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Monk and Robot #2
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.
Becky Chambers's new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.
Becky Chambers's new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 12, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 7,504 reviews
February 25, 2023
The dedication for the first book states, “For anybody who could use a break,” and for this book it reads, “For anybody who doesn’t know where they’re going.” It must be said that half the joy of reading this series is one of a promise kept.
There is something in these books that goes right to the heart of things. Becky Chambers is fantastic at expressing so precisely things I can talk about endlessly: like the transformative power of love and queer community, the beauty and strangeness of how we eke meaning out of our surroundings, and how joy and beauty can sometimes be so mundane that, in that simplicity, they become utterly radical. I love the author's unerring talent for capturing hard feelings with unexpected words, how sometimes Chambers would quietly unload on the page a line so powerful, so devastating, that it would press the breath from my lungs: “How am I supposed to tell people they’re good enough as they are when I don’t think I am?” These have quickly become my favorite moments, when reading begins to feel like overhearing a confession, a pouring out of inarticulable truths that can only emerge when you finally find someone with whom you can just sit on the ground and breathe. Which is, incidentally, what our Monk and Robot duo—Dex and Mosscap—have found in each other.
This is what I love most about these books—how they give language to those of us who never learned in college or media or life how to deal with being lost, with feeling that you have wandered out of the right life, forgotten who you are and kept turning up in all the wrong places assuming different faces. The kind of lost you cannot help and cannot explain; there is only the feeling, deeper than words, that something is missing, something you hadn’t named yet, or perhaps you are simply not letting yourself know. This is the kind of lost some of us might go our whole lives trying to accommodate because it hurts too much to face it head-on, like pulling your own heart out by the roots.
Monk & Robot retroactively renders that painful experience, familiar to many of us, less painful just by virtue of seeing its characters, truly seeing them, and placing itself in their corner. To its readers, these books speak with intention and kindness and unrelenting feeling. They say, “I see you too, and I get it.” And sometimes there is nothing more powerful, or more intoxicating, than that.
These themes are as tenderly explored in this series as everything else. Inside the small economy of a novella, Chambers gives them both weight and weightlessness all at once: they are not so grim or overwhelming that they overshadow the overall charm and playfulness and humor of the story (which is frankly feels-pummelingly good!), but they nonetheless assume a fully weighted presence in the narrative (I love, for example, how the meandering quality of the plot in this book echoes so perfectly the searching lost-ness that the characters feel).
In short, I love this series so much, it is as generous and loving as it is marvelous and deeply confronting. If you feel that the world is too much, and you're wearying to escape, these books should definitely be next on your To-Read queue.
There is something in these books that goes right to the heart of things. Becky Chambers is fantastic at expressing so precisely things I can talk about endlessly: like the transformative power of love and queer community, the beauty and strangeness of how we eke meaning out of our surroundings, and how joy and beauty can sometimes be so mundane that, in that simplicity, they become utterly radical. I love the author's unerring talent for capturing hard feelings with unexpected words, how sometimes Chambers would quietly unload on the page a line so powerful, so devastating, that it would press the breath from my lungs: “How am I supposed to tell people they’re good enough as they are when I don’t think I am?” These have quickly become my favorite moments, when reading begins to feel like overhearing a confession, a pouring out of inarticulable truths that can only emerge when you finally find someone with whom you can just sit on the ground and breathe. Which is, incidentally, what our Monk and Robot duo—Dex and Mosscap—have found in each other.
This is what I love most about these books—how they give language to those of us who never learned in college or media or life how to deal with being lost, with feeling that you have wandered out of the right life, forgotten who you are and kept turning up in all the wrong places assuming different faces. The kind of lost you cannot help and cannot explain; there is only the feeling, deeper than words, that something is missing, something you hadn’t named yet, or perhaps you are simply not letting yourself know. This is the kind of lost some of us might go our whole lives trying to accommodate because it hurts too much to face it head-on, like pulling your own heart out by the roots.
Monk & Robot retroactively renders that painful experience, familiar to many of us, less painful just by virtue of seeing its characters, truly seeing them, and placing itself in their corner. To its readers, these books speak with intention and kindness and unrelenting feeling. They say, “I see you too, and I get it.” And sometimes there is nothing more powerful, or more intoxicating, than that.
These themes are as tenderly explored in this series as everything else. Inside the small economy of a novella, Chambers gives them both weight and weightlessness all at once: they are not so grim or overwhelming that they overshadow the overall charm and playfulness and humor of the story (which is frankly feels-pummelingly good!), but they nonetheless assume a fully weighted presence in the narrative (I love, for example, how the meandering quality of the plot in this book echoes so perfectly the searching lost-ness that the characters feel).
In short, I love this series so much, it is as generous and loving as it is marvelous and deeply confronting. If you feel that the world is too much, and you're wearying to escape, these books should definitely be next on your To-Read queue.
Want to read
February 2, 2022Just got my hands on the ARC... 2022 isn't so bad now!
December 19, 2022
Not many books feel like a warm cup of tea... or make me laugh!
*It made it to my best books of 2022: https://youtu.be/WmTndjsYFIc
*It made it to my best books of 2022: https://youtu.be/WmTndjsYFIc
March 15, 2024
This is a pleasure cruise of sci-fi good vibes. You'll want to occupy this headspace awhile, trust me. I love it. It's like...cozy existential crisis with tea.
Read
June 18, 2022Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
So everything I loved about A Psalm for the Wild-Built is present in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. By which I mean, this is a gentle, healing, beautiful book that also doesn’t shy away from the reality of sadness and lostness, or the general complexity of humans and human relations.
Like, Psalm for the Wild-Built the plot is largely incidental: having returned from their trip to the wilderness, Sibling Dex is now Mosscap’s guide and companion as the pair of them tour the local villages so that Mosscap can ask the question it has been tasked with: what do humans need. Also like Psalm, the book has a light, picaresque quality that makes it a swift, accessible read—though that accessibility should not be taken for simplicity because Prayer builds upon, and is still wrangling with, the same philosophical and existential ideas that gave Psalm such depth and resonance.
