A review by novella42
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

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.