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saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I am a simple man. You write a book about robots learning to be human and understanding their feelings, I'm going to have a good time.
A Closed and Common Orbit is a lot darker and more existential than its predecessor, which makes sense given the setup for it in A Long Way To a Small, Angry Planet was the most tragic section of that book, but damn it was a lot darker. In this, we follow an AI in an illegal synthetic body and a clone trying to escape a desolate planet with the help of an AI.
Something I've noticed in this and Becky Chambers's other series, Monk and Robot, is that she's in love with the cultural and sociological aspects of world building and it just oozes off the page. Though her books certainly have plots, they tend to be slower and lacking in tension. Really what makes them good is the world building, so fascinating, so alien, and so goddamn optimistic! She creates worlds I want to live in and populates them with lively characters and emotional bonds.
As for this book specifically, I found it so deeply fascinating and thought-provoking, questioning who gets to be counted as sentient in this galaxy. As I said, this is a lot darker than the first book, specifically with the clone storyline. The added edge made the optimism strike so much deeper, it was bittersweet and just so earned. But it's also still a story about what mundanity looks like in an interstellar society, which maybe paradoxically, makes this series stand out.
TWs not included under the tag: dogs die and there's dog-on-dog cannibalism.
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
sgradycohen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Abandonment
brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
amyreh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal death and Child abuse
Moderate: Child death and Grief
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual content, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War
foxclcves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Colonisation
anni_swanilda's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Blood, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol
maryellen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
bergha1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sci-Fi, Found Family
“All the things made better for some people. Nobody has ever figured out how to make things better for everybody.“
“I love it dearly. But it will never feel the same as it did when I was a kid. I’m different now. And different is good, but it cuts both ways.“
“Every organic sapient I’ve ever talked to, every book I’ve read, every piece of art I’ve studied. You are all desperate for purpose, even though you don’t have one.”
“I haven’t found a purpose like that yet–nothing so overarching and big. But I don’t think purposes have to be immutable.”
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Xenophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
cornfusedsnow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infertility, Abandonment, and War