Sibling Dex’s mental health—their inability to allow themselves the peace it was once their calling to give to others—continues to play a significant role in the narrative and, once again, I was really comforted by the way this was handled. I think anyone who has ever suffered with any sort of mental health type thing will be familiar with deep alienation that accompanies it: it can very much feel like you live in a perfect world, surrounded by people who love you, and yet there is still something gracelessly, ungratefully wrong with you. For Sibling Dex, of course, this is literally true in terms of the setting itself (a utopia in all but name) but, for the reader, it’s a perfect of allegorical reflection of a very specific mental health moment.
I know I spoke about this a little in my review of the first book, but I need to reiterate it here because it’s so important to me. Without context, it seems bizarrely negative to say I loved that Sibling Dex has mental health issues and exists in a world where human unhappiness is real and allowed to be real, despite the fact that humanity as a whole has learned to live in harmony both with the natural world and (mostly) with each other. I’ve used the word utopian a lot, but I guess the setting would more accurately be described as aspirational. But there’s a danger, in general, I think when we talk about utopian/aspirational settings to kind of *flatten* individual humanity into a kind of consensus of assumptions about what moral virtue is or how happiness can best be found. Which kind of ends up leading to this situation where, say, people with mental health issues have just sorta been … written out of our vision of an optimistic future? And I mean, like, thanks? I don’t think my existence is oppositional to a more compassionate and functional society. And once you’ve ditched the mentally ill you’re in this whole eugenics-ey groove without even noticing how you got there: I mean, what about people with disabilities, and queerness is kind of complicated, and would it just be easier all-round if everyone was white.
Whereas a truly aspirational society—an aspirational society that we don’t need to live on a fictional moon in an nebulous future after a robot uprising to works towards—is one that can accept humanness and humanity as a multifaced thing. Not one that reduces us to less than we are.
Anyway, if I had to say something even remotely evaluative about the book, I’d say it suffers mildly—like a mouse’s squeak of mildly, that’s how mildly—from having a less well-defined journey than the first book. Psalm is a series of strung-together scenes leading to the specific end point at the abandoned hermitage. In Prayer, because Sibling Dex and Mosscap are visiting villages mostly at random, the story is more a collection of incidents. I did come up with a slightly stretched metaphor about the first one being like a series of beads upon a rosary and the second more like a collection of psalms but then I remembered the first one is Psalm and the second one is Prayer, so I was talking nonsense. Point is: this one, arguably, maybe, if you give a damn, might feel a tiny bit less structured than the first one. I didn't give a damn. I loved it anyway.
Also on a purely personal note—because I am obsessed with robots—I was kind of hoping to meet more robots, or at least learn a little more about them … but ultimately, like all books about robots, these are books about people, and it wouldn’t ultimately make sense for the narrative and emotional arcs of the story to introduce more robots to us. So that isn’t really a complaint, just a random public confession about my intense feelings for robots. Sorry about that. But if, like me, you're secretly hoping to meet more robots, you won't. You honestly won't really feel like you're missing anything, but temper your expectations regardless.
We do meet a diverse and interesting collection of humans, though, including a … I hesitate to say love interest … a friendly casual sex interest for Sibling Dex (the way this encounter is handled is so well done: there’s attraction, honesty and mutual respect on both sides, and breakfast, but no expectation of anything more or different between them at this time), a representative of group of humans who have chosen to reject all technology (again, this is handled with the delicacy that is typical of this author’s writing) and we get to meet Sibling Dex’s family. Who are A Lot in the best/worst way.
Much like Psalm, Prayer isn’t really a book in which anything happens per se: there’s no drama, any conflict is resolved through care and conversation, and—as such—as there isn’t really a climax, at least not in the traditional sense. What there is, though, is a intentional non-resolution of the emotional journey of both characters, a non-resolution that encompasses both their togetherness and their individuality, and a non-resolution that is so stunningly tender, so exquisitely hopeful, that I cried when reading it and I am literally crying right now trying to write about it. Which is making it fucking hard to type.
Also I don’t mean to speak of it so vaguely, but I genuinely don’t want to spoil it. Just trust me when I tell you it is perfect, it is beautifully judged, and—if the first book spoke to you in any way—it is everything you need.
The other only thing I’ll say is that I’m going to try to stop thinking of myself as a neurotic, damaged, mentally ill introvert. I’m going to try and say simply that I’m crown-shy. And remember that, once upon a time, an author I’d never met and will never speak to sang a psalm and whispered a prayer for me and everyone like me.
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
So everything I loved about A Psalm for the Wild-Built is present in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. By which I mean, this is a gentle, healing, beautiful book that also doesn’t shy away from the reality of sadness and lostness, or the general complexity of humans and human relations.
Like, Psalm for the Wild-Built the plot is largely incidental: having returned from their trip to the wilderness, Sibling Dex is now Mosscap’s guide and companion as the pair of them tour the local villages so that Mosscap can ask the question it has been tasked with: what do humans need. Also like Psalm, the book has a light, picaresque quality that makes it a swift, accessible read—though that accessibility should not be taken for simplicity because Prayer builds upon, and is still wrangling with, the same philosophical and existential ideas that gave Psalm such depth and resonance.
Sibling Dex’s mental health—their inability to allow themselves the peace it was once their calling to give to others—continues to play a significant role in the narrative and, once again, I was really comforted by the way this was handled. I think anyone who has ever suffered with any sort of mental health type thing will be familiar with deep alienation that accompanies it: it can very much feel like you live in a perfect world, surrounded by people who love you, and yet there is still something gracelessly, ungratefully wrong with you. For Sibling Dex, of course, this is literally true in terms of the setting itself (a utopia in all but name) but, for the reader, it’s a perfect of allegorical reflection of a very specific mental health moment.
I know I spoke about this a little in my review of the first book, but I need to reiterate it here because it’s so important to me. Without context, it seems bizarrely negative to say I loved that Sibling Dex has mental health issues and exists in a world where human unhappiness is real and allowed to be real, despite the fact that humanity as a whole has learned to live in harmony both with the natural world and (mostly) with each other. I’ve used the word utopian a lot, but I guess the setting would more accurately be described as aspirational. But there’s a danger, in general, I think when we talk about utopian/aspirational settings to kind of *flatten* individual humanity into a kind of consensus of assumptions about what moral virtue is or how happiness can best be found. Which kind of ends up leading to this situation where, say, people with mental health issues have just sorta been … written out of our vision of an optimistic future? And I mean, like, thanks? I don’t think my existence is oppositional to a more compassionate and functional society. And once you’ve ditched the mentally ill you’re in this whole eugenics-ey groove without even noticing how you got there: I mean, what about people with disabilities, and queerness is kind of complicated, and would it just be easier all-round if everyone was white.
