A Closed and Common Orbit

by Becky Chambers

Overview

A Publishers Weekly "Best Books of 2017" pick!

Nominated for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel!

Shortlisted for the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award!

Winner of the Prix Julia-Verlanger!

Embark on an exciting, adventurous, and dangerous journey through the galaxy with the motley crew of the spaceship Wayfarer in this fun and heart-warming space opera—the sequel to the acclaimed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in a 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 that beloved debut novel, and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effect, and Star Wars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062569400
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Series:	Wayfarers , #2
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	5,779
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Becky Chambers was raised in California as the progeny of an astrobiology educator, an aerospace engineer, and an Apollo-era rocket scientist. An inevitable space enthusiast, she made the obvious choice of studying performing arts. After a few years in theater administration, she shifted her focus toward writing. Her creative work has appeared at The Mary Sue, Tor.com, Five Out Of Ten, The Toast, and Pornokitsch. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is her first novel, and was funded in 2012 thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.

After living in Scotland and Iceland, Becky is now back in her home state, where she lives with her partner. She is an ardent proponent of video and tabletop games, and enjoys spending time in nature. She hopes to see Earth from orbit one day.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/10/2017
This worthy sequel to Chambers’s lovely debut, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, again features marvelously detailed aliens, a universe full of carefully observed peculiarities, and a friendly, soothing atmosphere. This time, though, there’s more emotional weight and depth, adding a necessary ominous shading to Chambers’s generally calming voice. It’s illegal for AIs to have bodies that can be mistaken for those of other sentient beings, but Lovelace downloaded herself into a human-form body on her first day of existence, more to help her ship’s crew than by her real choice. Now, assisted by friendly tech Pepper, Lovelace has to figure out her new identity and make a new life for herself, including how to hack various portions of her own code to keep from being caught and destroyed. Simultaneously, Pepper’s backstory as a cloned factory slave on a rogue planet that doesn’t adhere to galactic laws is brought to the forefront, since not everything from her past can or should remain in the past. Chambers’s clean, careful prose and beautiful pacing and structure keep the narrative engrossing from beginning to end. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

As good, smart and satisfying as its predecessor...If there was such a thing as a Cosy Space Opera subgenre of Speculative Fiction, Becky Chambers’ series would likely be listed alongside the equally excellent On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard and Binti by Nnedi Okorafor.

Book Smugglers

While most sequels feel the need to go bigger and bolder, Orbit is a more intimate story than its predecessor, exploring trust, the mind/brain paradox, and unease with one’s body, while examining the ways someone without a family makes their way in the world and forms their own connections.

AV Club

For any of us, life as we think we know it can change at any time. A Closed and Common Orbit simply reminds us that, in a universe of immense and wondrous possibilities, there’s no shame in finding oneself a novice here anew.

Strange Horizons

Chambers uses her considerable talent to take a more focused and contained look at a gut-wrenching story of self-determination and personal autonomy [...] No matter what beautiful and strange world Chambers takes us to, we can count on her to lead with humor and heart.

RT Book Reviews (4 1/2 stars)

Humane and alien, adventurous and thoughtful, vast in its imagination and wonderfully personal in the characters it builds. But above all else, it is joyously written and a joy to read.

Claire North

Great fun!

Ann Leckie

Becky Chambers’ debut novel . . . is probably the most fun that you’ll have with a space opera novel this year. It’s exciting, adventurous, and the cozy sort of space opera that seems to be in short supply lately. . . . Not to be missed.

iO9

Becky Chambers’ debut is a joyous, optimistic space opera ... Although it isn’t shy about tackling Big Questions, Planet is a heart-warming debut novel that will restore your faith in science fiction (specifically) and humanity (in general).

Tor.com

A warm, big-hearted, progressive and fun blast of sci-fi. . . . The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is just so much fun to read, and we can’t wait to see what Chambers does next. 5 stars.

SciFiNow

A quietly profound, humane tour de force that tackles politics and gender issues with refreshing optimism.

The Guardian

One of the most enjoyable, brilliantly realized spacey SF novels I’ve read in ages.

James Smythe

★ 01/01/2017
At the end of A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Lovelace, the artificial intelligence (AI) of the starship Wayfarer, had undergone a hard reboot that wiped out her former personality. She decides to leave the ship in an illegal body kit and try to make a new life on Port Coriol with engineers Pepper and Blue. Lovelace, now known as Sidra, struggles to find a place where she belongs while hiding that she is an AI. Her chapters alternate with flashbacks to the struggles of a child called Jane who was raised in a brutal dehumanizing factory, who has a significant bond with a different AI. As with her amazing debut, the power of Chamber's second space opera is in her appealing characters. VERDICT While readers might initially be disappointed to leave the Wayfarer behind, they will quickly find this an equally compelling story that gains intimacy with its smaller focus. Her protagonists might not all be human, but they possess more humanity than most.—MM

Library Journal

"Optimistic, feel-good, adventurous and fun: A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers' stand-alone follow-up to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is as good, smart and satisfying as its predecessor." —The Book Smugglers

From the Publisher