This was just a cute follow up to the first book. I truly feel like this series is an absolute warm hug of a story and I’m thankful for the time I get to spend having tea with Robot. I would highly recommend this book to people who are going through a hard time and need a bit of warmth and joy out of their stories.

I love the style of Becky Chambers' writing. I find her books so gentle and engaging. Yes, they're set in space and moons and different planets, but the focus is always on exploring the self. I never thought I'd enjoy reading about characters talking out their feelings and learning to engage with other people/species/robots but I do! I recommend anything she writes at this point, and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is no exception.

the joyous whimsy continues in this instalment. albeit now that my rose-coloured glasses have gotten off, it is much duller, more predictable and it thinned my enjoyment overall.

perhaps my search for "joyous whimsy" was my downfall in this first place. i read A Psalm for the Wild-Built while being in a state of burnout and pandemic-related low. naturally, i fell in love with it—with its oath to simply joy and small comforts; the novella like a warm bath or a reassuring pat to the head telling me just "being" is enough, i don't have to strive for anything else.

A Prayer of the Crown-Shy seemed to beat me over the head with it. where Mosscap once fascinated and endeared me with its perspective, i couldn't say that i feel the same for it here. some of the philosophical conversation that the characters engage in just feel impersonal and at times, forced. sure, they ARE interesting conversation—but then there goes my connection to the story and the characters and my overall motivation to keep reading. yeah, this series just isn't for me anymore.

I am never disappointed by Becky Chambers' books and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is no exception! This novella picks up the story of Sibling Dex and Mosscap, and follows them across their tour of Panga so Mosscap can ask and learn what people need. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy reads like a warm hug, all while exploring mental health and philosophical questions about want vs. need, as well as sentience and forging a path of one's own. I'm truly impressed what all Chambers was able to fit into this little novella while still maintaining an easy, relaxed pace to the story.

I want to live in this world. Is that too much to ask?

After the current events in our world (which current events, you might wonder. Pick a random news article, and that’s your answer), it’s so lovely to read a book in which the human race got their shit together and be better to each other and the world. Sure, the cynic in me doesn’t believe this could ever happen, but it’s still nice to imagine and read.

Dex shows Mosscap the human world with Mosscap still figuring out what the human race needs from robots. The travels are so nice and relaxing that Dex doesn’t want it to end. Not that I can blame them.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I've been meaning to check out Becky Chambers's work for awhile now, and I decided on a whim that I was going to read the Monk and Robot duology as my introduction to her writing. Both A Pslam for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy are very wholesome sci-fi novellas that I ended up enjoying.

The story follows a tea monk, Dex, and their robot companion, Mosscap, as they travel across the land together while learning about each other and the various people they come across on their journey. There's not really much more to the plot than that, but this story doesn't need more.

This story is about acceptance and hope and living. Mosscap is still trying to find the answer to the question, "What do people need?" which it asks everyone it comes across but no one seems to have a good answer. Dex is still trying to find their purpose as well. Mosscap was definitely my favorite character as it was just so wholesome, and I loved seeing its innocence as it learns about the way humans live.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was an enjoyable read, but it also wasn't a standout story to me. I liked it and I'm glad I read it and I'd recommend it, but I also don't know how long it will stick with me. It does have me interested in checking out more of Becky Chambers's works in the future though.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers is a lovely second book in the Monk and Robot series. It is just as curious, sweet, and diverse as the first book, A Psalm for the Wild-Built. The second book explores the travels of Sibling Dex and Mosscap as they introduce a Robot to the population. Their relationship grows beautifully in the second book, and I cannot wait for the next book and continue to see the story unfold and bloom. I have described this series as a warm, comforting bowl of soup and one I have gone back to re-read whenever I need comfort.

5/5

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers will be published on July 12, 2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for an eARC of this book.

Chambers once more manages to write a story more heartwarming than any Hallmark tale without any of her characters feeling artificial or cliche. Add to that the rich world building of this society that is no longer capitalist or reliant on fossil fuels and this story is the queer future we want and need. The characters are so rich and human--even when they're robots--but even their squabbling and misunderstandings add to the story without bogging it down with negativity. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this story. Please read it.

May we one day live in a society this beautiful.

Another thoughtful exploration of what makes us human and how we must consider the humanity in others. A gentle, slow read. Highly recommend.

Since reading imyril’s thoughts about Sibling Dex and their selfishness, I couldn’t stop thinking about it when reading this book. I think maybe I’d have continued to not notice, but maybe not, since some things were flagged up (e.g. Dex lying to their family so as not to worry them) or really obviously rude (e.g. Dex happily going off the road with Mosscap when people are expecting them).

