A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

A Closed and Common Orbit is the second novel in Chambers's Wayfarers series. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was the first book in the series and I enjoyed it immensely. 

This novel follows the ship's AI from A Closed and Common Orbit who has been rehomed in a human body, which she refers to as her "kit." While this character overlaps, we don't see or hear anything from our beloved characters from the first book in the second book, which is great for world building, but made me a bit sad, to be honest.  So our AI chooses a new name, Sidra, and begins her new life with Pepper and Blue, two side characters from the previous book.  She's adjusting to life as a human, life that's different from having constant 360 degree awareness and the ability to be Linked to all information all the time.

Meanwhile, there are flashbacks to Jane 23, a young girl who lives in a sheltered world where she recycles technological components with sister-clones.  There's an accident and she sees the sky and the world outside the building where she lives.  She escapes and finds home in a derelict ship with an AI named Owl to teach her things.  Eventually she is separated from her ship and her AI.

Chambers has created an interesting road for her in the science-fiction universe. These books deal with incredibly hard issues - is an AI sentient and does it deserve the rights said sentient creature?  what lengths would you go to for freedom?  - but she does so in a manner that makes everything okay.  When you close the book, you feel like you just got out of floating on a warm pool in July.  I can see why this style doesn't appeal to your average Asimov/Heinlein/Card great, white men shoot lasers and build giant spaceships and war, war, war fan, but as someone who reads romance novels for the happily ever after endings and quickly contained conflict, this style works for me.

I loved how the parallel stories came together. I thought this novel was a bit darker and edgier than the first one, but it was not Department Q-level dark, but rather dark in the way that your own life can be dark in the day-to-day when you start thinking about big issues of the human existence.  I liked that I can disagree with Chambers's basic stance on what being "sentient" even means and still fully enjoy the book. I immediately put the next book of the series on my hold list at the library.  

Line of note:

You are all desperate for purpose, even though you don't have one. (page 350)

Is there a more perfect encapsulation of the human condition?