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?
I started this right after I finished the first one. It deals with Mosscap's tour of Panga to learn what humans need. It gets a lot of different answers. We get to experience the different areas of the world and the different ways people choose to live there in a sustainable fashion. No spoilers but Mosscap is presented with an ineresting philosophical question and it turns out Dex still hasn't really found what they're looking for. The ending is quite open and I'm looking forward to find out where the two are heading next.
Beautiful book. I am amazed at Becky Chamber's magic abilities.
5 stars
Content warning
General spoilers
When I finished the first book I wondered why, being the two books so short, were they not just a single book. After finishing the second book I understand.
The second part of the Monk and Robot books is a completely different story. The apparition of Mosscap changes everything, and what was a book centered on Dex and their relationship with the world in Panga transforms into an exploration of the relationship between the monk and the robot.
Cozy as the first book, but slow in a good way. Just like the travelers in it, we have no rush to finish it. There's no big buildup to anything, and that amazes me. Like the first book, the author manages to create an engaging story without resorting to common narrative tools. It makes the book someone who's just sitting on your bedside table telling you "I'm here if you want to cuddle". The feel-good transcends the story and permeates into your everyday life, your imagination, and the things you think are possible.
The theme of purpose in this book made me shed a tear, even while on antidepressants. People telling me it's okay to just be me, I don't listen to them. But if a rusty robot says that to a monk and I'm just eavesdropping, you will be certain that I will heed the robot. And believe that it is ok to just be.
Been struggling a bit with starting new fiction, and have fond memories of reading the first of this sequence on a trip to the Isle of Skye a year and a half ago, so started this as a way to prime the pump for future reading. A satisfying, enjoyable read on its own merits, incorporating some great descriptive material, and more thoughtful than it had to be, adding depth to an otherwise light-touch bildungsrobot (sorry) plot. The ending is well-judged, breaching reader expectations while keeping things open, and I really appreciated being able to start and finish a book in a single sitting.
Probably even lower on dramatic tension than the first book, but that's just fine -- that's not what's needed here. Instead we have a gentle journey between various human settlements as the background to Dex and Mosscrops' developing relationship and their respective struggles with making sense of life.
I felt the first book was too short, but this one with the characters already presented, could dig into the deeper discussions of life and our place in it. It was also hilariously funny at times!
Maybe you sometimes need a friendly robot to make you understand the idea of mindfulness. Ironic.
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the second novella in this series; if the first book focused a bit more on Sibling Dex's journey, this book switches to look at Mosscap and Sibling Dex's shared travel to small towns across Panga. Their journey is presented as a series of vignettes which fill in worldbuilding details and bring in a number of different themes. Because of this, I think this book feels more winding and broad than the first one, but it's still just as endearing.
There's just so many delightful Mosscap moments: Mosscap being newly excited about every tree along the road; Mosscap waking up Sibling Dex up at a godawful early hour because they're just too impatient to discuss a book and then continuing that discussion while Dex attempts to pee; Mosscap bursting in to congratulate Dex about having sex.
Reading both of these back to back makes me appreciate how much the second book's ending is an echo of the first's, where each resolves an uncomfortable question that has been hanging in the air between Dex and Mosscap while also getting to the heart of their own struggles (that continue to hit me right in my own insecurities).
Taps into the feeling of lacking purpose, or at least the need for questioning it, wondering why even when things are comfortable and work is meaningful it still can feel like there's something more out there. For such gentle books—ones that are almost entirely lacking in conflict, even—it's impressive how much feeling they can pack in.
Still doesn't go into the religion in the way that I was hoping, but maybe that's something to start fleshing out myself, if it's something I'm noticing as an absence.
The world described in these books is one that I would love to live in, more than that described in any other science fiction book. Forget cyberpunk, give me solarpunk for life! It's a great book to read before bed, as the book is like a warm hug, helping you settle down and relax before going to sleep.
And to that end, welcome comfort, for without it, you cannot stay strong.
First of all: I'm not crying, you're crying.
In all seriousness, I have no idea how Becky Chambers does this. Her stories are always so impossibly, impeccably full of kindness that I almost feel unworthy of reading them, and also like I'm becoming a better person simply by delving into these books. That's especially true when it comes to the Monk & Robot novellas.
I honestly loved every step of this new journey. It was a delight to explore the world of Panga—not just the natural world that served as a backdrop for Dex's inner searchings (and a character in its own right) in the first part of the series, although nature remains incredibly important here, as well. But this time, we get to delve into the inner workings of the society, with their green technologies and …
And to that end, welcome comfort, for without it, you cannot stay strong.
First of all: I'm not crying, you're crying.
In all seriousness, I have no idea how Becky Chambers does this. Her stories are always so impossibly, impeccably full of kindness that I almost feel unworthy of reading them, and also like I'm becoming a better person simply by delving into these books. That's especially true when it comes to the Monk & Robot novellas.
I honestly loved every step of this new journey. It was a delight to explore the world of Panga—not just the natural world that served as a backdrop for Dex's inner searchings (and a character in its own right) in the first part of the series, although nature remains incredibly important here, as well. But this time, we get to delve into the inner workings of the society, with their green technologies and beautiful religion and my absolute dream economy system and so many awesome, wholesoome, just plain good people.
I loved exploring several different communities with their own sets of rules and customs.
I loved seeing this world both through Dex's eyes, as a part of it, and through Mosscap's outsider perception.
I loved witnessing the growth in both main characters and the bond they share.
I loved that final conversation about purpose and being good enough just as you are.
And I loved that in the end, it was the journey that mattered, not reaching the destination.
(That is to say, I'd still love to read about the destination and learn even more about the people of Panga. I'd love to read about Dex and Mosscap just hanging out on the beach for however many pages Becky Chambers is willing to give me, too. I don't care. I'm not picky. I just want to hang around for as long as possible in that beautiful world where people are more important than the things we get constantly told are more important than people.)
