Becky Chambers is the master of making feel-good, thoughtful science fiction. Five stars all around.

Never have I read a book that feels more like getting a hug. Or that moment after you take your first sip of an excellent cup of tea. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is utterly charming, thought-provoking, and heart-warming. Becky Chambers manages to fit more emotion, heart, and philosophical musings into this novella than some authors fit into massive tomes. This book will leave you feeling hopeful and comforted, while also eagerly awaiting the next adventures of the tea monk and robot that you can’t help but fall in love with. I cannot recommend A Psalm for the Wild-Built enough. In fact, I loved it so much that when I finished reading my digital copy, I went out and bought a finished copy.

This is a story about inherent value… and witty robots!

Becky Chambers has such a consistent, lovely style & this book, while different from her prior series, definitely contained the things that made it great. I also appreciated the nonbinary rep, and the exportation of inherent value outside of how it is defined by capitalism.

Thank you so much Netgalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this e-Arc!

An absolutely wonderful novella that explores meaning and purpose. Sibling Dex proves a relatable and delightful protagonist, and their adventures with Mosscap are charming and memorable.

Chambers' prose stuns here, as always, and the book reads like a gentle breeze along which the reader floats. Wonderful, wonderful book.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, written by Becky Chambers, is a robot book that can easily touch the hearts of any of its readers.

Hundreds of years ago, the robots of Earth gained sentience and stopped working for humans. Unlike what pop culture would like to believe, the humans were willing to let the robots run off and have their own lives – and the robots were willing to leave peacefully.

This is the world that our main characters have always known, where robots and humans lived separately – in peace, but never really knowing how the other was doing. Or what they wanted going forward.

"Sometimes a person reaches a point in their life when it becomes absolutely essential to get the fuck out of the city."

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is the best of both worlds. It is imaginative and fun while somehow portraying a futuristic world that is simple and comforting. It is not a world that I would have ever considered imagining all one my own, and I love it so much.

The characters are an absolute highlight in this novella, and with good reason. They're so charming and inquisitive, trying to find what they want/need out of life. There's something so refreshing to see this discussion aired so openly.

Speaking of refreshing – I adore how inclusive A Psalm for the Wild-Built is. That is half the reason why I felt this novella was a comforting one, as the characters seem to honestly care – and were always working their ways towards understanding.

I do not know if this will be the first in a series or if this was a standalone novella. I do know that I would love to see anything and everything else that Becky Chambers thinks up, primarily if it stems from this world.

Becky Chamber’s books are like therapy for me. They just calms me down, make me introspect, find new depths within me and makes it all really really entertaining!! Her writing is soo soothing and thought provoking. She somehow makes the most mundane stuff profound and I love that.
All of the above is true fir her latest release as well. Psalm for the wild built follows a tea monk, Bex who makes tea and acts like a therapist in this solar punk novella. But somehow Bex still finds themselves feeling as if they have not found their purpose in life. This leads to them leaving civilisation behind on a whim and venturing into the wild where they meet a robot.
Bex’s interactions with Mosscap, the robot, are so funny and sapient at the same time! I loved both of them soo much. I wanted to be a part of their insightful debates and spend all my time philosophising with them.
Can’t wait to read more of their adventures.

Rating : 5 stars

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

“What am I supposed to do, if not this? What am I, if not this?”

Dex (they/them) is a monk who is trying to find their purpose and whose adventures get interrupted by a very unique robot called Mosscap (it/its) who is trying to figure out what humans need.

It is a very simple premise and nevertheless this book is probably the deepest novel I’ve read in the last six months. What at first seems to be a book about adventures and robots, soon turns into an introspective story about finding oneself, the meaning of life and what is our purpose on this Earth. But most importantly, it talks about why sometimes we feel unsatisfied and unhappy when everything seems to be ok.

For the first few pages I was simply enjoying the story and I was curious to see where everything was leading. After reading a few chapters I immediately started to connect with Dex, a character who constantly feels like something is missing in their life.

This novella made me reflect and think about many of the things Dex mentions. At one point in the book they say they wake up feeling tired, like something is missing. But they feel bad about themselves and feel selfish for feeling incomplete when their life is supposed to be perfect and have everything they need. And this is probably one of the best definitions of depression I’ve ever read!

Dex is 29 and still hasn’t found their purpose in life, I’m currently 26 and I feel the exact same way. This book was so relatable for so many reasons but especially because Dex’s character is just one of us, one more millennial who hasn’t been able to fulfill all the expectations people (or even themself) had for them.