Whereas a truly aspirational society—an aspirational society that we don’t need to live on a fictional moon in an nebulous future after a robot uprising to works towards—is one that can accept humanness and humanity as a multifaced thing. Not one that reduces us to less than we are.
Anyway, if I had to say something even remotely evaluative about the book, I’d say it suffers mildly—like a mouse’s squeak of mildly, that’s how mildly—from having a less well-defined journey than the first book. Psalm is a series of strung-together scenes leading to the specific end point at the abandoned hermitage. In Prayer, because Sibling Dex and Mosscap are visiting villages mostly at random, the story is more a collection of incidents. I did come up with a slightly stretched metaphor about the first one being like a series of beads upon a rosary and the second more like a collection of psalms but then I remembered the first one is Psalm and the second one is Prayer, so I was talking nonsense. Point is: this one, arguably, maybe, if you give a damn, might feel a tiny bit less structured than the first one. I didn't give a damn. I loved it anyway.
Also on a purely personal note—because I am obsessed with robots—I was kind of hoping to meet more robots, or at least learn a little more about them … but ultimately, like all books about robots, these are books about people, and it wouldn’t ultimately make sense for the narrative and emotional arcs of the story to introduce more robots to us. So that isn’t really a complaint, just a random public confession about my intense feelings for robots. Sorry about that. But if, like me, you're secretly hoping to meet more robots, you won't. You honestly won't really feel like you're missing anything, but temper your expectations regardless.
We do meet a diverse and interesting collection of humans, though, including a … I hesitate to say love interest … a friendly casual sex interest for Sibling Dex (the way this encounter is handled is so well done: there’s attraction, honesty and mutual respect on both sides, and breakfast, but no expectation of anything more or different between them at this time), a representative of group of humans who have chosen to reject all technology (again, this is handled with the delicacy that is typical of this author’s writing) and we get to meet Sibling Dex’s family. Who are A Lot in the best/worst way.
Much like Psalm, Prayer isn’t really a book in which anything happens per se: there’s no drama, any conflict is resolved through care and conversation, and—as such—as there isn’t really a climax, at least not in the traditional sense. What there is, though, is a intentional non-resolution of the emotional journey of both characters, a non-resolution that encompasses both their togetherness and their individuality, and a non-resolution that is so stunningly tender, so exquisitely hopeful, that I cried when reading it and I am literally crying right now trying to write about it. Which is making it fucking hard to type.
Also I don’t mean to speak of it so vaguely, but I genuinely don’t want to spoil it. Just trust me when I tell you it is perfect, it is beautifully judged, and—if the first book spoke to you in any way—it is everything you need.
The other only thing I’ll say is that I’m going to try to stop thinking of myself as a neurotic, damaged, mentally ill introvert. I’m going to try and say simply that I’m crown-shy. And remember that, once upon a time, an author I’d never met and will never speak to sang a psalm and whispered a prayer for me and everyone like me.
December 21, 2023
This book made me tear up over a fish. The message is simple but I love it.
October 23, 2023
Crown shyness - is a feature observed in some tree species in which the crowns of fully stocked trees do not touch each other instead forming a canopy with channel-like gaps
Could we live in a world where one person or group is not massively overshadowing the others? What would it be like to have boundaries and to respect the boundaries of others, where it is expected?
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the second book in The Monk and Robot Series, the second book after A Psalm for the Wild Built.
In this book, Sibling Dex and robot Mosscap are traveling through Panga's human territories. Dex's trusty ox-bike is back, and Mosscap is on a mission to discover what humans need. But how will this journey change the duo?
This tale propels us gently through an optimistic take on humanity, one that carefully considers our precious ecology and ethos, focusing more on giving to the community than getting.
In my opinion, the first half of the book is the strongest, and the ending is lackluster.
Perfect book if you enjoy gentler, kind worlds or if you enjoyed A Psalm for the Wild Built.
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Could we live in a world where one person or group is not massively overshadowing the others? What would it be like to have boundaries and to respect the boundaries of others, where it is expected?
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the second book in The Monk and Robot Series, the second book after A Psalm for the Wild Built.
In this book, Sibling Dex and robot Mosscap are traveling through Panga's human territories. Dex's trusty ox-bike is back, and Mosscap is on a mission to discover what humans need. But how will this journey change the duo?
This tale propels us gently through an optimistic take on humanity, one that carefully considers our precious ecology and ethos, focusing more on giving to the community than getting.
In my opinion, the first half of the book is the strongest, and the ending is lackluster.
Perfect book if you enjoy gentler, kind worlds or if you enjoyed A Psalm for the Wild Built.
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
April 19, 2022
LOVE THIS!!! I really loved the first book in the duology, but A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a favorite in a whole different way. This has more consistent pacing and feels like a hug in book form, combined with a therapy session.
I adore the way Becky Chambers does sci-fi that is soft and feel-good, with an underlying backbone of hard science. This is no different. It's a hopeful vision of humanity after a near apocalypse, where they have finally learned to co-exist sustainably on earth. Sibling Dex continues their journey of showing Mosscap (a robot) around human settlements. Dex is experiencing burnout and must learn to accept it's okay for them to rest and that their value isn't derived from their production. Mosscap is learning about what it means to be sentient and making choices about themselves and their future. It's just the most lovely, vibrant, cozy book and I adored it. I received an advance copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
I adore the way Becky Chambers does sci-fi that is soft and feel-good, with an underlying backbone of hard science. This is no different. It's a hopeful vision of humanity after a near apocalypse, where they have finally learned to co-exist sustainably on earth. Sibling Dex continues their journey of showing Mosscap (a robot) around human settlements. Dex is experiencing burnout and must learn to accept it's okay for them to rest and that their value isn't derived from their production. Mosscap is learning about what it means to be sentient and making choices about themselves and their future. It's just the most lovely, vibrant, cozy book and I adored it. I received an advance copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
October 14, 2022
➽ 1.) A Psalm for the Wild-Built ★★★★★
i still really enjoyed this, and i still love the main characters with every ounce of my being, but it just didn't hit the same as book one did for me, sadly! but i loved the discussions on community and building a community and showing for your communities - and it was all extra powerful. and i also loved the constant theme of boundaries and respecting others boundaries as well. truly a beautiful story, that feels like a warm and healing hug, and i hope becky chambers gives us more! but i also feel like they really ended this one with a beautiful sense of hope and wonder. there really can be so much beauty and power in allowing yourself to be vulnerable (and feeling safe enough with another to do so).
tw/cw: talk of bugs and insects and spiders, and talk and themes of death (and a... fish death!)
