Jul 5

Jul 5 A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2)

Author: Becky Chambers
Publisher: Tordotcom
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

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?

TL;DR Review

Good news for those who loved Psalm: this sequel does not disappoint. Sibling Dex and Mosscap are back to hug us as they puzzle through questions of purpose, belonging, and self-compassion.

For you if: You read A Psalm for the Wild-Built (which you really, really should do)

Full Review

“You don’t have to have a reason to be tired. You don’t have to earn rest or comfort. You’re allowed to just be.”

I’m not alone in thinking that Becky Chambers’ first Monk & Robot novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, is one of the best things I’ve read. And so I, like everyone else, couldn’t wait to get my hands on this sequel. Good news: It’s just what we hoped for.

If you’re unfamiliar, the Monk & Robot novellas are about a (non-binary) tea monk named Sibling Dex and a sentient robot named Mosscap. (Centuries ago in this world, robots “woke up” and decided they’d rather go live in nature in peace. Dex and Mosscap are the first humans/robots to talk since then.) This novella picks up a few weeks after the first one ends; Dex and Mosscap are beginning their tour of the country as Mosscap seeks the answer to his assigned question: What do humans need?

Someone at a book launch event I attended called Chambers’ work “cozy sci-fi,” and it’s perfect. These books are a hug. They may make you tear up, but only because you feel seen. Rather than battles, we have philosophy. Rather than conflict, we have questions and disagreements resolved through compassion and conversation. Rather than the world ending, we have characters who are tired and doing their best in all the same ways as us.

I think Psalm is still my favorite of the two, but I definitely need to reread Prayer again before I can make that call for sure (they are beautiful rereads). This one feels a bit less self-contained; more like the beginning of a new journey vs the “there and back again’ feeling of the first. But I did love this. It asks questions about purpose and need. It’s about selfhood, and how we are both of and more than our bodies. And it’s about the fallacy of “earning” joy and rest, and how it’s hard to extend the same compassion to ourselves as we do to others. I also really loved learning about the system of “money” in this world; it cracked open another piece of my heart.

Sibling Dex, Mosscap, Becky Chambers: I will follow you on any adventure. Where will we go next? Please can we do this again soon?