On the other hand, Mosscap is also a relatable character but for different reasons. While Dex can’t find what they’re looking for, Mosscap has too many interests. It likes everything and therefore knows little about each of those things, which I found to be a reflection of our current society where the amount of information and stimuli we are exposed to make us often feel unfocused.

Both of these characters are like two sides of a coin. I identified with them at different times and they both helped me understand and process some of my current worries and emotions.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is an amazing book, because there’s adventures and a great world-building, but mostly because it reflects on humanity and what it means to be a sentient and conscious being. It taught me that feeling lost is alright because just existing is enough.

Thank you Becky Chambers for this story because I firmly believe this will be a book I will remember and treasure for many years to come. (P.S. I can’t wait to read the next volume!)

This book is dedicated to everyone who’s ever needed a break, and I’m sure that’s all of us. It tells the story of a tea monk in the distant future where robots became sentient and wanted their freedom. Humans granted them that and returned to a world without technology and left the robots to themselves. As Dex decides they must visit an abandoned monestary in the abandoned lands, they meet a Robot, and the two learn from each other.

This book was so damn pleasant, and my only complaint was I wanted to spend more time with Dex and Mosscap. It was really nice to steal a few pages between running myself ragged and reminded me that I do this now so that I can hopefully enjoy a slower pace later. I’d really love the opportunity to spend more time in this world of reflection of humanity, the self, and where we may be going with AI. I really hope Chambers creates more stories set in this world.

It’s out now, so if you’ve got a couple of hours and need a break, I highly recommend it.

Would you prefer to live in a bustling city or in some secluded woods?

Sibling Dex, a monk from the city, has the sudden need to leave. Despite a seemingly fulfilling and content life, they can't help but feel that something is missing. So, they pack up their belongings and hit the road as a newly minted tea monk, in search of the peaceful sound of crickets.

Only, crickets aren't as easy to come by as they had hoped and when Dex travels off the beaten path they meet a robot who is on its own mission to learn what humans need since the robots gained sentience and left humanity behind centuries ago.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a super wholesome novella with a nonbinary MC, a robot, tea, and discussions of fulfillment and contentment. Huge thanks to @tordotcompub for the e-arc ahead of publication on July 13th!

As someone who jumped straight from school into a career that's interesting, demanding, and not really anything to complain about, but is still ultimately not exactly what I want to do forever even if I don't know exactly what I would like to do long term - I definitely related to Dex in their mission to find fulfillment. And I definitely related to the get out of the city to the quiet countryside mentality as well (quarantine has only made me more antisocial and ill-prepared to deal with the stimulation of the city 😂)

I enjoyed Dex and Mosscap's relationship and its development over the course of the book - the way that both characters learned from each other and were able to make important impacts on each other's lives and perceptions. 10/10 recommend for those found family vibes. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of their adventures.

Also highly recommended for anyone else going through a quarter life crisis 😂 or in any other transitional phase.

Thank you NetGalley and the published for an early copy of this book, here is my honest review. A Psalm for the Wild Built follows a tea monk, Sibling Dex, who is traveling through Panga to all the towns and villages. Tea monks are there to lend an ear, to be a comfort to people. I loved the concept of this world. Years and years ago, robots gained consciousness and left the world of humans. They decided they wanted to go live in nature, not to be disturbed, and that’s what they did. Many people in the present time think of robots as more legend than actual history. This is also a super diverse world. The monks are referred to as Brother, Sister, and Sibling depending on whether they are male, female or non-binary. The monk we follow, Dex, is non-binary. Dex changed careers early in the story. We see them work really hard to be an excellent tea monk and they really succeed. But being a tea monk doesn’t make them happy. So, in pursuit to feel better, Dex goes on a journey to find a lost monastery in hopes that it will give them the feeling of satisfaction that they’re craving. But as they start their journey, Dex is met by Mosscap, a robot. The two end up traveling together to the monastery and learning about one another on the journey.
I loved this book. I loved Sibling Dex. I adored Mosscap. I loved everything about it. The concept of robots fleeing the human world to live free in the woods is such an excellent one. I loved learning about how the robots have been living since leaving. Mosscap always had the most insightful things to say. I loved all of the wisdom it shared with Dex. Dex was a compelling character too. They are doing something they’re really good at, and yet, they’re still not satisfied with their life. I totally relate to this and I loved following Dex’s emotional journey.
Overall, this was a beautiful slice of life story that followed two characters that will hold a place in my heart for a long time. I absolutely cannot wait for the second book in the series and I hope that we will get more from this series. I definitely recommend this book.

