Firstly, I would like to thank TorDotCom for the advanced copy! So happy to have a chance to read this right now.

I have never read Becky Chambers before this novella, but I found it to be so very hopeful and charming and warm, which is what I have gathered most of her books are like: comforting science fiction. Which isn't what I normally gravitate towards...wholesome stories normally don't call to me. But after reading the synopsis, I was very curious and I can't say no to the classic robot-human companionship aspect of this. Plus, I have been on a novella kick lately and just can't stop myself.

I think the stars aligned on this one for me. There are some themes and topics that resonated with me a lot, such as the life-long search for purpose and the importance and struggle to just...be. This book is for those overachievers and over-workers that struggle to feel satisfied with anything, despite always giving everything to their work/focus. I didn't realize it but I was in just the right mood for this book, it just felt right.

I loved the representation in this, I loved the rawness of a character like Dex, someone with passion and drive, but lacking direction, I found them to be relatable in a lot of ways. And of course, I love Mosscap. I love the mixture of a wise, knowledgable robot that is also obtuse in some of the more human areas. Their interactions ranged from wholesome to funny to insightful.

I really enjoyed the optimistic take on how humans would survive and progress if we lacked certain technologies and I especially enjoyed the way nature was incorporated into this...I think this "green sci-fi" or "naturalistic sci-fi" is a unique blends of opposites that really makes for a great, different read.

As for the length of this, I think the novella format was used very well. The story felt well-defined and the world-building aspects of the religion was done well, considering how few pages there are in this. We were told just enough to understand the basics, but enough was left untouched to leave room for further exploration in future books.

An absolutely wonderful book, although I expected nothing less from Becky Chambers. I’ve rarely read a writer that manages to capture the truthful aspects of human nature and at the same time provide so much hope for what we can be, if we choose kindness, acceptance, tolerance. I loved the concept of the roving tea-monk, it felt like something eternal and necessary. It’s also the first book I’ve read with a non-binary main character and I feel that she executed this perfectly. Mosscap was excellently imagined, and their conversations felt like a futuristic debate between philosophers. I adored the characters, the world, the concept of the treaty and the descriptions of the wilderness. I can’t wait for the next one!

Sometimes, Dex could not sleep. In those hours, they frequently asked themself what it was they were doing. They never truly felt like they got a handle on that. They kept doing it all the same.

This book is a delight. It is a triumph. If you are looking for something strange and comforting, wild and human, I urge you to get a copy of A Psalm for the Wild-Built and curl up for a few hours of reading. If you’re not, you should read it anyway.

Imagine, in a world where everything is done by robots, that one day the robots say, “we don’t want to do this anymore,” and disappear en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen or heard from again. That is the world of Panga, where half of the moon is dedicated to human civilisation, and the other half is untouched wilds. Here, Sibling Dex is a tea monk, and they spend their days cycling around the outskirts of cities, offering tea and comfort to those who need a listening ear. They are content with their life, until they aren’t. And into that mess of confusion comes Splendid Speckled Mosscap, a robot who wants to know the answer to one simple question: what is it that humans need?

Having read and loved the Wayfarers series, I am already a fan of Becky Chambers’ work. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is easily my favourite of everything she has written so far. This book is not long – at about 160 pages, it’s actually a novella, but even in that short a book, it is a beautiful, poignant exploration of what it means to be human, and what it means to truly, genuinely, have your existence be a blip in the wide, vast universe. I actually cried - not because it’s a sad book, but because I found it so deeply, deeply comforting and hopeful. Maybe I’m just having a day, but this book affected me much more than I was expecting, in the best way.

I am already eagerly looking forward to the next Monk & Robot book. I have every confidence that the following books will be just as magnificent as the first instalment.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Tor/Forge publishers for providing me with this ARC.

When Sibling Dex sets out on a journey into the wilderness, they don’t know what they’re looking for. Worn out from their time serving as a traveling monk providing comfort to villagers, they run into a robot – the first any human has seen since they peacefully rebelled hundreds of years before. With that, Dex’s journey gains a goal, as they try to answer the question posed by the robot – ‘What do humans need?’ This book is as comforting as a warm cup of tea (and indeed, includes many of them!)

