4h runtime; narrated by Emmett Grosland
English language
Published July 13, 2021 by Macmillan Audio.
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.
“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.
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.
Purchasable
Purchasable
https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.aspx.