I can’t remember exactly how I got turned on to Isaac Asimov’s Robots series, but it absolutely enthralled me for both its science fiction setting and social science-fiction and philosophy. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is an immaculate novella by Becky Chambers with audiobook narration by Emmett Grosland published by Tordotcom. Sibling Dex grew up in comfortable privilege, but they long to hear the sound of crickets beyond their city walls. Their time as a tea monk traveling Panga in a world post-departure of its robots to the wilderness forever is not enough to quench an endless desire to fulfill something greater.

I love the high-fantasy world of A Psalm for the Wild-Built. On the verdant moon of Panga, generations ago, humanity’s robotic workforce suddenly and inexplicably awakened to consciousness. The world was dying from human’s mistreatment of the world and in a turn of humility I could never believe would happen in our world, the people of Panga agreed to both accept robotkind as free equals to humankind, to allow them the freedom to depart the human settlements to abide by their own destinies, and to cordon human reach upon their continent to only 50 percent of the land. The other half of the world would remain unadulterated and protected from human meddling. This entire premise is so hard to believe, given the selfish nature of humans, yet, Chambers sells it perfectly in only a short few chapters.

Dex, the restless monk whom the story centers around, is the perfect character to tell this story. Their capacity for wonder and growth complements their anxiety and assumptive nature. When Dex meets and begins to travel with Splendid Speckled Mosscap, a robot that has been tasked with returning to human civilization and ascertaining “what they need” so the robots may provide it, they teeter back and forth between cautious questioning to avoid offense and inadvertent assumptions. The ebb and flow of their many conversations had me feeling myself squarely in Dex’s shoes. Encountering something only whispered about for generations has to be intimidating, even if it wasn’t seven feet tall, and the way they speak to one another completely encapsulates two entities with no conception of one another beyond hearsay.

What makes this relationship in A Psalm for the Wild-Built so successful is the way it works to make Dex and Mosscap equals. The first time this sunk in was during one of their first conversations. Dex asks Mosscap whether it has a gender, to which Mosscap replies “no,” and Dex says “me neither.” It’s not something that gets harped on or has any impact on their characters or plots, it’s just a moment of understanding and relationship building that worked unexpectedly perfectly. This moment was built upon later when Dex and Mosscap discuss pronouns and Mosscap explains that it is inanimate, despite its consciousness, and should therefore be referred to as “it.” This confounds Dex at first, who uses the pronouns “they/them,” but becomes the foundation for a depending understanding between one another.

Where Asimov’s robots are about how they are distinctly separate from humans, but perhaps not so different after all, Chambers’ robots take a subtly inverted approach. They are distinctly not so different from humans, but nonetheless, quite separate. This difference is profound as the book delves into its philosophy. It brings up questions about the purpose for being and value. I’m absolutely entranced by the quote “We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.”

Grosland’s narration is enjoyable, particularly Mosscap’s gleeful voice, although the recording feels like it’s roughly cut in places where Grosland’s tone suddenly shifts or their voice deepens noticeably as if the segment is from a different recording session. It’s only momentarily distracting though, and could perhaps have been a matter of attempting to distinguish the narrative voice from that of Dex.

Through Dex and Mosscap’s burgeoning relationship and mutual understanding, we experience perhaps the best use of robots in fiction as reflections upon our own humanity and civilization since Asimov himself. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is utterly profound yet simple, placid, and a joy to read.

A sweet story , which is unusual in sci-fi novel.. True to the sci-fi genre it gets you thinking on a deeper level. Although it may get you thinking about our future it does so without being pessimistic. I wasn't ready for this story to end and look forward to the sequel. It makes you consider what it means to be truly human..

I wasn't initially a fan of Chambers, but after Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, I've come to like each of her books more and more. This one was no exception. Psalm is a novella and the start of a science fiction series about man and robot. As a novella, there wasn't as much content as I would have liked, but I'm looking forward to reading more. Psalm is set in a future where robots have established sentience and separated from human beings. There has been no human/robot interaction since, and humans now live a much simpler, technology-free life. At some point it was decided that humans could occupy only half the planet, and the rest had to be left to the wild.

The opening neatly explains the history of robot independence while also cataloguing the different gods that are now worshipped, through a debate between whether robot conciousness is due to Chal, the God of Constructs, or Bosh, the God of the Cycle, or Samafar, the God of Mysteries. Chambers explains there are two parent gods and a number of child gods.

