A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: A Monk and Robot Book (Monk & Robot 2)

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Lovely sci if set in a mysterious post something (yet to be explained hoping for more information in future books) Earth. The first Monk and Robot book was very wholesome and warm, and this second installment is just as rich. 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! pithy assessment of humans: "We are no more qualified to be the stewards or developers of the Earth than are goats to be gardeners. While this book manages some strong, authentic moments, I’m still not convinced that Chambers can excel at the novella length, and the end result here was a middling read overall.

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. Mosscap leaned in toward the fire drum, as close as was safe, its glowing eyes fixed on the apparatus within.Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. 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. Maybe giving such things credit where credit was due was the perfect job for someone who wasn’t a person at all.

I absolutely love this series, such a refreshing take on the “robots gaining autonomy and awareness” trope. 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 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.The first book in Chambers’ new series feels like a moment to breathe, a novel that exists to give readers a place to rest and think… Recommended for fans of Chambers’ Wayfarers series and The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.

So, just in case you are wondering, yes, I loved it, from the dedication and opening sentence to the last page. Mosscap has volunteered to go out amongst the humans to find out what they need and make sure that the development of humanity has progressed in a positive manner. Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author. Becky Chambers nails the experience of moving through wilderness and its ability to heighten the comforts of civilization. Yeah, well, we’re not in a ruin,” Dex said, panting lightly as they crested the last of a mild incline.

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. Small ribbons had been tied to it by countless passersby, their colors faded and fraying in the open air. 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.