3.5 stars. I love Becky Chambers so much, and this story definitely continues with her gentle tone of comforting fantasy/sci-fi stories. I really enjoyed Dex and Mosscap as characters, and I loved the forefront nonbinary rep. That said, this story dragged a bit for me until we reached the point where Mosscap was introduced--I understand why the intro was done the way it was to provide characterization for Dex, but I felt that it moved so slowly, which was incredibly surprising for a 160-page book. But once we were in the action between dex and Mosscap, I found myself highlighting several passages and really enjoying the vulnerable conversations they had. Overall, this is a sweet story with some really special ideas about isolation and wilderness.

5 stars. Like everything else Becky Chambers has written, this novella gave me all the good feelings of Star Trek TNG and world building that makes you just want to fold yourself into it and pull it tightly around you like a favorite blanket.

Here we have a slice of life story about a monk (non-binary, they go by "sibling" rather than "brother" or "sister") who is feeling lost in life despite work they find fulfilling (they are a tea monk and essentially listen to people's problems and brew them homemade tea to offer comfort or inspiration). Our main character spontaneously decides to make a pilgrimage of sorts, desperate to feel something in life that just feels... right. At the outset of this pilgrimage, the monk finds themselves suddenly in the company of a robot who has gone on a pilgrimage of their own, to make first contact in years upon years and to learn about humans of the world today. At some distant point in the past, robots became self-aware and rather than the usual dark sci fi turn of this leading to war, humans and robots signed a treaty that separated their worlds entirely on different pieces of this planet, and their paths have not crossed since. Until, that is, Monk and Robot. In exchange for company and assistance, Monk agrees to allow the Robot to join them in their journey.

I love their philosophical conversations. I love their building friendship. I love their inevitable miscommunications and how both characters can approach these situations with an open mind and an open heart.

Once again, Becky Chambers, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside and more hopeful for the future than reality can usually offer. I already can't wait for book 2.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor.com for the ARC!

The Modern Mrs. Darcy team rejoiced over this brand new novella from one of our favorite sci-fi authors. With her knack for combining quirky characters with surprising science fiction plots, Chambers helps us step outside the “real world” to examine modern society with fresh eyes. In the first installment of her next series, a tea monk dedicates his life to comforting humans in times of need, until he’s joined by a new robot friend with an important question. Endearing and delightful, this novella isn’t just for sci-fi lovers. In fact, Chambers dedicates it to “anybody who could use a break.”

A quietly optimistic, cozy and philosophical, sci-fi tale that reads like a fantastical solar punk fable and goes down like the perfect blend of herbal tea.

Sibling Dex leaves a comfortable, predictable life at a monastery to become a traveling tea monk, only to find that mastering that calling doesn't provide fulfillment. Dex can't shake the sense that what they really need is to travel into the wilderness — a thing that is simply not done, especially not alone. Not long after turning his tea cart onto the ancient road into the natural areas, Dex is shocked to encounter Splendid Speckled Mosscap, the first Robot that any human has seen since the day the Robots awoke and walked off into the wilderness.

I loved everything about this. I particularly enjoyed the gentle, philosophical depth of the writing; the glimpses of this post-factory, post-machine world; the unexpected humor and wisdom of Mosscap; the authenticity and kindness of the determined but unsettled Sibling Dex; and, of course, the budding friendship and travel adventures of Dex and Mosscap. Sign me up for the rest of the Monk & Robot tales!

Topics, tropes and themes: life, the universe, and stuff; presence and purpose; autonomy and sentience; kindness, balance, harmony, mental health; environmentalism, ecology

Content notes: strong language

My thanks to #NetGalley and Tor for a digital ARC.

Like everyone else on Earth (I assume) I love Becky Chambers. The Wayfarers books are my favourites, and as someone who normally doesn't like to read novellas, I was very pleased to say To Be Taught If Fortunate blew me away. I was keen to read A Psalm for the Wild-Built because in my eyes Chambers can do no wrong.

I just adore Chambers' heartfelt writing style and her cosy characters. I'm not normally one for slow plots or character driven stories, or at least I wasn't until I discovered Wayfarers, and now I want ALL OF THE THINGS. Becky Chambers has such a way with character building that honestly just makes me want to cry a little bit. It's flawless.