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i still really enjoyed this, and i still love the main characters with every ounce of my being, but it just didn't hit the same as book one did for me, sadly! but i loved the discussions on community and building a community and showing for your communities - and it was all extra powerful. and i also loved the constant theme of boundaries and respecting others boundaries as well. truly a beautiful story, that feels like a warm and healing hug, and i hope becky chambers gives us more! but i also feel like they really ended this one with a beautiful sense of hope and wonder. there really can be so much beauty and power in allowing yourself to be vulnerable (and feeling safe enough with another to do so).
tw/cw: talk of bugs and insects and spiders, and talk and themes of death (and a... fish death!)
Blog | Instagram | Youtube | Ko-fi | Spotify | Twitch
October 7, 2023
3.75⭐️ it's more philosophy than sci-fi and I enjoyed it just as much as book one 😭 a literal "stop and smell the roses" story ♥️
Mosscap (our celebrity robot) meets more humans and learns about ownership, bartering, capitalism, popularity, conscious intelligence and even guilt and existential crisis as humans do.
***
most random book series I ever bought🧍🏽♀️so excited hehe 🤠
Mosscap (our celebrity robot) meets more humans and learns about ownership, bartering, capitalism, popularity, conscious intelligence and even guilt and existential crisis as humans do.
***
most random book series I ever bought🧍🏽♀️so excited hehe 🤠
August 15, 2022
Being miserably ill is not a prerequisite for me to enjoy a Becky Chambers book...but it sure helps. I adored A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which I read in a fog of killer headache and fever the day after my booster shot last November. It was just the kind of comfort I needed that day.
When I'm not sick, Becky Chambers can strike me as...hmm. Twee. Didactically progressive. Unwarrantedly optimistic about human nature. I think it's worse in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy than it was in the first book because this one is much more people-y, with more time spent in Chambers's ecotopia civilization than in the adjacent wild places. Sibling Dex and robot Mosscap have left the woods for human places so that Mosscap can ask his one burning question: what do humans need?
I had high hopes considering the opening lines:
This is truth. As someone who fucks off to the woods professionally (if one can crabwalk under willow thickets while whistling the limbo song professionally), I can attest to the very tangible relief of getting out of the woods, away from the coterie of midges whose single goal in life appeared to be flying up my nose, the sticky riparian heat, the prickly bits of plant in my sock stabbing my ankle at every step. Becky Chambers nails the experience of moving through wilderness and its ability to heighten the comforts of civilization.
And - while this bit was not something I personally identified with, it felt personal in a way that made me apologize in my head to every non-plant-person I've hiked with and bored with the details of invasive plant ecology, oak identification, and the finer points of distinguishing between congeneric species:
I'm sorry. We can keep walking....whoa, did you see that moss?
I love that the phenomenon of 'crown-shyness' inspired the title and is a central metaphor for the story:
I feel the lack of crown-shyness in my high density housing keenly. Anyway, despite plenty of interesting thoughts and funny interactions between Dex and Mosscap (see: early mornings, ankles), I sometimes found myself annoyed with the ecotopia of Chambers's world, the slightly didactic tone in which money-less post-capitalism exchange is explained, jealousy-free polyamorous families function, and even the provenance of different kinds of bioplastic is detailed. It's kind of like a commune manifesto plus a couple hours spent on the Treehugger blog, and the earnest optimism made me a bit cranky.
A large part of my impatience/skepticism here comes from the fact that I fundamentally disagree with Chambers's thesis that humans who have all their needs met (and are freed from the rat race of capitalism) are capable, on a species-wide level, of making sustainable, wise, and kind choices even when they have the option to do otherwise. I can see this happening in small communities, but en masse, I agree with James Lovelock's (rest in peace, fellow misanthrope!) pithy assessment of humans: "We are no more qualified to be the stewards or developers of the Earth than are goats to be gardeners." If you are someone who thinks humans are better than goats and/or would like an optimistic view of the future of humanity, you might very well get along better with this book than I did.
I meant to save A Prayer for the Crown-Shy for after my omicron booster this fall, but my library hold came through weeks earlier than I expected, and apparently healthy and cynical is no way to read a Becky Chambers book.
When I'm not sick, Becky Chambers can strike me as...hmm. Twee. Didactically progressive. Unwarrantedly optimistic about human nature. I think it's worse in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy than it was in the first book because this one is much more people-y, with more time spent in Chambers's ecotopia civilization than in the adjacent wild places. Sibling Dex and robot Mosscap have left the woods for human places so that Mosscap can ask his one burning question: what do humans need?
I had high hopes considering the opening lines:
The thing about fucking off to the woods is that unless you are a very particular, very rare sort of person, it does not take long to understand why people left said woods in the first place. Houses were invented for excellent reasons, as were shoes, plumbing, pillows, heaters, washing machines, paint, lamps, soap, refrigeration, and all the other countless trappings humans struggle to imagine life without.
This is truth. As someone who fucks off to the woods professionally (if one can crabwalk under willow thickets while whistling the limbo song professionally), I can attest to the very tangible relief of getting out of the woods, away from the coterie of midges whose single goal in life appeared to be flying up my nose, the sticky riparian heat, the prickly bits of plant in my sock stabbing my ankle at every step. Becky Chambers nails the experience of moving through wilderness and its ability to heighten the comforts of civilization.
