A Psalm for the Wild-Built

by Becky Chambers

eBook, 160 pages

English language

Published July 2, 2021 by Tom Doherty Associates.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-23622-7

(279 reviews)

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?

5 editions

Jaelyn reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

So much beauty and hope in so few pages

5 stars

Becky Chambers makes me cry again, this time in a hope punk novella about existence and purpose. Long ago, humanity's Factory Age ended when robots suddenly gained consciousness and decided to leave. Humanity respected their agency and choice, allowing them to leave into the wilderness and legend while restructuring human civilization into a sustainable, solarpunk society.

Sibling Dex is a tea monk, going from town to town offering people their ear, their counsel and the perfect cup of tea to soothe their worries. But Dex themself feels an emptiness and pain; they feel guilty for not being happy in a life which - on the face of it - gives them everything it should. This inner conflict they keep from those they help really resonated with me from the very start.

Hoping to find an answer in anything but their routine, Dex goes off track into the wilderness. There, they …

Hoping to find an answer in anything but their routine, Dex goes off track into the wilderness. There, they bump into the first robot to meet a human in centuries, Mosscap. Through it's wide-eyed excitement at learning about humanity again, seeks an answer to a query the robots have about humans: what do people need? In such a short space, Chambers beautifully cuts through to our inner conflict and need for purpose and how to simply find joy in simply existing.

Max Pearl reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Delightful

5 stars

Really delightful book. Great world building, an interesting premise, and a lovely non-binary protagonist. Basically zero tension and violence, so if that's your thing you're likely to be bored. But the character development and world building are totally worth it for me.

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.

jordanduke reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Review of 'A Psalm for the Wild-Built' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Don’t let my 2 week reading time fool you. This is a short read. Really charming.

benwerd reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Review of 'A Psalm for the Wild-Built' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

“You’re an animal, Sibling Dex. You are not separate or other. You’re an animal. And animals have no purpose. Nothing has a purpose. The world simply is. If you want to do things that are meaningful to others, fine! Good! So do I! But if I wanted to crawl into a cave and watch stalagmites with Frostfrog for the remainder of my days, that would also be both fine and good. You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.”

I tend to read whatever the opposite of cozy science fiction is: angry and worried about the world, building tension from speculative extrapolations of what could go wrong. …

“You’re an animal, Sibling Dex. You are not separate or other. You’re an animal. And animals have no purpose. Nothing has a purpose. The world simply is. If you want to do things that are meaningful to others, fine! Good! So do I! But if I wanted to crawl into a cave and watch stalagmites with Frostfrog for the remainder of my days, that would also be both fine and good. You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.”

I tend to read whatever the opposite of cozy science fiction is: angry and worried about the world, building tension from speculative extrapolations of what could go wrong. This, on the other hand, is science fiction that encourages you to just chill for a minute.I don’t know if I could read a lot of this, because I am angry and worried about the world, and reading other peoples’ words along the same lines is cathartic. But the message here — that you don’t need to justify yourself, that you can just be — is soothing, and was necessary for me. And it’s all done with wit and care. What a delightful novella.

Rob Ricci reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

4 stars

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.

ardillybar reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Give me all the warm fuzzies

5 stars

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.

Sandeep reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Review of 'A Psalm for the Wild-Built' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Just like a warm cup of tea, which gets better every time you read and experience :)

geirertzgaard reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Review of 'A Psalm for the Wild-Built' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Miriam Robern reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

A Tight Little Novella for the Wild Built

4 stars

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.

capypokoymal reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

i want more of this

5 stars

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.

projectgus reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Wholesome and lovely

5 stars

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.

puravjha07 reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

good one!

5 stars

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

Flauschbuch reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Very wholesome

5 stars

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.