This compact novel provides an introspective look at self and purpose deftly discussed between a human and AI, with a climate change sci-fi setting. Readers should anticipate being contemplative while sipping their favorite downtime beverage. Becky Chambers always provides a thoughtful read (but on the lighter side). I am looking forward to the next in the series and more glimpses into the future!

This launch of a new series, Monk & Robot, by Hugo awardee Chambers, charms from the outset. A non-binary monk, Sibling Dex, decides to leave their city monastic life as a gardener to explore outer provincial areas and get closer to nature. “They” (Dex is referred to as they/them/their) adopts a traditional role of a tea monk: offering tea, conversation, consolation, and a brief respite for the weary. Sibling Dex concocts special herbal tea blends along with sweet honey and goat’s milk, taking off in a specially constructed tea cart powered by a bicycle and with enough high-tech add-ons to double as a home on the road. Sibling Dex embarks on a repeating loop of villages offering a tea service and gradually building a devoted, grateful following.

While the story hinges on old-fashioned charm of a peddler on the road blended in with a devoted monk serving highly localized communities, the story has a strong blend of both high tech, sci fi and fantasy thrown into the mix. For instance, Sibling Dex’s cart has carefully concealed high tech accessories from rechargeable batteries and lifestyle and cooking gadgets to a hand-held computer with strong built-in wifi.

One day, fed up with the monotony of routine and still feeling removed from the wilderness, Dex decides to enter territory that has been set aside, preserved from human habitation. Dex follows an old asphalt road, strewn with fallen trees and buckling from decay, in search of a lost monastery and hopefully the sound of crickets which has proved elusive in the populated provinces. (There’s talk of a pre- and post-transition that led to some species deaths, but that remains unexplained.)

While forging his way through the brush, Dex startles to see an 8-foot-tall robot approaching him. Backstory: several centuries prior, Factory Robots gained self-awareness, rebelled, and sought their independence from humanity. They promptly took their leave from humanity, retreated to the wilderness, and have not been spotted since.

The robot, Mosscap, approaching Sibling Dex has sent himself on a quest to check in on behalf of the robots as to the state of humanity. He opens his conversation with Dex by inquiring “What do humans need?” Turns out that the answer is a multi-layered and complex for humans as it is for robots. The ensuing, funny and endearing conversation between Dex and Mosscap on the deeper meaning of life and their budding of a friendship becomes the transcendent focus of this charming book.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reader’s copy.

📚ARC Review📚
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Becky Chambers
SFF LGBTQ+ Novella
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is such a unique book!

All I can say is, where can I find myself a tea monk? While people talk to them and tell them their struggles, Dex makes a tea that is somehow just what they need. It is peaceful and calming and brings clarity.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why isn’t it enough?” Dex looked at the robot. “What am I supposed to do, if not this? What am I, if not this?”

While feeling emptiness, Dex decides to go on a small journey. They run into a robot. The history of robots is interesting. Robots were used to supplement the workforce but then when they started to develop a consciousness, they were released and left to live on their own. Mosscap is such a genuine character. I need a Mosscap! It’s view on life and the world are just what Dex needs. They build a beautiful friendship. Does Dex get the answers they need? Not necessarily. But Mosscap provided the words that they needed to hear.

“…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.”

It left me with a feeling of peace and contentment, exactly what a book should be!

Check the full review on my blog (link in bio).

Thank you to Tor Books for the gifted copies in exchange for an honest review.

"Then how....how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?"

Mosscap considered. 'Because I know that no matter what, I'm wonderful.' There was nothing arrogant about the statement, nothing flippant or brash. It was merely an acknowledgment, a simple truth shared."

Becky Chambers does it again. There's something about reading her books that feels like spending time with a beloved friend or family member. They are comforting, loving, and completely engrossing. Reading one of her books is like being at home.

This little book tackles some big questions. “What is our purpose? What makes a life meaningful? What do humans need?” Rather than providing a definitive answer to these questions, the book prompts the reader to consider if they are in fact the right questions to ask. I loved that this book made me think about my life in a different way.