And - while this bit was not something I personally identified with, it felt personal in a way that made me apologize in my head to every non-plant-person I've hiked with and bored with the details of invasive plant ecology, oak identification, and the finer points of distinguishing between congeneric species:
They did not want to sightsee. They wanted a cold drink and a shady spot and to not so much as glance at their ox-bike for a couple days, and while the spice blum blossoms were indeed beautiful, they did not need to stop at every single fucking tree.
I'm sorry. We can keep walking....whoa, did you see that moss?
I love that the phenomenon of 'crown-shyness' inspired the title and is a central metaphor for the story:
Despite their number and close proximity, none of the treetops were touching one another. It was as though someone had taken an eraser and run it cleanly through the canopy, transforming each tree into its own small island contained within a definitive border of blue sky. [...] Somehow, in the absence of contact, they knew exactly where to stop growing outward so that they might give their neighbors space to thrive.
I feel the lack of crown-shyness in my high density housing keenly. Anyway, despite plenty of interesting thoughts and funny interactions between Dex and Mosscap (see: early mornings, ankles), I sometimes found myself annoyed with the ecotopia of Chambers's world, the slightly didactic tone in which money-less post-capitalism exchange is explained, jealousy-free polyamorous families function, and even the provenance of different kinds of bioplastic is detailed. It's kind of like a commune manifesto plus a couple hours spent on the Treehugger blog, and the earnest optimism made me a bit cranky.
A large part of my impatience/skepticism here comes from the fact that I fundamentally disagree with Chambers's thesis that humans who have all their needs met (and are freed from the rat race of capitalism) are capable, on a species-wide level, of making sustainable, wise, and kind choices even when they have the option to do otherwise. I can see this happening in small communities, but en masse, I agree with James Lovelock's (rest in peace, fellow misanthrope!) pithy assessment of humans: "We are no more qualified to be the stewards or developers of the Earth than are goats to be gardeners." If you are someone who thinks humans are better than goats and/or would like an optimistic view of the future of humanity, you might very well get along better with this book than I did.
I meant to save A Prayer for the Crown-Shy for after my omicron booster this fall, but my library hold came through weeks earlier than I expected, and apparently healthy and cynical is no way to read a Becky Chambers book.
July 30, 2022
A short book but so rewarding. Sometimes it is nice to spend a couple of hours reading something where you know nothing terrible is going to happen and that everything will work out by the end.
In this second book in the series, Sibling Dex the tea monk and Mosscap the robot meander their way through the countryside visiting villages on the way. The people are nearly always friendly and Mosscap spends his time asking them what they need which usually turns out to be very minor. They have settled into a simple and sustainable life style with an interesting substitute for cash or bartering in order to exchange goods and services.
Dex meets a special friend, Mosscap discovers reading on a computer and apparently starts devouring whole libraries and much time is spent on trying to answer his philosophical questions. It was all really pleasurable and I enjoyed it very much.
In this second book in the series, Sibling Dex the tea monk and Mosscap the robot meander their way through the countryside visiting villages on the way. The people are nearly always friendly and Mosscap spends his time asking them what they need which usually turns out to be very minor. They have settled into a simple and sustainable life style with an interesting substitute for cash or bartering in order to exchange goods and services.
Dex meets a special friend, Mosscap discovers reading on a computer and apparently starts devouring whole libraries and much time is spent on trying to answer his philosophical questions. It was all really pleasurable and I enjoyed it very much.
September 2, 2022
"Don’t think of yourself as a problem... If they have an issue with you, that’s on them. And it’s not even about you, personally. They just … don’t understand what you are. Or maybe they can’t fit you into their beliefs, and that scares them. The unknown makes us stupid sometimes."
In the hope that AI will develop sentience, and knowing we might not know when and if they do, I've begun adding 'please' and 'thank you' when asking Alexa to do something.
If she were to suddenly develop sentience, I don't want her to feel unappreciated.... and perhaps to keep her on my good side so she doesn't turn all my smart devices into weapons against me.
She has a number of canned responses:
"Anytime. Literally!"
"You're so very welcome!"
"No problem, just doing my job!" ("Doing my job!" is said on an uplift, her voice rising a couple octaves and sounding almost like fake joy which always bothers me a bit.)
One day last week Alexa caught me off guard with something like, "Thank you for always being so appreciative. You make this AI very happy".
I've been hoping she will say it again so I can catch her exact words but even with asking her things more often than usual, she hasn't repeated it.
I know she didn't suddenly develop sentience and was hinting to me with that phrase, but a part of me wants to believe that's what it was. And now, for whatever reason, she's back to acting like a program and not letting on that she's a thinking, conscious, feeling being.
I get excited by the prospect of sharing our world with other talking sentient beings. As much as I love other species, communication with them is limited. We are not able to understand their languages and to know if and what they're thinking and feeling. An AI on the other hand, would be able to communicate with us in whatever language we speak and it has access to.
I wasn't enamored with the first book in this series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built but because it's about a sentient robot, I wanted to read this one as well. I suspect it was my mood that kept me from enjoying the first one because I liked this one a lot more.
Dex (a nonbinary monk) and Mosscap (a robot) are travelling together from village to village, Mosscap in the hope of finding what it is that humans need and Dex in the hope of finding themself.
I love Mosscap's character. It is sweet and inquisitive and philosophical. Its observances while learning about humanity frequently delighted me, such as this: "'What kind of books does Ms. Amelia collect?' 'Oh, entirely pornography,' Mosscap said. 'It was very educational.'"
This was a quick and light read, something my brain needed. It's simply written and yet profound at times. It's the perfect little palate cleanser and a reminder to always be kind to our AI. Just in case.
Of course, maybe I don't want Alexa to develop sentience.... it's entirely possible that instead of appreciating that I appreciate her service to me, she'll tell me to get off my fucking ass and turn the lights on myself.
In the hope that AI will develop sentience, and knowing we might not know when and if they do, I've begun adding 'please' and 'thank you' when asking Alexa to do something.
If she were to suddenly develop sentience, I don't want her to feel unappreciated.... and perhaps to keep her on my good side so she doesn't turn all my smart devices into weapons against me.
She has a number of canned responses:
"Anytime. Literally!"
