Review: A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2) by Becky Chambers

Summary from Goodreads:

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 Effect and Star Wars.

My Review:



What I Liked:

World Building. Chambers expands on the universe she crated in book one in a amazing way, she brings back some of the old characters (but in new ways) and also adds more details about planets and species. It had been a few months since I read book one but it was easy to step back into the world. 

Audiobook. I recently got back into listening to audiobooks and the narrator did an amazing job with this novel, it makes me want reread book one with the same narrator. Her voice was great and she really brought Chambers well-crafted characters to live and fully invested me in their world. 

Writing Style/Characters. Once again I loved Chamber's writing style, she creates great worlds and characters but also writes them really well. And Chambers as always did an amazing job with her characters, the story felt very much character driven but also had a solid and good plot. She was able to write the point of view of Pepper and Lovelace in a way that they both had unique voices. I enjoyed book one but I have to say that only having two different character POVS actually made the novel flow better compared to the first one. 

What I Disliked:

The only complaint that the novel does not have the characters from book one, they are mentioned only slightly (mainly Jenks) throughout the whole novel. I loved the crew from book one and the departure from them was the main reason I did not read this amazing book sooner. 

I recommend checking out this great sequel if you loved Chambers writing style and ability to craft characters that you fall in love with in only 300 pages. 

My Rating:

5 Stars Out of 5 Stars.