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Our Discussion of A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

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. -Goodreads

Below are a sampling of our comments:

  • There was a lot of exposition about the various cultures, but the author has said she only explains things once, so if something doesn't make sense, go back to the first book.
  • The characters were likeable. It was not a utopian world.
  • It was obvious right away that Jane was Pepper because she told Sidra early on, and also because when Jane experienced pepper and other spices for the first time, it opened up a new world.
  • Pepper and Blue seemed well-adjusted after all the trauma.
  • Sidra struggled with being in a human body when she was created to oversee a ship, but then she missed having a body after moving into a ship and finding she couldn’t interact with people in the same way.
  • There was a little too much of, “Sidra made the kit turn its head.”
  • The author was trying to find a place for people who don’t feel comfortable in their bodies – perhaps she tried to create a universe in which she would feel at home?
  • Why didn’t Jane field dress the dogs outside instead of making a mess inside and using precious water?
  • Sidra had “personhood” as a sentient AI. Sidra’s pet was not sentient because sentient beings should have autonomy and freedom. Of course, this wasn't true for Pepper and Blue on their first planet.
  • The discussion of Sidra and Owl’s “purpose” files was interesting… what is our purpose? Purpose can change over time.
  • The idea of children being used to sort scrap is something that happens in reality.
  • The author used outsider characters effectively, like Spock and Data in Star Trek, to facilitate data dumps.

Please add any additional thoughts or comments you may have about A Closed and Common Orbit. We gave this title the codes XEN, AI, HOME, AGE, HIT, & UTP with an average rating of 4.5.

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