Synopsis
Becky Chambers’ delightful, post-Utopian, Hugo Award-winning series gives us hope for the future.
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’ series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
This book includes both A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy in paperback for the first time!
Review
Just absolutely delightful.
I didn’t get around to reading the two novellas in Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot — A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy when they first came out, but with the upcoming release of the two in a bundled paperback, I was thrilled to dive in. Both are special in their own way and are perfect if you are ever needing a hug in the form of a book.
Even as a combined work, Monk and Robot isn’t a long read, but it’s definitely one that a reader might choose to drag out and spend some time contemplating life while pouring over Chambers’ words. I found myself loving our two main characters and how each of them add a necessary element to each other’s lives.
In the first book, we meet Dex, a non-binary monk living on the fantasy world of Panga, which shares a lot of DNA with our own — there is a church of sorts and humans evolved to the point of creating robots. That’s where our histories diverged, however. The church provides a religion to the people, but there isn’t the rigorous dogma that is associated with the Church throughout our own history. And robots developed sentience in Dex’s world, causing humanity to release the robots from the bondage of their labor. By the time the book starts and we meet Dex for the first time, humanity is aware of the robots, but it is practically ancient history for them.
Dex, meanwhile, is on a spiritual and personal journey. They discover, after a bit of trial and error, that they are an excellent tea service, taking their cart from town to town, offering tea and a comforting ear for people. But is that all there is to life? Are they more than just their job? What’s out there in the wilderness?
Soon, Dex encounters Mosscap, a robot who has been tasked with finding out if humanity needs anything. After so much time away, the robots don’t have to interact with humans, but curiosity has sent Mosscap in search of answers. Primarily, though, that question is addressed in the second novella. The first book is very much focused on Dex as they search for existential answers about their own life. The addition of Mosscap to their journey helps Dex, however, as a sounding board and a view of life outside of their bubble of humanity.
The first book could absolutely exist on its own, but does feel incomplete without Mosscap’s journey. In A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Mosscap gets their time to shine. In fact, because robots haven’t been a part of humanity’s lives for so long, every town that Dex and Mosscap visit basically turns into a celebrity sighting. The humans of Panga are thrilled to see a robot and Mosscap keeps asking what the needs of humanity are along the way.
Although Mosscap is a robot, we see their humanity throughout the events of the book, particularly as the pair head towards the City, a place teeming with people, a University, and hopefully all the answers Mosscap is looking for. But, along the way, their priorities change and it’s clear that robots, just like people, are complicated and complex. Mosscap’s emotions lead them down a road away from the City, and Dex and Mosscap discover truths about themselves in the process.
Both novellas are wonderful little reads and they work fantastic as a pair, so it’s great that Tordotcom is putting this out as a collected work for the first time. NetGalley graciously provided me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, but as I said, this book is absolutely delightful from start to finish.
Monk and Robot by Chambers is available in Trade Paperback on May 6.
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