Watch Your Orbit fulfills the “rec’d” square on CBR17 Bingo
My good friend Seher is someone whose recommendations I always trust, but I’m not always very quick to pick up the books. Such is the case with Etta Pierce’s Intersolar Union universe, which Seher has been shouting about for over a year, and I finally picked up Watch Your Orbit, which is the first book in the Over the Moon spin-off tie-in where the humans that have been rescued are building a home and community on Renata. Because it’s a little lighter tone than main series, this was where I decided to start.
Watch Your Orbit follows Omi, a human woman who was stolen from her parents’ farm in Jamaica, and Siatesh, a cephalopod-like alien who is on probation after he harmed Bree and Aavar before being granted refugee status at Renata. They are both dealing with trauma and trying to find ways to move forward with their changed lives. When Omi sees a space chicken she decides to build a coop because it reminds her of her father’s chicken collection, and Siatesh is the one she picks to help her with building it, as well as building a better structure for her hair salon now that the rains are coming.
I really loved the significance and culture of hair in this book. Shilpakaari, the alien species Siatresh is part of, have tendrils on their heads that are extra sensory organs and are used for all kinds of species-specific tasks, and Omi, being a Black woman whose career on earth was hair sculpture and art, sees them as inspiration to start a new project. Etta’s series is very intentionally inclusive of different experiences and identities, and it shows in many positive ways with the discussions of hair and style and appearance. There’s also a trans secondary character whose story is one I really hope we get, and I loved Omi helping Mikaela getting to be more her authentic self by putting together extensions for her hair.
Over the course of building a new floor and roof and working on the styling project, Omi and Siatesh begin to fall in love and get closer. I really loved watching Omi respect Siatesh’s boundaries and work on trust after his experiences, especially being used by women. There is so much softness and care in the romance. Plus I love when an alien romance really leans into the alien nature instead of basically off-color human men with a tail and horns. There is so much culture and world development, I cannot wait to dive deeper into this universe. Especially because I want to learn more about Siatesh before Omi, and his involvement with Bree and Aavar shows up in the fourth ISU book. So even more incentive to get to reading!