Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This worthy sequel to Chambers's lovely debut, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, again features marvelously detailed aliens, a universe full of carefully observed peculiarities, and a friendly, soothing atmosphere. This time, though, there's more emotional weight and depth, adding a necessary ominous shading to Chambers's generally calming voice. It's illegal for AIs to have bodies that can be mistaken for those of other sentient beings, but Lovelace downloaded herself into a human-form body on her first day of existence, more to help her ship's crew than by her real choice. Now, assisted by friendly tech Pepper, Lovelace has to figure out her new identity and make a new life for herself, including how to hack various portions of her own code to keep from being caught and destroyed. Simultaneously, Pepper's backstory as a cloned factory slave on a rogue planet that doesn't adhere to galactic laws is brought to the forefront, since not everything from her past can or should remain in the past. Chambers's clean, careful prose and beautiful pacing and structure keep the narrative engrossing from beginning to end. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
At the end of A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Lovelace, the artificial intelligence (AI) of the starship Wayfarer, had undergone a hard reboot that wiped out her former personality. She decides to leave the ship in an illegal body kit and try to make a new life on Port Coriol with engineers Pepper and Blue. Lovelace, now known as Sidra, struggles to find a place where she belongs while hiding that she is an AI. Her chapters alternate with flashbacks to the struggles of a child called Jane who was raised in a brutal dehumanizing factory, who has a significant bond with a different AI. As with her amazing debut, the power of Chamber's second space opera is in her appealing characters. VERDICT While readers might initially be disappointed to leave the Wayfarer behind, they will quickly find this an equally compelling story that gains intimacy with its smaller focus. Her protagonists might not all be human, but they possess more humanity than most.-MM © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
