A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book (Monk & Robot, 1)
Winner of the Hugo Award!
In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot 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's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
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Readers say *A Psalm for the Wild-Built* is a warm, introspective tale featuring Dex, a nonbinary monk, and Mosscap, a robot, exploring themes of purp...
Cross posting from my instagram
https://instagram.com/p/CptI78Iv73G
I read this book on my nook, so I don’t really have any nice cover pictures, which is a shame with this one, because the cover art is beautiful. So instead I took a few of the quotes I liked and paired them with some of my favorite nature images from over the years. As for the book itself, it was absolutely wonderful. It reminded me a lot of Legends and Lattes (that we listened to on audio a bit back). Not in plot, character or style even. But in coziness. And I’m honestly loving it. It was fairly short, at about 100 pages, but I don’t think it needed more than that. So short isn’t a criticism, if anything, it’s a compliment. You can pretty quickly find a plot summary or dust jacket synopsis, so I won’t go too far into that. I think two things worth sharing if you haven’t read this book and are thinking about it. First, tea monks are wonderful, and they are a thing in this book. What is a team monk? Tea monks are monks who make you a cup of tea for you, and then either listen to you talk for a while, or let you drink it in silence and solitude for a while. Whichever you need. The main character in this book is a tea monk, and I am convinced that this is what the world needs so badly right now. The book is primarily, though not entirely about Dex’s journey as they begin their journey as a team monk. Learning their craft and traveling in what is essentially a tiny camper pulled by a powered bicycle. It’s so near idyllic. But Dex has inner struggles, and a lot of this book is Dex thinking through their discontent. I loved how the author approached this, with relatable, respectful, musings. So yah, tea monks are a thing in this book and they are amazing.
The second thing is just how much nature plays a part in this book. It’s the first book in the “Monk and Robot” series, so I was kinda expecting spaceships and aliens and whatnot. But nature is the real backdrop, almost a character itself in this book. I was pleasantly surprised at just how much this book is about the restorative, meditative nature of… well… nature.
https://instagram.com/p/CptI78Iv73G
I read this book on my nook, so I don’t really have any nice cover pictures, which is a shame with this one, because the cover art is beautiful. So instead I took a few of the quotes I liked and paired them with some of my favorite nature images from over the years. As for the book itself, it was absolutely wonderful. It reminded me a lot of Legends and Lattes (that we listened to on audio a bit back). Not in plot, character or style even. But in coziness. And I’m honestly loving it. It was fairly short, at about 100 pages, but I don’t think it needed more than that. So short isn’t a criticism, if anything, it’s a compliment. You can pretty quickly find a plot summary or dust jacket synopsis, so I won’t go too far into that. I think two things worth sharing if you haven’t read this book and are thinking about it. First, tea monks are wonderful, and they are a thing in this book. What is a team monk? Tea monks are monks who make you a cup of tea for you, and then either listen to you talk for a while, or let you drink it in silence and solitude for a while. Whichever you need. The main character in this book is a tea monk, and I am convinced that this is what the world needs so badly right now. The book is primarily, though not entirely about Dex’s journey as they begin their journey as a team monk. Learning their craft and traveling in what is essentially a tiny camper pulled by a powered bicycle. It’s so near idyllic. But Dex has inner struggles, and a lot of this book is Dex thinking through their discontent. I loved how the author approached this, with relatable, respectful, musings. So yah, tea monks are a thing in this book and they are amazing.
The second thing is just how much nature plays a part in this book. It’s the first book in the “Monk and Robot” series, so I was kinda expecting spaceships and aliens and whatnot. But nature is the real backdrop, almost a character itself in this book. I was pleasantly surprised at just how much this book is about the restorative, meditative nature of… well… nature.
“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.â€
I would read a hundred novellas about Dex the monk and Mosscap the robot’s adventures as they try to understand each other and themselves. Every bit of this book felt like a warm cup of tea.
I would read a hundred novellas about Dex the monk and Mosscap the robot’s adventures as they try to understand each other and themselves. Every bit of this book felt like a warm cup of tea.
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