A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I picked this up because I wanted to renter the calm, warm, happy world of Chambers’ first book. And while this one has a few overlapping characters and the same general universe backdrop—it just didn’t take me there.
Part of my problem was I only liked half of the story. The main thrust of the story, an AI trying to adapt to being foisted into a humanesque body, wasn’t something I cared about. The counterpoint, describing the plucky tech Pepper’s hard upbringing as a child slave on a terrible, wasteful planet, I loved! I found myself dully reading Sidra’s (the AI) bits, then getting excited on Pepper’s.
But the end of that one felt rushed, so I didn’t get the ending I was hoping for. Plus the social issues aspect on this one was just so thick, at times it felt like a lecture—even if I agreed with it, I wanted to spend my time on more plot and less musing. I should have known that going in, I guess. I’ll keep chasing my warm fuzzies, though.
M.E. Kinkade 