User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Just got my hands on the ARC... 2022 isn't so bad now!
Rating: really liked it
Not many books feel like a warm cup of tea... or make me laugh!
Rating: really liked it
Source 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.
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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.
Rating: really liked it
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.
Rating: really liked it
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.
Rating: really liked it
How could I *not* want to read this after Psalm for the Wild-Built?
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Becky Chambers genuinely makes the world a better place. ♥️
Rating: really liked it
My heart is so, so full!!!
Rating: really liked it
"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.
Rating: really liked it
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!
Rating: really liked it
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)
Rating: really liked it
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:
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.
Rating: really liked it
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!!!
Rating: really liked it
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 it's 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.
Rating: really liked it
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!
Rating: really liked it
“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.
