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 gentle, philosophical tale centered on Dex, a nonbinary monk, and Mosscap, a robot, exploring purpose an...
Mostly for the people who gave this a Hugo Award.
Look, I understand that not every science fiction book needs laser battles, alien invasions, or a spaceship exploding every third chapter. I'm perfectly happy with thoughtful, character-driven sci-fi.
Unfortunately, A Psalm for the Wild-Built felt less like a novel and more like accidentally getting trapped in a very polite philosophical conversation at a coffee shop for four hours.
A tea monk and a robot wander around discussing life, purpose, fulfillment, and what people need.
And then they continue discussing life, purpose, fulfillment, and what people need.
And then, just when I thought something might happen, they discussed life, purpose, fulfillment, and what people need some more.
The book is only about 150 pages long, yet somehow felt longer than the directions to my microwave.
I kept waiting for a plot to arrive. A conflict. A mystery. A dramatic event. A rogue robot. A parking ticket. Literally anything.
Nothing arrived.
I was looking for a story. Instead, I got a robot TED Talk.
By the end, I wasn't pondering the meaning of life. I was pondering how a book this short managed to feel this long.
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