Library Liberty Zed reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)
Nice, heartwarming novella
4 stars
Even in a nice and beautiful world you still have to grapple with the fact that you live a life.
Hardcover, 160 pages
Published July 13, 2021 by Tordotcom.
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
Even in a nice and beautiful world you still have to grapple with the fact that you live a life.
Don’t let my 2 week reading time fool you. This is a short read. Really charming.
Fun, quick read - it's a nice, hopeful take on a future after a breakdown in human/robot relations. Most of the book is world-building but that's kind of the point and the charm of the book.
As much as a love a sad girl book, there's a place in my heart which longs for warm, fuzzy feelings. This book handed me a warm cup of tea and gave me exactly that. I felt comforted and despite everything going on in my life, things are going to be okay.
Temunken Dex møter roboten Moscapp, om kommer ut av jungelen for å sjekke hvordan det går med menneskene på den lille månen Panga. En gang i tiden forlot robotene som var produsert for å hjelpe menneskene sivilisasjonen, og for menneskene ble de etterhvert en myte. Når de møtes oppstår den nydeligste dialogen på den vandringen de gir seg ut på. Mer enn det skjer ikke.
For en nydelig liten bok. Jeg skulle gjerne gitt den full pott, men den første forvirrende delen tar for mye for gitt, og jeg leser i et famlende blinde. Men når menneske og AI møtes, oppstår altså dialogisk magi. Det er nesten som å lese Den lille prinsen, den naivistiske uskylden som vi må finne tilbake til hvis vi skal overleve. Anbefalt.
I'm still digesting this one, but I massively enjoyed reading it. The characterization and worldbuilding are top-notch and done with an exceedingly deft hand.
as per title. more stories without the usual american conflicts and cartoony villains. more utopias and less dystopias. more writing that challenges our belief and makes us think, even if shortly, about the possibility of a different world. the relationship between the two characters is beautifully narrated.
I read the Monk and Robot series over a couple of days last year when I was feeling stressed and a little burned out, and they were exactly what I needed.
This book was such fun! Although it's a relatively light adventure, it features an emotional journey, a few characters that are relatable, and a setting that seems to be a mostly happy future with some vaguely dark periods in the past. I have read it from kindle and shabd.in
Much has been said about this short book already. As far as utopian fiction goes it's an interesting choice to have one of the main characters be unsatisfied with their life for no discernible reason. I think that's something many of us can relate to. Despite the brevity of the book Becky Chambers manages to evoke a rich, detailed world without ever being weighed down by infodumps. I liked the ending a lot.
Can’t wait to re-listen to. Maybe slower, or with more pauses. There is so much detail I would love to bask in.
So many perfectly, soul-displaying quotes.
I’d love it as a comic, an animated series, a play.
Maybe slower, or with more pauses. There is so much detail I would love to bask in.
So many perfectly, soul-displaying quotes.
What a joy this book was! It's a fairly light adventure, but with an emotional journey, some relatable characters, and a setting that feels like a relatively positive future with some unspecified dark times in its past.
This was the #SFFBookClub April pick
As other reviewers have already said: it is a truly gentle, hopeful, beautiful story about connection and self discovery and communication. It's got a post capitalist, solarpunk vibe of a world I'd love to inhabit, an appreciation for little pleasures and little deals, loveable characters, and it's also insightful and wise. Plus the main character rides a bicycle as their main form of transportation!
I now want to leave it all and become a wandering tea monk with a bike. That's how perfect this book is. Loved it.
A compelling yet soothing tale about a non-binary monk having a midlife crisis.
Topics: finding purpose in life, wilderness, the nature of consciousness, and more.
No violence, no struggle apart from that of a person against the pressures of exertion and survival outside of human civilization, and yet it is a page-turner.
It gets the "solarpunk" label because the setting is a human society which fits the bill: non-capitalist, low-impact technology. Main transport method: "ox-bikes," apparently the author's neologism to refer to electronically assisted bicycles that pull carts around. Personal computers are computers that last a person's entire life. Half of the available land is set aside for wilderness. Etc.
100% recommend. It would probably be a good introduction to science fiction for someone who's not familiar with the genre as it exists in the 21st century.
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https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210
.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210
.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx
.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210
.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx
.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx
.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210
.https://www.litalist.com/book/9781250236210
.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx
.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx
.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx
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