The beginning of this novella was a little slow and the world building took a bit of getting used to. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I was surprised that we didn't get thrown straight into the relationship between the monk and the robot. I think if I were to reread this book (which I will, just before the release date), I'll probably get a lot more out of the beginning of the story now that I know what's going on. The first read was a little jarring for me, possibly because I'd just come out of a Wayfarers reread where I knew all the characters and the universe.

Otherwise, Psalm still contained all the cosiness and comfort of Chambers' previous stories, and I loved everything about it. I can't wait to read the second novella in this duology (and to reread this one!).

Quaint and poignant, this is typical Becky Chambers. Though it's science fiction, you definitely get a taste of the fantastical, and it's easy to fall in love with the two main characters. It teaches you that it's okay to lose one's way once in a while, and that if you keep faith, you will find your purpose again. A warm and filling read.

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers kicks off the start of the Monk and Robot series. Having been a huge fan of Becky Chambers for years at this point, I was of course all in on this new series. After having sat with this novella for an entire month as I processed its contents, I can confidently say I loved it and can’t wait for more in this universe.

The novella follows the journey of Sibling Dex (they/them), an agender monk who leaves their comfortable and successful position at a monastery to run a traveling tea shop in a world largely reclaimed by nature. As always, Becky Chambers excels at what I refer to as the tender minutiae of existence. If you’re already a fan of Becky Chambers, think a vibe closer to To Be Taught, If Fortunate—the introspective, cerebral, slowly unfolding, deeply philosophical vibe—as opposed to the space opera with humanitarian kindness mood of the Wayfarers series.

The worldbuilding in this novella really appealed to me, feeling utopia-adjacent solarpunk in nature with the descriptions, society, and pantheon of deities. What stole the show for me personally, and what bumped this up to a 5 star read, was Dex. Their journey isn’t flashy or showy, but as a early 30s nonbinary person who currently struggles with (what I interpreted to be) mental health issues and finding their place in the world, I can confirm I was moved to tears at several points throughout the novella. Dex is a little rougher around the edges than other protagonists Chambers has written in their dialogue and inner thoughts, which worked for me a lot. And of course, the interactions between Dex and Mosscap, who is also agender and uses it/its pronouns, were thoughtful, poignant, hilarious, and tender. Their relationship shows promising signs of being one of my favourite friendships in fiction, and we’re only one book in.

Overall, I think the jacket copy of A Psalm for the Wild Built does a great job at pitching the focus of this novella, and presumably the series: What do people need? What, when people have everything they want, truly nourishes the soul? If you’re in the mood for a thought-provoking, engrossing, deeply human tale set in a solarpunk-ish world, I highly recommend checking out A Psalm for the Wild-Built. I see myself re-reading this again and again throughout the years and look forward to the next entry.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

In the complex manner of seemingly simple things, this thoughtful little book takes you on a meandering quest for the purpose of life and the definition of need. It satisfies, without giving all the answers.

I look forward to reading more of these.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a charming novella about the adventures of a tea monk, Dex, and robot, Mosscap. This was a very quick and sweet read. Becky Chambers does an excellent job of dropping the reader into a world that feels lived-in without bogging down the story. All the characters and places seen in the short novella felt real, rather than a backdrop for the story. Chambers does an excellent job of creating an intricate world in such a small amount of time with lovable and charming characters. Sibling Dex and Mosscap have such a great dynamic and banter, I could read about their adventures and everyday shenanigans for eternity.

Dex is a monk in the main city on the tiny moon on which they live. They appreciate being a monk, but feel a call for something more than the city-based work they do, and so become a tea monk — a nomadic monk that visits the small villages that dot the moon, providing tea, an empathetic ear, and a place to relax for an hour or two. But when Dex strikes out into the wilderness, they discover a robot, the first one any human has seen for millennia, since the robots were given autonomy and released from the service of humankind. While this is understandably surprising, the robot wants to learn more about humans, and as the pair spend some time together, they learn about one another.

That's pretty much the whole of this short novel, but it is SO MUCH MORE than that too. With Chambers' trademark kind writing style and plenty of meaningful conversations between the two characters, this is also a meditation on humanity and our place within the universe, the relationship between the descendants of oppressors and slaves, and the importance of taking time for oneself. I knew I'd love this book (based solely on the author's other work), but this was perfect.