Climate change fiction is certainly a hot trend these days, but while most of them (probably accurately) predict a dystopian future where humans have ruined everything, Becky Chambers offers a more hopeful scenario, one in which the human race changed the way we do everything in order to preserve this gorgeous planet rather than ruin it. I particularly loved how she described the houses, which were built out of all natural materials and eventually will be absorbed into the earth. It's a future that seems possible, if only we all agreed to share her vision. Sadly, Chambers writes science fiction and not laws.

There are other elements that mark this as representative of Chambers’ unique style. In one scene, Dex the monk realizes they cannot eat in front of Mosscap who does not eat (because, well, Robots cannot eat). So Dex gives Mosscap a plate and, when they finish, says “You going to eat that?” Teaching the Robot to reply with the very human phrase “No, I’m done. You can have it if you want.” Scenes like this reveal Chambers as a master student of the human condition. It is weird to eat alone in front of someone who is eating. It’s "less" weird if they at least have a plate of untouched food in front of them. These are things that we all know instinctively but familiar customs are revealed as unusual/interesting through the eyes of Mosscap and Chambers’ writing.

I loved this sweet, short, profound book and I cannot wait to read the entire series.

TL;DR: A short, sweet, and contemplative meditation on humanity and nature; perfect for reading outside on a quiet summer day. My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built follows Sibling Dex, an agender monk who feels frustrated and restless in his work and daily life. He sets out into the wilderness in hopes of finding greater contentment and purpose. Alone in the woods, he’s met by Splendid Speckled Mosscap, the first robot to make human contact in generations. They decide to travel together and what follows is a meditative read rife with beatific natural imagery; philosophical meanderings on humanity and nature; and gently humorous cross-cultural misunderstandings.

Unique among other books set in post-apocalyptic times, A Psalm for the Wild-Built offers an optimistic look at human society in a post-oil, post-industrial, and post-AI revolution world. Both society and religion appear kinder and more interdependent than contemporary iterations. Though Sibling Dex is a monk in a religious order, their religion appears immensely tolerant--for example, lacking any moralizing tenets on sexuality and drinking.

Two big thematic take-aways predominate: 1) humans are not separate from nature, and 2) individual humans need not fulfill a singular grand purpose to live a good life. Sibling Dex’s feelings of restlessness are epically relatable. In a society that normalizes a linear life path where certain milestones are met and one’s efforts contribute to some great purpose, Dex (like many of us) worries that there is something wrong with them when they can’t find inner fulfillment in a single job or place. It was extremely refreshing to read a story so validating of various and changing life paths. Chambers reminds readers that there need not be more “purpose” to doing something than because it feels joyful or meaningful or interesting to an individual.

My rating is based on the fact that this book, while enjoyable, was too philosophical for my reading tastes. The description led me to believe there would be a *bit* more world-building than there actually was. I craved more background on how the old world collapsed and how the robots ended up living in the wilderness.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for giving me advance access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

HIGHLIGHTS
~tea-monks!!!
~solarpunk ftw
~robots are the sweetest
~why not let crickets determine your life-choices???

I’ve got to be honest: I don’t feel like I have anything very special to say about Psalm. If you’re at all familiar with Becky Chambers, then you don’t need me to tell you about her signature feel-good factor and thoughtfulness and optimism. Or her wonderful worldbuilding, or her characters who always manage to steal your heart when you’re not looking!

I think the only thing that really needs emphasising is: Psalm is not the Wayfarers series. I don’t think everyone who loved Wayfarers will love Psalm, and I think a lot of those who do love both will love them for different reasons. It’s so easy to hope or assume that books by the same author will be the same, but they’re often not. This is one of those times.