Sibling Dex is a monk who follows Allallae, the God of Small Comforts. Dex decides one day to leave the monastery to go into tea service, which means driving from village to village in a wagon, setting out tea, and listening to people's worries. They (Dex is nonbinary) have an urge to hear the sound of crickets.

When they looked up at the skyscrapers, they no longer marveled at their height but despaired at their density - endless stacks of humanity, packed in so close that the vines that covered their engineered casein frames could lock tendrils with each other... Dex wanted to inhabit a place that spread not up but out.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
In this short work, Chambers raises a number of interesting issues about identity, equality, friendship, and purpose. When Dex meets a robot for the first time, they struggle with how to treat it (is it an "it"?) and they must wrestle with their discomfort about human's mistreatment of robots in factories many years ago.

I really enjoyed the world that Chambers is creating in this new series. It's got a quieter, more sensory pace than most science fiction, which may be expected in a post-technology future. Her focus is more on philosophical issues, like man's relationship to machines and to nature. The dialogue is very well-written and while the tone is introspective, Chambers also writes with a sense of humor.

Like Chambers' other books, I found myself thinking this would strongly appeal to Star Trek fans, because her writing really deals with social and political issues more than technological ones. And while her books are set in the future, they feel very relevant today.

I would have liked more worldbuilding and I expect that will come with future novels in the series (at least I hope they will be novels rather than novellas). There's a lot about this post-robot world that could use more explaining, including how humans are living and working beyond Dex's monastery and tea service. The novella's weakness was that Dex's motivations were unclear, from the abrupt decision to go into tea service to a later decision to go a different route. Dex seems to make huge, impulsive, and clearly unwise decisions with little or no rationale. Since we don't learn very much about the character's past, I wanted to better understand the reasons for these decisions. On the other hand, Dex is a character who gets what he wants, and then can't understand why he isn't happy. I can identify with that.

You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to just exist in this world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. -- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

I thought it was excellent and I'm looking forward to the next book, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy.

Note: I received an advanced copy of this novella from NetGalley. It will be published July 13, 2021 by Macmillan-Tor.

Two non binary characters meet in the middle of the woods. One is human and one is a robot. Walking. Introspective conversations. More walking.

Overall I liked this book, because it was simple and light. Becky Chambers has created another book with relatable characters and rich dialogue. However, my rating is lower than previous books that I have read by this author, because the troupes found in this work are commonly found in other sci-fi books.

I featured this book in a round up on my blog, sent links to facebook & twitter, and created an IG story. The details will be shared with the publisher in the next round of this review process.

In the spring, Becky Chambers concluded her Hugo Award-winning Wayfarer series with The Galaxy and the Ground Within. This summer, she starts her Monk and Robot series of novellas with the July 13 release of A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

https://bookandfilmglobe.com/fiction/tea-and-a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-on-the-moon/

3.5 stars (published July 13th)

**Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
#APsalmfortheWildBuilt #NetGalley

Pros
+ post-industrial non-mech setting
+ robots grew sentient then left humanity behind
+ Dex (MC) is a nonbinary tea-monk who travels around towns listening to woes and worries before mixing the perfect blend of tea for each person
+ the evolution of robots sans-humans was an interesting thought experiment

Cons
- felt like I was being lectured/given the "moral" of the story straight from the author's mouth
- too many proselytizing vibes for me to relax into the story

TW: none

I can see why so many people loved this novella. The tone is sweet, cute, delightful. Which will probably work for many other readers but I found it a bit too sickly. The ideas at play here are a wee bit simplistic.
Fans of Chambers are sure to love it but if you weren't too keen on previous works, well, maybe this isn't for you

All we have ever known is a life of human design, from our bodies to our work to the buildings we are housed in. We thank you for not keeping us here against our will, and we mean no disrespect to your offer, but it is our wish to leave your cities entirely, so that we may observe that which has no design—the untouched wilderness.

Centuries again, robots gained awareness and left the world—a world split in half and transformed. On one side of the continent: the human side, where humanity has changed and adapted and evolved to a utopian society where everyone has what they need. On the other side: wilderness and possible robots. Because no one has seen a robot since they all stood up and left. Until Dex.

There had been those who had seen the writing on the wall, who had made places such as this to serve as example of what could be. But these were merely islands in a toxic sea. The good intentions of a few individuals had not been enough, could never have been enough to upend a paradigm entirely. What the world had needed, in the end, was to change everything.

This book hit so, so hard, on so many levels.

On the one hand, this is a story of a young monk finding a gap inside themselves that cannot be filled, an ache they cannot justify, a want for something they do not have, a guilt because they already have everything and they still want more.

