ludd reviewed A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #2)
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) …
Review of 'A Prayer for the Crown-Shy' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
i appreciate this book most for it's depiction of a compelling alternative to capitalism (edit: i learned the term 'solarpunk' recently and that feels appropriate here). it is essentially a tour of of utopia, with mosscap the robot working as a device to explore the details of a new society at each destination - an economy without currency, based on cooperation and collective benefit; normalization of non-binary gender identities; non-monogamy and alternative family structures; an ethos of sustainability and ecological awareness; post-fossil fuel technology (what extraction is required for those ubiquitous 'pocket computers' though?). the author does this with a light hand, never getting lost in what could easily be a morass of details.
the growing companionship of dex and mosscap is endearing, but i didn't see much in the way of character development in this story. <spoiler>dex began the book with their main emotional dilemma around purpose, not feeling …
i appreciate this book most for it's depiction of a compelling alternative to capitalism (edit: i learned the term 'solarpunk' recently and that feels appropriate here). it is essentially a tour of of utopia, with mosscap the robot working as a device to explore the details of a new society at each destination - an economy without currency, based on cooperation and collective benefit; normalization of non-binary gender identities; non-monogamy and alternative family structures; an ethos of sustainability and ecological awareness; post-fossil fuel technology (what extraction is required for those ubiquitous 'pocket computers' though?). the author does this with a light hand, never getting lost in what could easily be a morass of details.
the growing companionship of dex and mosscap is endearing, but i didn't see much in the way of character development in this story. <spoiler>dex began the book with their main emotional dilemma around purpose, not feeling called to serve tea anymore, and ended the book in the same place albeit with an acceptance of the uncertainty.</spoiler> there's a lesson there, surely, but i wasn't able to connect on an emotional level with this book like i did with the 1st in the series. as for the robot, it gets to expand it's conception of humanity and what kinds of society we can create. the most sinister impact of capitalism has been to conflate the notion of 'apocalypse' with the end of that system, so this story serves as a subtle yet powerful act of resistance through imagination.