For one thing, Psalm is even more small-scale than any of the Wayfarer books; instead of being focussed on a small group of characters, Psalm is all about Dex, a nonbinary monk (they/them) who decides one day that they want a change in career. Nothing super obvious sets off this decision, although Dex, charmingly, attributes it to the desire to hear the sounds of crickets. But they live in a very utopian, solarpunk society, and their superiors don’t mind at all that Dex now wants to be a travelling monk, making routes between villages and towns…to offer people tea.

Straight-up: all my years living in England could not make me like tea. But the idea of tea is still warm and lovely and soothing, and it is warm and lovely and soothing here. Dex really doesn’t know what they’re doing at first, but it’s heartbreakingly endearing – and once they do figure out what they’re doing, they kind of rock at it.

And then they meet…a robot.

Chambers has basically written a small, quiet meditation on the idea of human purpose: what we mean when we talk about it, where we get our ideas about it, how much it matters, how we’re supposed to find it. Dex insists that their world is not perfect, but it seems pretty perfect, and everyone’s basic needs are more than met – meaning that finding purpose is even more important than it might be otherwise. People who have to break their backs working don’t have the time, energy or resources to ponder their purpose, or go looking for one; in Dex’s world, where life is very comfortable, finding a purpose is much more vital. And you can kind of see why: humans get bored and fretful if we don’t have things to do. We think a lot – maybe too much. And if we don’t have to think about work and rent and groceries…? Then yes, a lot of us start to think about whether we matter, and what we should do so that we do matter, if we don’t. Etc. Or, if it’s not about mattering, then it’s about feeling fulfilled. Or happy – happy all the time.

It reminds me of something Chef thinks, in the very first Wayfarer book, A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet;

>Humans’ preoccupation with ‘being happy’ was something he had never been able to figure out. No sapient could sustain happiness all of the time, just as no one could live permanently within anger, or boredom, or grief.<

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, then, feels a bit like someone asked Chambers: but why can’t humans be happy all the time? And this novella is a little bit of an answer. It’s a sideways answer, and it’s not a whole answer; most of the novella is setting up the question, building up to it. And the answer is really another question. But it’s still an answer.

All in all? This is a quiet, sweet little story with a surprising bite when you’re least expecting it, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll keep thinking about it long after you finish it.

Becky Chambers has a wonderful ability to write books that are larger than they appear, and which leave the reader feeling good about themselves and humanity at large. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a short novel, about 160 pages. Nothing much happens in it, yet it sets out to tackle the question about the purpose of life.

Sibling Dex is a monk who one day realises that life in the city doesn’t satisfy them anymore, so they change their vocation and begin to tour the countryside with a bicycle drawn trailer, to offer tea and sympathy for those who need it. After a rocky start, they become great at it. Yet they’re still not satisfied.

On a whim, they head to the wilderness that humans aren’t supposed to enter. There they encounter Mosscap, a humanoid robot who has been sent to find out if humans need them. Robots have become self-aware about two centuries ago, when humans were facing an ecological disaster. A pact between robots and humans has kept the two apart ever since.

Now the world has healed and the robots maybe want to join humans again. But they’re not the original robots anymore. They’ve rebuilt themselves from the parts of the old robots, and in the process have gained an outlook on life that rests on its finite nature.

Dex and Mosscap become friends over philosophical and religious conversations, both learning from the other. I liked them both very much, though Mosscap with its infinite curiosity and old wisdom was maybe my favourite. The book ends with the two deciding to head back to civilisation together. Since this is the first book in Monk & Robot series, the rest of their adventures will happen later.

This was perhaps the most hopeful of Chambers’ books I’ve read. The world—a habitable moon—is lush and green and full of happy people in harmony with nature. There’s no talk about space travel, though the people must have come there somehow. All the technology is fairly lowkey, even Mosscap. Like in all Chambers’ books, being genderless is a valid way of life. I especially liked Sibling as an option for Brother and Sister of other monks. And I liked that there was no drama. The book left me feeling rested and comfortable. A wonderful respite.

