, and we get to see the past events that led to them ending up in Port Coriol. In the present timeline, we also follow them alongside their AI, Sidra. There are some interesting themes in this book about autonomy which really appealed to me as medical ethics is one of my modules this year and we've been looking at how fundamental autonomy is!
The backstory of Pepper and Blue is just heart-breaking and it will make you love them even more. Sidra's story is also not shy of sadness as we see a lot of her struggles with identity, particularly as a lot of people (or rather, species) don't see AI's as people. Thankfully, Sidra has her new Aeluon friend Tak to help her through and their friendship was just the purest!🥺 I think that The Long Way definitely had a stronger found family theme, but I was so pleased that it was still featured in this book - in both of the timelines!
Fully aware this review is massively lacking substance but I really don't want to spoil anything! If you take one recommendation from me, please let it be this series! I've seen mixed things about the third book but I'm hoping that I'll like it just as much as the first two. If you love found family... read the Wayfarers series!