A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers – Mini Spoiler Free Review

Title: A Closed and Common Orbit
Author: Becky Chambers
Series Name: Wayfarers
Genre: Adult Sci-Fi
Publication Date: Oct 20th, 2016
Pages: 365 (Paperback)
Publishers: Hodder & Stoughton
Rating:

Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who’s determined to help her learn and grow.

Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet introduced readers to the incredible world of Rosemary Harper, a young woman with a restless soul and secrets to keep. When she joined the crew of the Wayfarer, an intergalactic ship, she got more than she bargained for – and learned to live with, and love, her rag-tag collection of crewmates.

A Closed and Common Orbit is the stand-alone sequel to Becky Chambers’ beloved debut novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effectand Star Wars.

So first off, generally I don’t review audiobooks unless there was something I really want to talk about, like with The Kiss of Deception. So for that reason, I didn’t review The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which is the first book in this series. But I absolutely loved it! It is an amazing, interesting and diverse Sci-Fi and I highly recommend it.
Now, for this book, I have decided to do a mini review as I received the 3rd book in the series from NetGalley and will be reading and reviewing it.

I want to say that this is the 2nd time I have tried to read this book. These books are actually companion novels and when I first picked up A Closed and Common Orbit I didn’t know that. So I was quite disappointed as I really liked the MC & characters from Book 1. For that reason, I just couldn’t get into the book and ended up putting it down. When I saw book 3 on NetGalley I just had to request it, but that meant I really needed to read this one, so I gave it another go and loved it!

Now, onto the actual review.

First off, these books are generally not action-packed. There are a couple spots that there is some action but these books are more on the character-driven side. Which usually I don’t love but something about this book and these characters made me love that it was more character-driven!

This is a huge Sci-Fi world set a long way in the future and because of that, there is a lot of scientific & technological discoveries that have been made. Space Travel, AIs & a tonne of Alien species are the main things. This world is extremely well developed and you get to know a lot of new species that literally feel real they are developed and thought out so well.

Then there is the diversity. The main new diversity we see in this book is a human character with a speech impediment. Which is something I don’t think I have read in a book before.
There is also a tonne of other diversity, however, I don’t think it’s really considered diverse. Like I said in this world there are tonnes of new alien species and all of those species are different. So that is why it isn’t really diverse, because it is just normal for these species. Either way, it is awesome.

Let me break down the species that we have met so far. This isn’t all the information about each.
Aandrisk – We meet an Aandrisk in book one. This species has reptilian features but feathers on their head. Aandrisks are a very physical species, when with each other they are nearly always touching, cuddling, etc. They are also very chill about sex and don’t care what gender their partner is.
Aeluon – We get to know and Aeluon in Book two. Aeluon’s don’t speak or hear. They communicate with colour in their cheeks. But they do have a voice box technology so they can communicate with other species. In the Aeluon species, there are different groups.  Firstly, we have the main group that changes from male to female regularly and are considered fully male or female depending on what they are at the time. Next, during an Aeluon’s life, while female, they can become fertile, but generally only once or twice in their life. They stay female throughout the childbirth. Next, we have the young which are considered gender neutral until they begin to shift & also the elderly who can no longer shift. Also in this species being a Parent is a full-time job. There are groups of males that when a female becomes pregnant they care for her and then when the baby is born they take over as the parent so that the mother can go back to normal life. The mother is still in the child’s life but they believe that the process of parenting is very important and entrust their child to those that are trained and educated on the matter.
Sianat – This one is a little less known yet but from what I remember they are intelligent species. Sianat Pairs are caused due to a virus in the early years. This virus is meant to give them all knowledge of space (I Think). The Host & the virus are considered two beings (in one body) but are collective as a Sianat Pair. They prefer the pronouns of ‘They’ & ‘We’ rather than individual or gender pronouns.
Grum – We meet a Grum in book 1. This species is nearly extinct due to war among themselves. The Grum change gender throughout their life. They start as female and then change to male and then lastly turn to something in-between.
Then there is Humans, AIs and ‘Clones’ (Kinda, it’s a little confusing). Also, there are Quelin, Harmagian, Laru & Toremi but I don’t know enough about them to explain it.

So overall this is an incredibly well-developed world which is amazing to engross yourself in. The characters are awesome and the plot is really interesting! I can’t wait until I can get to book 3!!

You can purchase this book at any of the below links!

Book Depository (Worldwide Free Shipping)
Paperback (Alternate cover)

Booktopia
Paperback

QBD
Paperback

Angus & Robertson
Paperback

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