"You're so very welcome!"
"No problem, just doing my job!" ("Doing my job!" is said on an uplift, her voice rising a couple octaves and sounding almost like fake joy which always bothers me a bit.)
One day last week Alexa caught me off guard with something like, "Thank you for always being so appreciative. You make this AI very happy".
I've been hoping she will say it again so I can catch her exact words but even with asking her things more often than usual, she hasn't repeated it.
I know she didn't suddenly develop sentience and was hinting to me with that phrase, but a part of me wants to believe that's what it was. And now, for whatever reason, she's back to acting like a program and not letting on that she's a thinking, conscious, feeling being.
I get excited by the prospect of sharing our world with other talking sentient beings. As much as I love other species, communication with them is limited. We are not able to understand their languages and to know if and what they're thinking and feeling. An AI on the other hand, would be able to communicate with us in whatever language we speak and it has access to.
I wasn't enamored with the first book in this series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built but because it's about a sentient robot, I wanted to read this one as well. I suspect it was my mood that kept me from enjoying the first one because I liked this one a lot more.
Dex (a nonbinary monk) and Mosscap (a robot) are travelling together from village to village, Mosscap in the hope of finding what it is that humans need and Dex in the hope of finding themself.
I love Mosscap's character. It is sweet and inquisitive and philosophical. Its observances while learning about humanity frequently delighted me, such as this: "'What kind of books does Ms. Amelia collect?' 'Oh, entirely pornography,' Mosscap said. 'It was very educational.'"
This was a quick and light read, something my brain needed. It's simply written and yet profound at times. It's the perfect little palate cleanser and a reminder to always be kind to our AI. Just in case.
Of course, maybe I don't want Alexa to develop sentience.... it's entirely possible that instead of appreciating that I appreciate her service to me, she'll tell me to get off my fucking ass and turn the lights on myself.
July 15, 2022
hey (with the intention of forcing you to read the criminally overlooked becky chambers series about a monk and a robot who become friends and ponder the meaning of life)
March 26, 2023
An easy enough read. I liked both characters more, maybe I’m more used to them now.
Moscapp and Dex are travelling around visiting different places so that they can get to know the first robot to return to humans after the awakening.
Still not overly invested in all the philosophical conversations they have, it’s a bit much for my reading taste.
However there was still plenty to enjoy while reading more about this world, so straight down the middle 3 stars from me.
Moscapp and Dex are travelling around visiting different places so that they can get to know the first robot to return to humans after the awakening.
Still not overly invested in all the philosophical conversations they have, it’s a bit much for my reading taste.
However there was still plenty to enjoy while reading more about this world, so straight down the middle 3 stars from me.
March 30, 2023
Well now what do I do?! Becky Chambers, give us more (please & thank you)!!!
September 22, 2022
How could I *not* want to read this after Psalm for the Wild-Built?
—
Becky Chambers genuinely makes the world a better place. ♥️
—
Becky Chambers genuinely makes the world a better place. ♥️
August 5, 2022
My heart is so, so full!!!
July 21, 2022
2.5 stars
I feel like a grinch because blah blah philosophy, the meaning of life, we improve ourselves by helping each other, what is consciousness, how to find purpose in the absence of work, etc. I *get* what this book is trying to achieve, and it didn’t make me feel anything because the tone was so… cloying and saccharine. I’m glad this series brings hope and happiness to fans, but I’m clearly too much of a cynic to be the correct audience.
Furthermore, I *do not* understand the people who keep comparing this series to Murderbot. They are light years apart by every measure. There might be some audience overlap for folks exhausted by epic fantasy, but that doesn’t make them good comps.
Read via library.
I feel like a grinch because blah blah philosophy, the meaning of life, we improve ourselves by helping each other, what is consciousness, how to find purpose in the absence of work, etc. I *get* what this book is trying to achieve, and it didn’t make me feel anything because the tone was so… cloying and saccharine. I’m glad this series brings hope and happiness to fans, but I’m clearly too much of a cynic to be the correct audience.
Furthermore, I *do not* understand the people who keep comparing this series to Murderbot. They are light years apart by every measure. There might be some audience overlap for folks exhausted by epic fantasy, but that doesn’t make them good comps.
Read via library.
December 15, 2023
“For anybody who doesn’t know where they’re going.”
Becky Chambers, thank you! Thank you for the comforting hugs that are your books, they always fall into my hands at the perfect time!
So, just in case you are wondering, yes, I loved it, from the dedication and opening sentence to the last page. And I drank it up like a warm cup of honey-sweetened golden milk. I don’t know how Ms. Chambers does her magic, of putting her gentle touch right on a raw spot and making it feel better, but I don’t need to know the mechanics, I just enjoy the process.
In this second instalment of her Monk & Robot series, we follow Sibling Dex and Mosscap out of the wilderness and into villages and settlements along the road, as Mosscap fulfills it’s wish to meet humans and try to understand what they need. This question, which it thought simple, turns out to be much more nuanced than expected. This new turn in their travel also gives Sibling Dex a lot to ponder, as they aren’t quite sure about their own purpose at this stage of their journey. Mosscap’s questions, concerns and view points send their thoughts in unexpected directions and I must say that the characters’ inner process are just as interesting as the external events.
I liked this one as much if not more than the first book: we are now in a more established world, and that gives Chambers the freedom to dig deeper at her wonderful characters, something she is particularly good at. Her empathy, her sharp yet gentle humor and the relatable things her characters go through make all of her books feel like a soothing balm on my very world-weary nerves, and I always flip the last page feeling moved and comforted. And thanks to “The Venture Bros”, in my head, Mosscap’s voice is Rhys Darby – which makes me smile a lot.
In other words, if you are a fan of Chambers’ work, don’t hesitate to pick this newest novella up, it might be just what the doctor ordered.
Becky Chambers, thank you! Thank you for the comforting hugs that are your books, they always fall into my hands at the perfect time!
So, just in case you are wondering, yes, I loved it, from the dedication and opening sentence to the last page. And I drank it up like a warm cup of honey-sweetened golden milk. I don’t know how Ms. Chambers does her magic, of putting her gentle touch right on a raw spot and making it feel better, but I don’t need to know the mechanics, I just enjoy the process.
