A Closed and Common Orbit

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book SO much! I had a hard time getting into it because I started reading it quite soon after finishing book #1 in the series (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet), and book #2, although it begins right where #1 leaves off, only tangentially mentions the characters from the first book. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the original characters at all, but once I got past that and started learning more about Jane 23, Pepper, Sidra, Blue, and eventually Tak, I became completely absorbed in their story.

For readers' advisors: character and setting doorways are primary. The world-building is incredible, and I spent much of the book wishing fervently that I could reach in and hug the characters. A fair amount of swearing, especially when Jane is a rebellious teenager. Some references to sex but no sex scenes. Not really any violence except for when Jane kills her first feral dog as it attacked. A Closed and Common Orbit has a non-linear structure, alternating between Jane's story in the past and Sidra's in the present. ("Present" being hundreds of years in the future somewhere else in the galaxy.) Many completely different species, and humans are far from dominant. There is really no such thing as a "white" person any more. One of the characters comes from a 4-gendered species, and xe is of the gender that regularly switches between male and female. (Can I just add how much I love the creation of neutral gender pronouns in this series?! Xe and xyr are SO much more useful and specific than using the plural "they" to refer to a singular person. I wish this would transfer to real life!)

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