Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

11 reviews

athryn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A definite step up from the first book in this series. I really enjoyed the intertwining stories of

Spoiler

Sidra and Pepper

are very well done, exploring the world set up in the first book in different ways. The end was pretty touching to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Animal death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Dysphoria and Infertility

novella42's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have yet to find a sci-fi author who handles themes of disability, chronic illness, neurodivergence, and mental health with the same deeply grounded compassion of Becky Chambers. This book is one of the harder reads in this series, but I love it to pieces, I love the characters, I love where it takes you, love the way it makes me feel by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Eating disorder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, and Mental illness

Minor: Cancer

Spoiler-level clarification on the eating disorder tag.

Spoiler

The character doesn't have an eating disorder but there's no tag for starvation or extreme malnutrition, and I think that could have a big impact for someone with an eating disorder.

Also, if you have trauma around dogs, this might be a hard read.

below_average_baker's review

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Harrowing in places but every bit as good as the first book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

ireadqueerbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, and Cancer

frozencusser's review against another edition

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

chia_ie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• 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

4.0

i love the wayfarers series. i don’t think any other books have ever made me feel so happy. all the characters are so amazing in their own unique way, the world is so well developed - it’s just so, so good. i’m not a huge sci-fi reader but i loved this book so much. the dual timeline worked SO WELL, it came together perfectly. heartwarming, adventurous, emotional. the diversity is fantastic as per usual. thank u miss chambers 🖤

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, and Forced institutionalization

corriejn's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A great follow-up to the first book, though fairly different in many ways. It's a bit slower and more character-driven, focusing on a smaller cast of primary characters (see spoiler here if you want to know which ones)

Spoiler

This book focuses on Lovelace and Pepper; the rest of the Wayfarer crew is not featured.

It also has slightly "deeper" themes, focused on personhood, autonomy, and family.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, and Slavery

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Child abuse, and Sexual content

skudiklier's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I really really liked this. It was different from the first book in the series, and less lighthearted for sure, but Becky Chambers is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. The characters and worlds she builds are amazing and so well thought-out. This book had some darker/sadder elements than I'm used to with other books I've read by her, but not in a bad way. I can't wait to read the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Slavery, Cursing, Dysphoria, Animal death, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Grief

Minor: Infertility, Excrement, War, Vomit, Colonisation, and Mental illness

strange's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The wayfarer's series is almost certainly my favorite series of all time (I'm currently in the midst of a slow reread to work my way to the fourth book), and while I love the first book wholeheartedly and find the third to be wonderful and inspiring, this one connects to me on a personal level more than most books I've ever read. While I don't know if the neurodivergent coding of the main AI character, Sidra, is intentional, as an autistic person I found myself relating to her quite possibly more than any other character I've seen in media. There's so much more I can say but... I don't have the words nor the space to say it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Slavery, Alcohol, and Animal death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use

Minor: Cancer

There are a lot of triggers in here, but this is not by any means a dark book. It covers some pretty heavy topics, but it manages to keep a relatively warm and comforting tone throughout.

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

My opinion on AI is always dependent on the universe it's in, but this one knocked it out of the park. It's such a beautiful start about found family and figuring out who you are and what you want and need.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, and Grief