This book!! It is a beautiful, heartwarming, kind, generous, perfectly paced story. I read it in a single sitting, and I loved every second of it. This is a book that I would recommend going into with as little knowledge as possible and falling into its kind embrace. Chambers takes care of her reader, revealing information exactly as you need it, and the journey is the point. I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about this book!

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I adore Becky Chambers and she is fast becoming one of my favourite authors of all time. I read To Be Taught If Fortunate in January and couldn’t wait for this one to be published over the summer so I’m so happy I got to read it early!

This is more whimsical than Chambers’ other stories, with a tea-making, travelling monk as the protagonist. They come across a robot called Mosscap on their travels and honestly, Mosscap is now one of my favourite characters. I would read a whole series just about it. Having a non-binary main character where the story wasn’t focused on identity was refreshing and something I was happy to see. The world building is amazing as always from Becky Chambers and it was interesting to see how the people of this world decided to break from technology and really respect the natural world.

There were a lot of themes that I didn’t expect to come across in a science-fiction novella such as purpose, work/life balance, what makes a person, respect of the natural world and responsible use of technology. I think this is a brilliant introduction to this new series.

However, my one issue with the book is that it very much felt like the first in a series. I think once I’ve read on, upon reread, I will enjoy this first one even more but my personal preference is standalones so being conscious of that throughout took away a bit of enjoyment for me.

Overall I would highly recommend this book along with everything else I’ve read by Becky Chambers. Her world-building and character development is second-to-none and I will read anything she writes in the future.

4 out of 5 stars!

I think this is going to be a favorite series of mine.

In essence, this is a book about human presence and purpose. Of the footprints humans make and how long they last. About sustainability, and progress, and deep thinking.

I love Dex and Mosscap. They are seriously friend goals. Their understanding of each other is just... chefs kiss amazing.

There is honestly some really deep and important conversation about environmental impact and humanity and purpose in this book. So much that I plan on re-reading this closer to release so I can do an in-depth review. This book is full of deep philosophical concepts that make it so easy to understand.

Kudos, Becky Chambers. And thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the arc.

Sweet and comforting, like a cup of tea.

Established fans of Chambers’ work will recognize familiar notes in this new story, themes of finding common ground and accepting differences with grace. The text interrogates, gently, humorously, what it means to have a purpose and what it means to question that purpose.

A lovely, thoughtful meditation.

This is my first Becky Chambers book and wow was I blown away. I’ve heard for years how feel-good optimistic they are and how I definitely need to read them, Well, with the announcement of this new solarpunk series, I have now seen the wonder of Becky Chambers. Though, I don’t know if I’d describe this book as feel-good sci-fi so much as I would quarter-life crisis sci-fi that hits just a liiiiiittle too close to home.

Our main character, Sibling Dex, works as a traveling tea-monk, setting up temporary tea stands in remote villages, prepared to offer comfort to your day’s troubles and a warm cup of tea to warm the spirits. Their eventual robot companion, Mosscap, becomes the first robot to come into contact with humans in centuries, brimming full of questions with a desire to understand how humans now function, what they still need now that robots have been disappeared for so long. These questions, to the extent possible, are explored throughout the novella after an unlikely encounter between the two.

At times, A Psalm for the Wild-Built is light-hearted and whimsical, which the solarpunk, post-industrial setting really seems to aid. In a society where humanity has decided never to build a machine too close to a robot in fear it will gain sentience, thus violating a deal with the existing robots, the world feels to run on simpler technology. Add Dex’s rural setting in their attempt to get away from The City, and the overall vibe of this book has one of friendliness, comfort among close friends, and warmth. There’s a closeness and comfort I’ve rarely felt while reading a book, like drinking from a soothing hot mug of tea on a chilly day.

