There are quite a few existential questions in, the second book of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, which hit the ground running with the award winning The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet . I read “Angry Planet” in September 2016, now it is only about nine months later and I have forgotten much of the details and characters’ names! This is not to say that book is forgettable it just a demonstration of my sieve-like memory. Certainly I remember liking it very much, otherwise, I would not have read this second volume.Actually, you can read and enjoyeven if you have not read the preceding volume. Two books in and this is beginning to look like an open ended series, with a self-contained story arc for each book; more akin to the Vorkosigan Saga than Lord of the Rings or The Night's Dawn Trilogy . While the series is a space opera it is (so far) not an epic, the storylines of both books concern a limited number of central characters who are not trying to save the universe from an all consuming evil. The Wayfarers series also looks like it will have different protagonists for each installment. In fact, the Wayfarers spaceship does not appear at all in this second book (it is mentioned occasionally); which makes the name of the series a bit odd, but perhaps that will make sense down the line.image purloined from The Guardian's review The two main characters were introduced in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in supporting capacity. The first is Lovelace/Sidra, an AI from the previous book who had a kind of hard reset at the end of that, so she is now a new entity, the second is Jane/Pepper, a mechanic who was a peripheral character in the previous book, she is also a clone. Lovelace was originally the Wayfarers’ resident AI software, serving and protecting the crew, after her hard reset* she decides to leave the Wayfarers crew in a human-like artificial body and move in with Pepper at a planet called Port Coriol, she changes her name to Sidra, as Lovelace is the software package’s name. As for Pepper, about half of the narrative is a flashback to her childhood as Jane (a Jane among other Janes), on an unnamed planet where she was created to work alongside other clones in a factory, sorting and recycling scraps.The Sidra side of the narrative concerns her adaptation into a life as a mobile sentient entity. Basically what we do on a daily basis, and it is much harder than it seems. As a ship AI she has cameras all over the ship, flying off into space with a crew inside her. As Sidra, her perspective is radically different, she is limited her eyes field of vision. The social mores of the multi-species Galactic Commons takes getting used to, the “honesty protocol” programmed into her greatly adds to her difficulties. Soon she begins to develop an existential crisis, feeling alienated, not fitting in anywhere, fumbling around without any defined purpose. The Lovelace software was designed for controlling a spaceship and now she is not installed in a ship; what is she to do with her life? This then is her journey of self-discovery.In the present day storyline Pepper is living a contented life and is taking care of Sidra. However, her backstory depicts a very hard life of slavery, prior to escaping from the factory she had no idea there is anything beyond the factory walls and no conception of sky, stars, or planets. After an accident at the factory she escapes, was chased by starving dogs and fortunately runs into “Owl” an AI housed in a small space shuttle. Owl immediately decides to take care of her and she lives with Owl inside the little spaceship for eight years; subsisting on old rations and dog meat. Owl educates her over the years and she is eventually able to repair the ship and leave the planet. Her dream of living a better life with Owl crumbles when they become separated after landing at their destination.The theme of what makes us human is not uncommon in sci-fi, however, I have seldom seen it explored in such depth as in this book. As an AI Sidra is designed for a specific function, as a faux-human, she is no longer able to perform this function and has to grapple with the concept of finding a purpose in life rather than having such a purpose hardwired into her and getting on with it. Another salient theme is friendship and love, how they transcend age, species and time. The maternal relationship between Owl and Jane (as Pepper was called during her formative years) is touching and manages to resonate even though the mother is a piece of software.The dual timelines of the narrative are meticulously constructed by Becky Chambers; I admire the way they start off as two very distinct scenarios and smoothly move toward each other to eventually form a very satisfying denouement. There is no cliff hanger to frustrate the reader, yet the charm of the Wayfarer universe means that I will certainly come back for more.is by no means perfect, Sidra’s exploration of the minutiae of daily life becomes a little mundane and dull to begin with, only when her existential crisis kicks in that I began to appreciate what Ms. Chambers is trying to do with this plot strand. The Jane backstory is engrossing from start to finish. In spite of the safety of Owl’s ship life on that planet is very dangerous as Jane cannot spend her entire time in there, she needs to forage for food and water, the wild dogs want her for dinner and she needsfor dinner; meanwhile the ship is deteriorating and they need to get off that planet before the ship breaks down beyond repair.is more of a character study than a sci-fi adventure (though the adventure side is quite lively when the narrative switches into that mode). In some ways, it reminds me of Station Eleven even though the plotlines are not in the least similar. Personally, I much prefer this book to Station Eleven , which is a good novel but not really a goodnovel. The sci-fi element in Station Eleven feels rather like a prop whereas "Orbit" is unabashedly sci-fi, stuffed to the gills with aliens and high tech. Without the sci-fi component, the story would not make any sense. There is some hard science there that is convincingly written, the computer science is particularly well applied, with all the coding, the hacking, the modifications, and the disadvantage of an artificial brain in term of data storage (fixed capacity) compared to our more flexible cerebellum.The narrative ofis so compelling because it has such a big heart and I felt invested in the characters. A character study in a space opera setting is unusual and something to be treasured† and I am looking forward to seeing what she will do for the next volume.* Read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet to see why she was hard reset. Station Eleven is not too shabby, but as sci-fi nerd, I cannot help but focus on the sci-fi side of it.† I don't want all space opera to be done this way, there is a ton of fun and thrills to be had from the likes of Alastair Reynolds and Peter F. Hamilton , but I am glad Becky chambers is doing it her way.• If you want to quickly refresh your memory of who the characters from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet are you can refer to the Wayfarers Wiki fan site.