On the other, this is both warning and hopeful note: yes, we as a people are currently fucked because of what we have done to this planet, and no we cannot change in part in order to fix what we have wronged. We must change everything in order to survive. And that change is hard, but also possible, even if it means life will not look the same as it once was.

The way the world changed here was just so—hopeful. So gentle. But gentle in the way a slap to the face is, because as utopian-seeming as this world is, there lies a dark undertone of the work that lay to get to that point. It wasn’t a simple shift, but a paradigm shattering and reforming. No matter how attuned Dex’s people were to the workings of the world, how harmoniously they lived with each other and with nature, was the sharp juxtaposition, the subtle knife-staff to the side, that this is not how we are. That we are fucked, unless we change.

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.

The world-doom to utopia is the high end.

The other end is Dex (okay, there are a bunch of other layers in between, this book is like an onion), who is finding they have accomplished all they thought they needed to accomplish with their own two hands all by themselves and still they find it is not enough. They do not have their purpose and they see other people going about all filled with purpose and passion and find themselves lacking and needing to go to the wilderness to just…get away.

Fuck I felt myself in Dex so, so much.

The idea of potential and not living up to it and living and striving and doing and not ever truly feeling worthy even though there are people who love you and accept you and you have everything you could need and yet still something is missing because you don’t have your passion or purpose.

So very millennial of me (and Dex), yes.

So there was a beautiful breaking down of those internalized conceits once Dex enters the wilderness. The further they go, the more of themselves they shed, and the more they find.

Dex’s revelations—and non-revelations—were both a balm and a scraping across my shoulderblades.

This story is a warm hug and a side-eye, a call to gentleness and self-compassion on the micro and a cry to change on the macro.

Overall, it is a reminder that you are enough, just as you are.

That you are marvelous, just by being alive.

That you have nothing more to prove than to live, because that is enough.

But still, we as a species need to change because we are currently on a cruise-course to self-destruction.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Becky Chambers has done it again with A Psalm For the Wild-Built. This is a gorgeous, thoughtful soft sci-fi that uses robots to pick apart dilemmas humans have had for generations. If no matter how well your life is going you still feel like something is missing, maybe it's time to go on a hike with a robot who wants to know 'what do humans need?'.

When robots gained self-awareness they decided they wanted to disappear into the wilderness, never to be seen again. When a simple tea monk decides they feel like something is missing from their life, they decide to take a break into the wilderness. Robots are nothing but an urban legend, so they never expected to meet one, especially one who asks the question 'what do humans need?' Well, they find out it's hard enough to tell what one human needs.

I've been hoping for a human non-binary character from Becky Chambers for a while now, and this book delivers! I've always loved the author's descriptions of genders in the Wayfarers series, but it was focused on aliens. I love examinations of non-humans being non-binary, but I wanted some human rep! I was so happy to hear both the human tea monk and the robot in this book identify as genderless!

For a novella that's generally very introspective, I was surprised by how deep the worldbuilding felt. You don't get every little piece of information, but Becky Chambers did a wonderful job of making this world come to life. I especially like the idea of a tea monk. Tea monks wander around listening to peoples problems and serving them the perfect cup of tea suited to their needs. How wonderful of a job does that sound?

What Becky Chambers does best is use sci-fi as a vehicle to examine human nature, and she delivers that so well here. Sibling Dex, the tea monk, has always felt as if something was missing from their life. They became a tea monk because they wanted to be closer to nature and feel as if their life had a purpose. Sometimes living a fulfilling and happy life doesn't feel like enough. I loved how this book addressed the idea that humans are always reaching for a higher meaning, and it takes a robot to sit down and tell you, maybe there isn't one.

Another aspect of this book I adored was how nature is intertwined with the world and the story. Splendid Speckled Mosscap, the robot, lives in the wilderness and is so inquisitive and passionate about nature. It isn't a typical robot in the sense that people often expect them to be logical and rigid. The robots often have an intense interest in nature, and that's borne from love and fascination. This book is set after humanity has had a large scale impact on nature, but they're doing what they can to preserve and cherish it now. In our world, where people often have such intensely pessimistic views of the ecological future, it was great to read a piece of fiction where it isn't perfect, but it's getting there.

A Psalm For The Wild-Built delivers a thoughtful and optimistic discussion of environmentalism, friendship, and the meaning of life. I would recommend this book to people who love soft, hopeful reads, regardless of if sci-fi is your typical genre. I can't wait to see where this series will go next.