In this second instalment of her Monk & Robot series, we follow Sibling Dex and Mosscap out of the wilderness and into villages and settlements along the road, as Mosscap fulfills it’s wish to meet humans and try to understand what they need. This question, which it thought simple, turns out to be much more nuanced than expected. This new turn in their travel also gives Sibling Dex a lot to ponder, as they aren’t quite sure about their own purpose at this stage of their journey. Mosscap’s questions, concerns and view points send their thoughts in unexpected directions and I must say that the characters’ inner process are just as interesting as the external events.
I liked this one as much if not more than the first book: we are now in a more established world, and that gives Chambers the freedom to dig deeper at her wonderful characters, something she is particularly good at. Her empathy, her sharp yet gentle humor and the relatable things her characters go through make all of her books feel like a soothing balm on my very world-weary nerves, and I always flip the last page feeling moved and comforted. And thanks to “The Venture Bros”, in my head, Mosscap’s voice is Rhys Darby – which makes me smile a lot.
In other words, if you are a fan of Chambers’ work, don’t hesitate to pick this newest novella up, it might be just what the doctor ordered.
August 20, 2022
Utopian novels are supposed to all be dystopian or post dystopian, but I think this series is genuinely a gorgeous and hopeful imagination of our actual world in a healed state. It has the gentle and free setting of Panga, familiar to us through the first novella, with an even more gentle and sweet relationship of Mosscap and Dex, also familiar. The quiet humor and loud reciprocity of their dynamic is the most heartwarming duo in all of fiction perhaps. I like seeing them encounter other communities and people together, and it’s a good direction for the sequel to have gone in, as the first book was robot and monk getting to know each other, while this book explores various angles and approaches to technology and life from different and kind people. Becky Chambers tells futuristic stories of queer life stunningly as always. The novella format of this series is also perfect. I’m just so obsessed!!!
April 12, 2023
It’s short, so I blasted through it. Actually, I finished 2 books in one day!
I was looking forward to this 2nd instalment in the Monk & Robot novella series and I was not disappointed.
I listened to it and that is my only gripe really. While the narrator does a good job with subtly voicing the characters, she has a weird way of subtly emphasising the neutral pronouns used for Sibling Dex, which actually contributed to my occasional confusion about who was being referred to. The text did not flow when she said, "THEY did this and THEY did that" It sounded a bit like she was referring to someone else (who was maybe mentioned earlier?), even though it was kind of obvious that it was Dex. It was a shame, because it very often threw me out of the narrative.
But the book itself was lovely! Slow-paced and philosophical, it was a balm to my soul for a few hours. And Mosscap's antics and misunderstandings were cute as well. The main thrust is Mosscap's desire to know what humans need. Not want but need. It doesn't really get its question answered satisfactorily, but I think that's the point really.We are introduced to a bit of (imagined?) conflict between Dex and his family, which may create fodder for future stories. There is also a bit of existential dilemma for Mosscap, which is very interesting. I really like how Chambers looks at the problem from all angles with the aim to find a solution that is acceptable to Mosscap and its moral/robot sensibilities.
If you are looking for quick and dirty action, stay far away from this series! This is contemplative and philosophical and almost devoid of a real plot.
I was looking forward to this 2nd instalment in the Monk & Robot novella series and I was not disappointed.
I listened to it and that is my only gripe really. While the narrator does a good job with subtly voicing the characters, she has a weird way of subtly emphasising the neutral pronouns used for Sibling Dex, which actually contributed to my occasional confusion about who was being referred to. The text did not flow when she said, "THEY did this and THEY did that" It sounded a bit like she was referring to someone else (who was maybe mentioned earlier?), even though it was kind of obvious that it was Dex. It was a shame, because it very often threw me out of the narrative.
But the book itself was lovely! Slow-paced and philosophical, it was a balm to my soul for a few hours. And Mosscap's antics and misunderstandings were cute as well. The main thrust is Mosscap's desire to know what humans need. Not want but need. It doesn't really get its question answered satisfactorily, but I think that's the point really.We are introduced to a bit of (imagined?) conflict between Dex and his family, which may create fodder for future stories. There is also a bit of existential dilemma for Mosscap, which is very interesting. I really like how Chambers looks at the problem from all angles with the aim to find a solution that is acceptable to Mosscap and its moral/robot sensibilities.
If you are looking for quick and dirty action, stay far away from this series! This is contemplative and philosophical and almost devoid of a real plot.
February 20, 2022
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
(Monk & Robot #2)
by Becky Chambers
Wonderful! It's a rich chocolaty cup of hugs! These two travel Dex's world now and Mosscap, the robot, gets to see the world the robots left and ask the people what they need. If someone told me I would enjoy reading a book about two non-binary characters discussing various aspects of philosophy I would have laughed. I am not one to read a lot of philosophy and really enjoy it. But these two drew me in and I was captivated by the subjects and how it relates to life now.
I love the wonderful world they live in. An optimistic, utopian type society where even the young are taught goodness and kindness. Ah, it was so heartwarming. I loved seeing Mosscap explore everything for the first time like a child!
The only thing I found I didn't like is that it was too short. I felt they was just starting their travels and they were not finished. But it ended rather abruptly.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this lovely book!
(Monk & Robot #2)
by Becky Chambers
Wonderful! It's a rich chocolaty cup of hugs! These two travel Dex's world now and Mosscap, the robot, gets to see the world the robots left and ask the people what they need. If someone told me I would enjoy reading a book about two non-binary characters discussing various aspects of philosophy I would have laughed. I am not one to read a lot of philosophy and really enjoy it. But these two drew me in and I was captivated by the subjects and how it relates to life now.
I love the wonderful world they live in. An optimistic, utopian type society where even the young are taught goodness and kindness. Ah, it was so heartwarming. I loved seeing Mosscap explore everything for the first time like a child!
The only thing I found I didn't like is that it was too short. I felt they was just starting their travels and they were not finished. But it ended rather abruptly.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this lovely book!