At other times, reading this book felt like the biggest attack on my personal life decisions. Dex, a young 20-something, makes a dramatic decision to leave the city and become a traveling tea monk in a quarter-life crisis searching for a life’s purpose. As a recent college grad myself doubting every life decision I’ve made in the past year, Dex’s mindset, anxieties, and worries hit much harder than I ever would have expected. One particular quote early on had me putting my Kindle down because damn, what an attack. (precise wording of the quote may change in the final version)

“… the ego-crushing experience of having to explain to their entire sharp-eyed family that this plan they’d laboriously pitched as the right thing to do actually had them feeling quite intimidated after a grand total of one try, and that they now, at the age of twenty-nine, would like very much to return to the safe shelter of their childhood for an indefinite amount of time until they’d figured out just what they hell they were doing”

Was I expecting to face the sudden realization of the source of my anxieties from the past year? No, of course not. Was a rudely confronted with them all the same? Yes. Absolutely. Throughout this novella are heavy themes of the values of one’s efforts, and the confrontation of treating goals as a metric for personal worth. The topics dig deep and truly force both Dex, and the reader, to really confront these ideas head-on. I fully admit to crying several times as I’d read, as a “feel-good” fiction novella forced me to confront ideas I’d tried to bury under work and goals. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But I am so damn thankful I read this.

Overall, I rate this book a 5/5. I was expecting a cute feel-good novella with a non-binary tea monk and a robot learning about humanity and themes of eco-friendly-ness. Unexpectedly, I was simultaneously forced to confront my quarter-life crisis head-on and cried aggressively as I read. Would highly recommend to any reader in their early 20s facing major life decisions (or regretting them) and also those who like robots and tea.

Review will be posted to blog on 28 June

I will fully admit that all it took was for me to see Becky Chambers on the cover of this book and it was instantly added to my TBR. I have been a fan of her work for a while so when this popped up for request on Netgalley I hit that button so fast. I will say this is a really hard book to describe, it is heavily character focused and though it does lack a traditional plot I still found myself completely engrossed in the story and a little in love with our two main characters.

A Psalm for the Wild Built follows Sibling Dex an agender Monk who is struggling to find their place in life. They decide to try the life of a Tea Monk, someone who travels all of Panga dispensing tea and a shoulder to cry on, talk to or simply someone to sit in silence with. No matter how far they travel, or how many people they meet, Dex feels there is something missing from their life, so they decides to do something crazy, something very few humans have returned from, they travel into the wild. They expect to find many things there, but what they don't expect to find is Splendid Speckled Mosscap, a Robot who has ventured back into the land of humans to ask the question 'What do people need?' What follows is a journey of self-discovery and how friendships can be formed in the unlikeliest of places with the unlikeliest of people, and before long Dex will have to answer the question of what exactly it is they need.

Well... it seems that all I've been missing from my life is a Tea Monk and his Robot companion. Sibling Dex and Splendid Speckled Mosscap absolutely made this story for me, their interactions were hilarious, heartfelt, educational and sometimes emotional. Dex is initially wary of Mosscap, especially since Robots haven't been seen in centuries, not since the Transition when they became sentient and Humans divided up the land to give them a place away from humanity, but the more time they spend together, the more Mosscap's enthusiasm, their willingness to learn rub off on the slightly jaded Dex, and the two realise that they may have more things in common than those that separate them.

Splendid Speckled Mosscap (named after the first thing they saw when they were 'created') have taken it upon themselves to travel to the human lands and 'check in.' Being 'Wild Built' they have never experienced humans before, and their only reference is 'remnants' left over from the Robot's whose parts they were made from. They are eager to learn, watch and experience everything they can. But spending time with sibling Dex makes them realise that their original task of asking 'what humanity needs' may not be as simple as it once seemed.

A Psalm for the Wild Built reads as more of a 'prequel' than a novella. For only 160 pages we get a near full introduction to Panga, its religious beliefs, as well as it's history and what exactly caused the Robots to leave human lands for so long. Chambers' descriptions and writing style absolutely bring Panga and the beings that inhabit it to life and I could have stayed in that world following Dex and Mosscap for a lot longer. I have mentioned that this is a character driven novella, so those expecting an easy to follow and laid out plot might be in for a bit of a shock, but if Chambers' writes anything well it is characters that you would follow to the ends of the earth, plot or no.

This is a Novella about loosing your purpose, and the journey you take to find it again. But it's also about humanity and how we see ourselves as 'different' and in some ways superior to the other species that inhabit our planet. Reading A Psalm for the Wild Built is like getting a gentle hug, and I can't wait to return to Panga and continue on the journey with Sibling Dex and Splendid Speckled Mosscap.