I adored this, it was very much a book I needed now. It has an original take on the singularity and an interesting take on AI perception (who has the time to 'ping' when being conscious is all-consuming?). It's a quiet, low action book and that's definitely on purpose.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. At this point, Becky Chambers is an autoread for me, and A Psalm for the Wild-Built is exactly the kind of content that I expect from her. This book is a gentle, meditative exploration of being human and finding your purpose. (And finding out if you even need a purpose.) This is the first book in a series, so the end is a bit tenuous, but Dex and Mosscap are an interesting pair, and I can't wait to read more about them. My only complaint about this book is that I rather desperately want traveling tea monks to be a real thing, and we aren't quite there yet. The characters are achingly human (even if one is a robot), the prose is beautiful, and I can not wait to see what happens next.

I think the best way I can describe this story is both heartwarming and refreshing. We meet Sibling Dex, a monk who is quite unsure of what they want to do next. Honestly, I felt Dex. They're not miserable, they just need a change. They start to move around with their tea wagon (it's a thing that is supposed to relieve stress and kind of comfort folks, which I found incredibly sweet, and frankly something the world could use), but they still haven't figured out what they need.

Along the way, as they venture into unknown territory, they come upon Mosscap, a robot, and together they travel, all the while undergoing a lot of self-exploration. I loved watching them get to know each other, and figure out the nuances and differences (and similarities!) of the other. Obviously, there is a lot of reflection about life, the world they live in, and questions of morality. Frankly, it's very thought provoking for the reader, just as much as it is thought provoking for Dex and Mosscap.

It's certainly a character driven story, but it moves along nicely, and I was always completely invested. I cannot wait for the next installment to meet back up with the characters, and also to learn more about their world.

Bottom Line: It's a quieter story, yes, but so very heartfelt and kind, and there simply is not enough of that in the world. I'll take adventures with Dex and Mosscap any day of the week.

Believe me when I say I went into this book with HIGH expectations, which was either going to be a great thing or an utter disaster.
I'm delighted to say it was the former - because this definitely lived up to my expectations.
Becky Chambers is known for her gorgeous hopeful science fiction and this really felt like a continuation of what we've loved from her previous works and with the addition of getting to explore a whole new setting and all new ideas.
The theme of this book, or at the very least the theme that resonated the most with me personally, is purpose, and how we can find our purpose and our value and how sometimes that means getting away from what is expected of us. I liked that this story explores that even in what, for some, would be an idyllic situation we can still feel a little lost. Something about this book felt like it was speaking directly to my mid-twenties soul - proven somewhat by the fact that I did have a bit of an existential crisis dream the night after reading this book (but that's a me problem).
The idea of a world without AI/Robots is something that we've seen before in other works but rarely do we see a world *functioning* in the aftermath, I found that again very hopeful and also very interesting because how *would* life be if we took the positive path?
This is a truly wonderful novella and I am deeply thrilled to be able to follow this series from its inception - I can't wait to see what comes next for these characters.
My rating: 5/5 stars
I received a free digital review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I've been thinking about this little book ever since I finished it. There is something lovely about it that I can't quite put my finger on. When I began the book, I wasn't sure I would like it; by the end I hugged it and I wanted more.

Sibling Dex finds himself in a situation I think most folks can identify with at some point in their life - the ennui and discomfort of a life without true purpose (or should I say *realized* purpose?). They leave everything off to the side while they search for something that isn't yet identified...the something that is missing in their otherwise beautiful and full life.

Along the way Dex meets Mosscap, who I found to be comically endearing and lovable. Mosscap is the optimist to Dex's pessimist, full of curiosity and hope, and just what Dex needs to help them on their journey to find who-knows-what.

In an effort to not spoil the end, I can only say that it finishes well, leaving the reader wanting more. I hope there's more.

Meditative through witty banter. Made me think of Winnie the Pooh/ Tao of Pooh - a lot of earnest explorations on the being of life and humanity. Tender and comforting while still striving to better understand the world around us and those around us.

