Status
Call number
Series
Publication
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: A USA Today Bestseller! "Tender and healing... I'm prescribing a preorder to anyone who has ever felt lost. Stunning, kind, necessary." �??Sarah Gailey on book 1: A Psalm for the Wild-Built A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF. 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? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.… (more)
User reviews
As they arrive in the first village, the people greet them with enthusiasm, Yet when Mosscap
And then a part breaks in Mosscap, and it can't maintain its balance anymore. Dex changes their travel plans, to get to the nearest village that has a 3D printer and the man who runs it. At no point do they call it a 3D printer; it's just a printer. On the moon-world of Panga, the humans don't normally print books on paper; they read them on computers. It's 3D objects that need to be printed.
Replacing Mosscap's broken part proves much more challenging than expected, but not for technical reasons. The robots of Panga, living in the wilderness, don't attempt major repairs. If they can fix themselves with materials they find in the natural world, they do. If they can't, they accept the gradual decay of their functions, and when they stop working, eventually their still-usable parts are used to build new robots. A real technological repair is an ethically and philosophically challenging for it. It gets even more complicated when Mosscap learns of the range of natural-sourced materials to choose from for its replacement part.
Meanwhile, Dex is experiencing burnout--has been for a while; it's why they took their tea-wagon and went into the wilderness and met Mosscap in the first place. They haven't wanted to do tea-service in a while, even though they have enjoyed it and believe it is very valuable, and they feel guilty about needing a rest. Their message to all the people they have helped with tea-service is that they don't have to be useful and productive to be wonderful and valuable, yet they are struggling to accept that message for themself.
We have two nonbinary characters traveling through small settlements, meeting some very interesting people, and working their way through philosophical questions. And it all feels like a warm, satisfying pot of your favorite tea.
This is not a book of action and adventure. It's a book of good, kind, and interesting people, trying to do the right thing.
I loved it.
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
Sibling Dex, a wandering Tea
This book draws readers in slowly but surely. Readers will come to admire Dex and Mosscap. Chambers has developed both characters so the reader is able to relate to both. Readers will smile along with Dex when Mosscap’s innate child-like enthusiasm for new things, like the leaves on a tree new to it, slows their travels to a crawl.
The most impressive thing about this book is Chambers’ ability to have Dex and Mosscap discuss so many complex subjects in such a short book without sounding preachy. When readers read the last page, they will be surprised that the book is over because they will be disappointed that the book has ended.
You need not have read the first book in this series to enjoy this book. The author introduces a new reader to her characters in such a way as to not bore the reader already familiar with Dex and Mossback while making sure the new reader understands who each character is as well as their relationship to one another.
If you like books that are classified as science fiction, but turn out to be so much more, then this book is for you. If you don’t like science fiction, set that aside and read this book because it nothing like any science fiction book you’ve ever attempted to read.
My thanks to Tor and Edelweiss for an eARC.
Advanced Reader's Copy Provided by Edelweiss
Thoughts: I loved this installment of Monk and Robot just as much as the first book in this series. These are quick reads that seem simple on the surface but really delve deeply into
We are back in the same post-apocalyptic Earth setting but this time instead of Mosscap helping Dex explore the wilds, Dex is bringing Mosscap to human cities.
This is a fascinating story. It was fun and intriguing to watch Mosscap be introduced to humanity as a whole. The analysis of Mosscap’s question to the human “What does a human need?” was likewise thought-provoking. Time was also spent on questions of whether or not it is okay to just exist or should we always be striving for some goal. Of course, it is always fun to watch Mosscap’s simple and joyful reaction to things and to watch Dex try to patiently indulge these diversions.
As with the first book, this book packs a lot of punch in a very short page space and is one of my favorite kinds of stories; it is entertaining and fun to read while being thought-provoking at the same time.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this second installment in the Monk and Robot series and can't wait to see where this series ends up going. This continues in the same vein as the first book; we wander through an intriguing future world and join Dex and Mosscap on their thoughtful adventures through it. I would definitely recommend both books, it would be best to start with the first book to get the full impact of this story.
It was even more clear in this book that it's Chambers' self-soothing project, which I can't be mad at. Still love me some Monk and Robot.
the unusual friends, who have become something of celebrities to the humans who have never seen a wild robot, travel to various towns and cities in this installment,
The audio narration by talented actor and trans advocate Em Grosland is perfect, recreating Mosscap's robot personality with such humor and wonder, and I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing Sibling Dex's (and Mx. Avery's) they/them pronouns used throughout the story, both by the narrative voice and by all the people they meet without fuss, as they should be.
Cute but not brimming with the joy her best works have invoked.
The problems that the Dex and Mosscap have are different, but the same. Dex loves their family, but gets overwhelmed by them. Mosscap is worried that its family (the robot community) won't accept it because it has become too different.
The story is written gracefully, with humility. The author doesn't take her characters for granted. It also helps that there is no grandstanding, no speeches, just a conversation with two friends who are completely different, helping each other overcome problems and accept themselves for who they are.
I adored the first Monk & Robot novella when I recently read it as a Nebula novella finalist. To me, it was a strong four-star read. This book? Five stars. Yes, it was even better.
The concept of the series is this: ages before, robots gained sentience and
In this volume, they venture into the human realm, where Mosscap meets more people--and domesticated dogs, and rides in boats, and takes in everything with glee. The book is gentle in the way of many of Becky Chambers' books. There is no big bad guy, no looming, world-ending threat. This is about people being people, even if one of them is not people, and this book in particular is about the importance of community.
Quite honestly, I want to live in this world. It is by no means perfect, but there is a level of consideration and compassion that leaves me with a deep sense of yearning.
The second novella abut a tea monk and a robot is just a much a comfortable read as the first one. Now the rest of the world knows about Mosscap and want to meet him. Sibling Dex is now his guide to all things human and trying to filter out all the messages of everyone wanting to meet
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
[Audiobook note: good reader. I can happily recommend either format. PS: the fish scene still had me misting up.]
In this book we meet more characters than the previous one, which was just a solitary adventure between the duo. Mosscap's obliviousness when it comes to human society is often played off for laughs.
The cover is beautiful, just like the last one.
The monk lives in a
The monk's life takes a new direction when a robot appears in the wilds, says that it sees that society has survived, indeed flourished, and wants to know what people need right now. The pursuit of an answer to that question becomes the force that drives the story's plot to a very uplifting and satisfying conclusion.
*The first volume is A Psalm for the Wild-Built.
Thinking about how monocultural religio-philosophical agreement takes the place of government to
I do want to reread both of these.
Awards
Language
Original publication date
Physical description
ISBN
Copy notes
Contents: The highway -- The woodlands -- The riverlands -- The coastlands -- The shrublands -- The detour.
Orange, blue, and green pictorial dustjacket over goldenrod paper-covered boards, yellow-orange endbands, beige endpapers.
Both hinges misaligned (every copy on shelf was this way).