Broadly speaking it’s still a pleasant reading experience, but the best part is really the sustainable world, the fact that everyone has enough, that people who don’t subscribe to binary gender are blithely accepted, where people live mostly in harmony. And it’s also an exploration of doing what you love and are good at, and still somehow feeling a need for another purpose, or for something else — that’s Dex’s whole problem, really, though it’s not so clear in this book aside from the ending.

Overall enjoyable, but I can’t stop seeing Dex’s selfishness now!

A Psalm for the Wild-Built was one of my favorite books of 2021, and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a worthy and wonderful sequel. I can't wait to see what Becky Chambers writes next!

What a wonderful sequel. This installment in the Monk & Robot series finds Mosscap and Dex traveling to answer Mosscap's question, "What do humans need?" Along the way, the pair visits communities throughout Panga. We get to see through the eyes of Mosscap, and what an beautiful world Panga is! The world-building in this novella is outstanding. I'm also amazed at how Chambers fleshed out Dex and Mosscap's characters and relationship in such a short book.

This book has so much depth and heart and left me wondering why we humans are the way that we are. Why do we leave things unsaid? Why do we hold back? What are we afraid of? When are we enough? If you are looking for a beautiful, hopeful and meditative experience, please pick this up.

Becky Chambers does it again! I adored this sweet, charming and heartfelt addition to the Monk and Robot series that took readers to a variety of locales and make the reader reflect on their own relationship with the world around them in our world today. Can't wait for the next one!

I enjoyed Psalm for the Wild Built, and I actually liked Prayer for the Crown Shy even more. I feel like Psalm was the background that I needed for the philosophical little tale that was Prayer for the Crown Shy. It's a feel good comfort scifi story that asks you just enough questions to make you rethink your own existence without being too heavy handed.

Mosscap and Dex are a delightful duo of main characters and I love watching them interact as they adopt new roles in this novella. The post-tech world Chambers dreamed up is so cool that I wish I could see more of it! I love the idea of different ways humans choose to leave behind the "Factory Age" especially.

If you enjoyed the first installment of the Monk and Robot series, you'll like this one as much or even more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor for the eARC!

[Gifted]
Another wonderfully gentle and kind-hearted novella in this short series by Becky Chambers. Set on a world where humans live in conjunction with nature, respecting its boundaries and adapting technology to benefit a world. A monk is the first to meet a "re-wilded" robot who has left human cities to explore nature, but now wants to return to civilisation. Takes a very positive look at our future.

Another fantastic book by Chambers. The characters are written so wonderfully and I love the world building in how civilization has collapsed and this is the world coming back in a more eco-friendly way. I love the interaction of monk & robot and how they are not only discovering things about each other, but also themselves.

“It was always a strange thing, coming home. Coming home meant that you had at one point, left it and, in doing so, irreversibly changed.”

The heart-warming adventure teeming with life, existential questions and philosophical statements continues as Sibling Dex and Mosscap returns home. In the prequel, Dex was trying to find meaning in life and Mosscap did its best to help them and with A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, we are in the territory of humans, where Mosscap is trying to attribute meaning to life by asking people “what they need” with the help of Sibling Dex. The journey from wilderness to civilisation is a tough one, everyone is excited to meet the robot, a reminder of a past life most dare not remember and this robot is a curious one, indeed. I have fallen madly in love with Becky Chamber’s penmanship, the witty conversations are the back-bone of the series and I cannot believe that I enjoyed this more than the first book. I hope these uplifting stories keep coming and the series continues forever. Definitely recommended.

Becky Chambers is incapable of writing a bad book -- her Monk and Robot series is just the latest example of her indefatigable dedication to excellence. There's no way to not love Sibling Dex and Mosscap, and if you're making it through A PRAYER FOR THE CROWN-SHY without spilling a few tears, I have to ask: you good? A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT was a fabulous beginning to this series, introducing our two heroes and the beautiful, philosophical world they inhabit. The second installment did not disappoint and only deepened the reader's connection with that world -- as Dex & Mosscap move through the various villages and encampments, the reader also feels more and more connected to a beautiful and complex society . Just the most stunning and profound meditation on what it means to be alive in community with others. You won't be sorry to pick this beauty up!

I love these novellas, and I love Becky Chambers. Humanity filtered through semi- or not-humanity is kind of wondrous.

I was so in love with the first Monk & Robot book that I wasn't sure how the second one could possibly compete, especially once Dex and Mosscap leave the wilds and head back into society. However, it did not disappoint. This series is my new go-to for anyone who needs a warm hug of a book, presenting an immersive world that I love escaping to. This adds onto the themes from the first book, now with Mosscap trying to understand humans and Dex learning to see more of their world through it's eyes. I am never quite sure how to pitch these books to people with their "no plot, just vibes" approach to the story but I wouldn't have them any other way. Thank you so much for this little bit of warmth in a strange, scary world.