Short but sweet, I really enjoyed this sci-fi future and the friendship between a robot and a tea monk, both seeking meaning, identity, and their place in a strange world. A truly enjoyable read.

This short novel is like a warm hug, just like Becky Chambers' other novels. The characters are endearing, and most of the plot is about them striving to understand one another. We follow Dex, an agender monk trying to find satisfaction, if not their ultimate purpose or passion in life. They don't really know. Dex meets Mosscap, a robot who is trying to understand humans. The two have many interesting conversations about the separate human and robot communities. dispelling misconceptions and striving to understand one another. For instance, Mosscap is terrible at math and Dex left their perfectly comfortable life to do something stupid, dangerous, and difficult.

There is a good amount of lore and world building to flesh out this book just enough, but the characters are really the star of the show. I loved the idea that humanity gave half of the land back to nature, and that the humans and robots separated amicably once robots gained sentience. This is a novel that doesn't really have plot-based conflict. For the most part, it is about two characters working to understand one another and themselves. There is a lot of personal growth. The conversations between the characters are also really interesting and thought-provoking, which makes this book very appealing for a re-read. The fact that this is Monk and Robot #1 implies that there will be subsequent novels in this series, and I cannot wait to see where this pair goes next. I loved their friendship, I loved the concept of a robot society wherein the robots continually rebuild themselves rather than working toward immortality, and I loved the concept of a tea monk (what a great D&D character idea, I'm going to be putting that one in my back pocket for sure). It really is like palming a warm cup of tea while looking out onto a meadow, the steam from the mug scenting the air and clearing your lungs so you can take an even deeper, fuller breath. I don't often read things that are so hopeful or kind, and it was a refreshing treat.

I'll admit I had a bit of trepidation going into a Becky Chambers novel not set in the Wayfarer series, but this exceeded my expectations. She's definitely doing something new, but I already love the characters and the world and want to travel with Dex and Mosscap to see much, much more of it.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is the first novella in a new solarpunk, sci-fi fantasy series about a non-binary tea monk and a robot who are trying to make sense of their life. The prologue was completely confusing but don't let that deter you. I thoroughly enjoyed this quirky, lovable book and I so wish our world had tea monks who would listen to my hard knock woes and then serve me the perfect cuppa to lighten my spirit. Chambers' dedication for the book is "for anybody who could use a break" so if that's you, I highly recommend you give this one a try.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built was a lot quieter and softer than I imagined. I enjoyed the way Chambers, in the past, has managed to balance action and introspection. I was expecting much of the same, to be swept away in action and movement which generally is also thoughtprovoking. But, this new series seems to delve more into thoughtful contemplation and friendship. After I re-framed my expectations, I began to sink into this story about humanity, desire, and friendship.

This novella examines and challenges our ideas of choice. Of wondering what our purpose in life is once we have the freedom to choose. About what the value of contentment is, whether we need to have a grand purpose. With all these introspective questions, A Psalm for the Wild-Built is also grounded in friendship.

Creative and engaging characters move through the story with wisdom hidden in simple interactions. There is much more to the story than than Dex’s striking out on his own

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is the start of something new from Becky Chambers. Chambers Wayfarers series is one I’ve evangelised about here before, so I was very excited to see what she was doing next. And you know what, it really is something different. There’s still that undercurrent of warmth and charm and a hint of steel wrapped around the core of the story, but this isn’t a Wayfarers story. It’s something of its own, which, under the circumstances, is how it should be.

On a less lyrical note, more logistical note, it’s novella length, and currently listed as Monk and Robot #1, so presumably the start of a new series. Either of those things may feel like a dealbreaker to you. I urge you not to give in to that feeling. Because Psalm is a story which I was left thinking about for days afterward. Because Psalm is a thoughtful, compelling examination of humanity, and things other than humanity. Because Psalm is a funny, warm, human story, and the non-human bits may be the most human of all of it. Because Psalm is a sci-fi story without space rockets and rayguns, but with lingering questions, with doubts, with happiness and some passion to guide your narrative way. It’s 150 pages, but those pages have so much packed in, that like a gourmet meal, you won’t notice until you reach the end. And then, much like a gourmet meal, you’ll be desperate to have some more. The story, incidentally, works as a standalone, though I for one will be looking for sequels.