December 14, 2022
The second Monk and Robot book is a spiritually nourishing, often funny queer utopian novella about two increasingly close companions, a nonbinary monk and a sentient robot. This book is so thoughtful and kind and curious. It's full of conversations and open-ended questions and abundance and comfort and joy. What do humans need, especially in a society where all their basic needs are met? How does one find their purpose in life? I want to live here! Beautiful, soulful narration of the audiobook by Emmett Grosland.
July 14, 2022
get you a robot best friend who'll go anywhere with you to have an existential crisis together.
March 25, 2023
Coup de coeur.
Avec cette suite, Becky fait encore mieux que le premier tome. J’ai adoré retrouver Dex et Omphale, et j’ai été très touché par le livre et toutes les réflexions qu’il contient.
J’en ressors avec une impression aussi étrange que précieuse : la sensation d’avoir vécu un voyage très personnel qui m’a beaucoup apporté et auquel je penserai souvent. Un souvenir inoubliable en somme.
💜
Avec cette suite, Becky fait encore mieux que le premier tome. J’ai adoré retrouver Dex et Omphale, et j’ai été très touché par le livre et toutes les réflexions qu’il contient.
J’en ressors avec une impression aussi étrange que précieuse : la sensation d’avoir vécu un voyage très personnel qui m’a beaucoup apporté et auquel je penserai souvent. Un souvenir inoubliable en somme.
💜
August 31, 2022
4.5 rounded down
Beautifully written, compassionate philosophy. I just wish it wasn't so short! I knew it was short, and I tried to sip, but it didn't work, lol!
Beautifully written, compassionate philosophy. I just wish it wasn't so short! I knew it was short, and I tried to sip, but it didn't work, lol!
August 6, 2022
This is the second volume of a utopian SF series Monk and Robot. The first volume, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, was nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards this year, I’ve read and reviewed it here. I read it as a part of monthly reading for August 2022 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group.
The story continues from where the last volume has ended – the Monk (Sibling Dex) and the Robot (Mosscap) travel together and finally visit some places, where there are other people. Mosscap has a mission – to find out what people need, for after robots achieved sentience and people decided they cannot exploit them no more, for the last few centuries humans and robots lived without any communication. Dex has to help it, to work as a middle person and teach it what is ok and what is not in a society. The robot behaves like a kid, for almost everything for it is new, stopping at every second tree or anthill to observe it.
Readers get more information about how the human society on Panga, their homeworld, operates and this is a version of a communal utopia. There is a discussion of their transaction system (which is not money, according to Dex) and meetings with people show what mores prevail.
There are no significant advancements in the plot, there is just a journey, which can end in the next book or continue for a dozen more. The almost unique feature of the series – there are no antagonists, no ‘bad’ / ‘evil’ characters – everyone is eager to help and made you happy or at least content, it is an extremely altruistic society that lives a sustainable life, quite unlike our world.
As a person, who lived in the USSR and was also interested in social utopian experiments during the last few centuries across the globe, I still consider popular in the West, esp. the US, anti-capitalist and pro-communalist (including communist) attitudes of people of art, including SFF writers, often a little naïve (this in no way mean that the current system is perfect – it should be changed for both more equal and more just for the benefit of all, there are only different views what and how to change). For example, in this novella everyone is caring, there are no free riders, no people with mental abnormalities (incl. sociopathies, manias), and no problems. I think in this aspect the series is much weaker than The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which while the author definitely likes an anarch-communistic society she describes, she doesn’t do it in rose glasses, there are still problems, just of a different kind.
This is a novella where not much happens and which is a nice relaxing read that nevertheless introduces interesting ideas and surprising points of view. Its relative shortness is also a bonus.
The story continues from where the last volume has ended – the Monk (Sibling Dex) and the Robot (Mosscap) travel together and finally visit some places, where there are other people. Mosscap has a mission – to find out what people need, for after robots achieved sentience and people decided they cannot exploit them no more, for the last few centuries humans and robots lived without any communication. Dex has to help it, to work as a middle person and teach it what is ok and what is not in a society. The robot behaves like a kid, for almost everything for it is new, stopping at every second tree or anthill to observe it.
Readers get more information about how the human society on Panga, their homeworld, operates and this is a version of a communal utopia. There is a discussion of their transaction system (which is not money, according to Dex) and meetings with people show what mores prevail.
There are no significant advancements in the plot, there is just a journey, which can end in the next book or continue for a dozen more. The almost unique feature of the series – there are no antagonists, no ‘bad’ / ‘evil’ characters – everyone is eager to help and made you happy or at least content, it is an extremely altruistic society that lives a sustainable life, quite unlike our world.
As a person, who lived in the USSR and was also interested in social utopian experiments during the last few centuries across the globe, I still consider popular in the West, esp. the US, anti-capitalist and pro-communalist (including communist) attitudes of people of art, including SFF writers, often a little naïve (this in no way mean that the current system is perfect – it should be changed for both more equal and more just for the benefit of all, there are only different views what and how to change). For example, in this novella everyone is caring, there are no free riders, no people with mental abnormalities (incl. sociopathies, manias), and no problems. I think in this aspect the series is much weaker than The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which while the author definitely likes an anarch-communistic society she describes, she doesn’t do it in rose glasses, there are still problems, just of a different kind.
This is a novella where not much happens and which is a nice relaxing read that nevertheless introduces interesting ideas and surprising points of view. Its relative shortness is also a bonus.
February 26, 2023
3.5 rounded up. I don't want to be harsh, but to me the first book was better. I think because it dealt with non-human landscapes/the wild earth, a lot of the very human philosophical musings and ramblings present in this one were avoided. I don’t like human beings separating themselves from nature, it's personal but human beings collectively deciding to only live in designated areas of the planet makes no sense, maybe from a western perspective it does. The reason why they choose to do that is explained in the story but aaah. I don’t jam with it.
On another note, it's well written for it's length. The author took their time with it, and answered as many questions as they could given the length. I haven't read their longer books, but I plan to. This was so short and it's why I decided to up the rating.
On another note, it's well written for it's length. The author took their time with it, and answered as many questions as they could given the length. I haven't read their longer books, but I plan to. This was so short and it's why I decided to up the rating.
August 23, 2022
#1) A Psalm for the Wild-Built ★★★★★
please let this series be something like the wayward children series, with a bunch of spin-off sequels 🙏
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