A Closed and Common Orbit

I'm in two minds about this book. On the one hand, it's a better, more coherent story than [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 25201920 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438590529l/25201920.SY75.jpg 42270825]; it becomes quite gripping and interesting; and it has a happy ending. On the other hand, it has fewer significant characters, and much of the story is a tale of discomfort and suffering.On picking it up again after a gap of almost 4 years, I thought of what I was letting myself in for, and wondered whether I really wanted to reread this thing. Tales of discomfort and suffering are not what I go looking for. In fact, I've reduced it from 4 stars to 3, because I shouldn't be in doubt about whether I want to reread a 4-star book.I persevered and reread the whole thing, and I thought it was good in its way. I complained mildly about the cuteness of the characters in [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 25201920 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438590529l/25201920.SY75.jpg 42270825]; here the only similarly cute character is Owl. If I try to be objective, I think this is the better book of the two; but reviews and ratings aren't objective and can't be objective, they're about your personal reactions to the subject. And my personal reaction is that I'm somewhat reluctant to reread this book, because I have to wade through plenty of unhappiness before reaching (eventually) the happy ending.Even the happy ending is somewhat qualified. Pepper in particular still has problems that she's never going to lose, as a result of her deprived childhood. Sidra has found something that suits her in the short term; she may become bored with it later. And she's still under sentence of death if her secret leaks out, although all the characters seem to have stopped worrying about that by the end of the story.Most sf authors suffer from anthropomorphism to some extent: non-human characters tend to function pretty much like humans, because that makes them easy to understand and sympathize with, and they can then function better in the story. Most sf aliens, including Becky Chambers aliens, function pretty much like humans would if they were born with different bodies and brought up in a different society. They have humanlike minds.I've been reading sf for a long time, so at least I'm accustomed to that. What bothers me here is that the intelligent machines (AIs) have humanlike minds too: they feel humanlike emotions, and can appreciate and enjoy art and literature.These are AIs designed to run a spaceship. Humanlike emotions and artistic appreciation aren't merely useless for this purpose, they're counter-productive: they distract the AI from its proper functions and are likely to degrade its performance. They wouldn't be designed in deliberately.You could argue that humanlike emotions and artistic appreciation come with intelligence and can't be avoided if you want intelligence. This theory is fairly common in sf, it can't be proved or disproved at present, but it irritates me when authors just assume it to be so without even trying to make it seem plausible. Why should intelligence require these extra features? The only argument seems to be that, well, we're intelligent and we have these features. By the same argument, everything possessing intelligence should also have ten fingers, ten toes, an appendix, and so on.I also have a specific minor niggle about the story. The young Jane suffers a broken leg, and the story glosses over how she recovers from that unaided. I suspect that in real life it would take longer and never fully recover, after being inexpertly set. I think the author should have chosen a somewhat less serious injury. But I'm not a doctor, I have no relevant expertise.