So now that I’ve rhapsodized about the flavour of the story, and the way that it made me feel, I suppose I should talk a little about what it is. It’s the story of a person, and a robot. And while that’s almost as much as I can say...it’s the core of the thing. Sibling Dex is the person. They decide to get away from their life. To become a monk, of gods clearly well known, though alluded to mostly in passing. To do something good, to be something better than they are.

They’re looking for something. For passion, for purpose, for life. I think we all feel a bit like Sibling Dex sometimes. Someone who steps off the edge of a cliff because they might learn to fly on the way down. Someone with enough courage in their convictions to go that little further out on a limb. Someone stubborn enough to press on when something is a bad idea, and stubborn enough to see it through to becoming a good one.

I like Dex. They’re smart, with a voice that has an edge of youth to it, but with a robust central core. A person deciding who they want to be and what they want to do. Sometimes making foolish decision whole they do it, but walking the path nonetheless. Actually, maybe we all need a little more Sibling Dex in our makeup.

And Dex walks their path in a world that is our own but not. Where fractured memories of what once was lurk at the corners of the mind. This is a slower world, a world that has not forgotten factories and luxuries and mass production, but a world more careful in what it applies and where. A world where people have survived seeming catastrophe, and now stand on the other side, trying to be something better. It’s a world of dark forests with roots breaking through concrete ruins, and a world filled with life and love and laughter. Dex’s restless energy doesn’t quite fit here, and neither, it must be said, do robots. But both are part of the world anyway

I am biting my tongue not to say any more. Because Sibling Dex will find herself in discussion with a robot, a person made of metal and parts. And that relationship is a multifaceted gem. Both people involved, in their discussion of who and what they are, what they want and need, and why - both of them are learning, and we’re learning with them. Both are, I think, trying to define themselves more. And while Dex may not be a leader or a politician, they are a person, filled with the struggles of humanity, its vices and virtues, its stubbornness and kindness. They are people, and the robot is looking for people.

And the perspective of the robot is another thing. It isn’t entirely alien, but this is a wonderful portrayal of something which is almost but not quite human. Sentient, but other. It tries to learn and understand and grow and decide what to do and then do it. But it challenges Dex’s assumptions, and ours too, at every turn, tweaking her understanding of the underpinnings of her world. Though to be fair, on that front, Dex gives as good as they get.

This is the story of a robot and a human. A story of two people, walking to an uncertain destination, for uncertain reasons, but doing it together. This is a clever story, a smart story, a story which quietly touches on big questions, while keeping us enthralled in the gentle, genuine drama on the page.

In essence, what I mean is, Becky Chambers has done it again. You’ll want to read this one all at once, under the covers at night with a flashlight. This, this right here is the good stuff.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Becky Chambers
Macmillan-Tor/Forge

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this delightful book! Rex and Mosscap make a great duo!

This is an unusual world where one day technology awoke and wanted to be free from mankind. Even more unbelievable to me is that mankind didn't want to hold them against their will. So all robots left and was never seen again.

We then turn to a Tea Monk, Sibling Rex. He has a drive to do more with his life so he wants to go beyond the city. With a well equipped wagon, he ventures out to small villages for several years. He is still feeling unsatisfied. He decides to go further out to the unprotected zones to see the ruins from before.

On his way, Dex meets a robot, Mosscap. This will be the first contact between man and robots since the awakening. This is where the story comes to life! The two are really more alike than they realize.

The story is heartwarming, has a dry sense of humor, clever, emotional, charming, and melancholy at times. But the ending is perfect! I really loved the characters, plot, world building, and the concept! What a wonderful duo! Highly recommended!