eBook
English language
Published July 13, 2021 by Tor.com.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a 2021 solarpunk novella written by American author Becky Chambers and was published by Tor.com on July 13, 2021. It is the first in the Monk & Robot duology, followed by A Prayer for the Crown-Shy set for release in 2022.
A kind of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" for the solar-punk/robot-loving/tea-ceremony crowd.
I did like this story, but it felt a bit underdeveloped? The interaction between the monk and the robot was charming, and I liked the metaphorical roles of healer and healed, of nature and the created.
I'm not really sure why I did not like it as much as Chambers' longer stories.
One interesting thing was how I tried to figure out the "fact" beyond the gender neutral presentation of the monk. Apparently my mind of so very primed on the woman/man identities when I have to construct an imago in my head of what I read, and then I'm not a very visual reader at all. Intriguing.
Wonderful writing. An inventive way to explore the concepts of humanity, consciousness, what it means to be alive. Will be looking for a sequel.
My god, this was a delightful book. The only bad thing about this book is that now I really want to be a tea monk who travels around on a tiny home ebike. Everything else was splendid and fantastic.
Becky Chamber's works are rare among science fiction stories because instead of action-adventure plots they're about people talking about what it means to be alive.
The first couple of chapters felt like the plot was jumping around a hell of a lot, because they're really just backstory/preamble for the actual story
It's good that there will be a sequel because I do want to know what both Mosscap and Dex will do next
