Another warm cup of tea of a book. I didn't love it quite as much as APFTWB because it didn't have as much of a journey/plot structure but there were still philosophical moments and I love Mosscap. This juuuuust scraped a 5* (9.07 on cawpile)

In my opinion, Pslam for the Wild Built is a FREAKING MASTERPIECE, and one I will return to often. So, it seems natural that I was both nervous and excited to return to the world of Panga, Sibling Dex, and Mosscap.

Like Psalm, this book is heavily character-driven. People who need a plot-focused story will struggle. With that being said, I don't think there is anyone on this planet that does wholesome and hopeful sci-fi characters better than Chambers.

Chambers has created two of my favorite fictional characters. Sibling Dex and Mosscap are amazingly complex. They make you a little sad and also make you smile and laugh. They make you question your purpose in life. They make you ask what you deserve and what you need. They make you want to wander the world on your own, but at the same time, they make you want to find a community you never want to leave. They make you feel alone, all while knowing it is okay and normal to feel or be alone. They make you question your existence while reveling in the existence of nature. They make you feel like you are enough, right now, at this exact moment, just as you are.

Watching Mosscap enter the world of humans was a joy. It was like seeing the world through the eyes of a child. I don't want to give too much away since this is a sequel, but if you enjoyed Psalm, you will enjoy Prayer.

I will note that I do think that I enjoyed Psalm a little more - the story felt a little more focused. Yet, there is no doubt that this is a 5 star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillian Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The world has we know it had ended after the fall of capitalism and an uprising of robots.

Humans now work together to care for one another and meet all needs.

Mosscap, a robot who’s been living in the wild with other robots, is now traveling with Dex to learn more about humans, how they now live, and the broader world in general.

Both struggle to figure out their purpose when they struggle to know their role or accept help.

This reminds me a bit of a an adult version of The Wild Robot, with the added layer of considering what makes us human, and what makes us valuable.

*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!*

Oh, I really loved this book. I think I loved it more than the first one.

There were so many good bits in this very short book. I absolutely LOVE the idea of pebs! Like, that is just totally how our society should work, recognizing our value and how we all work together. I especially loved what Sibling Dex said about folks who have a debt of pebs, and how that means they need the community’s help. Like, YES! Folks aren’t living in poverty because they want to be, they just need a bit of help.

I also loved Mosscap’s wonder at everything. It really reminded me of how we take so much of the natural world for granted when it’s really quite spectacular. It reminds me a little bit of birding; someone can walk down a sidewalk or a trail and they see what they want to see. When you actually start looking, it’s amazing what you will see. Today I was out at an activity with a group of people and I saw/heard 10 different species of local bird, and I’m not sure that the others even noticed.

There was an absolutely heartbreaking bit with a fish that just about made me cry.

The ending was lovely. Deep discussions followed by absolute loveliness.

I can’t recommend this series enough.

Dex and Mosscap pick up where they left off, heading toward the city. In that way it’s more plot-driven than before; but still lax, full of meanderings. It’s mostly about the dynamic between monk and robot as primarily the robot interrogates different aspects of how society functions, and why. It is just as endearing as the previous installment and gets away with this its musings by having Mosscap genuinely know nothing about humans and possessive of a perspicacity that rivals most people.

It’s low-key and does not particularly care about proffering any actual answers (another diversion from self-help type philosophical intersections often like this), and is more concerned with having the reader ask questions themselves while enjoying the company of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for the audio-arc, which has a great narrator who does a good job of differentiating between the characters and getting the vibe just right.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this audiobook and treating me to an early read of one of my most highly anticipated books for this year!

Sibling Dex and Mosscap open up where we left off with them in A Psalm for the Wild-Built as they are traveling from town to town, giving Mosscap an opportunity to learn about modern human society. It turns out that in doing this, Dex will learn about human society and their place in it, too.

This installment in the Monk and Robot series was DARLING. It was a perfect read for me as I'm currently entrenched in two other tomes that are dark and sad. This one brought countless smiles to my face while also tugging on my heartstrings as Sibling Dex struggles to figure out their place in the world. While I have never read a Chambers novel and thought, "Yeah, that was perfectly long enough. I would have been unhappy with more," I ESPECIALLY wish that these books were longer. The world and characters are just so wonderful and I want to spend so much more time with them. (I guess I'll have to reread them soon??) But this short book wastes no words and has so much to give in its few pages.

The narration for this one was fabulous. I just love this duology. I wish there were more. I love Sibling Dex and Mosscap. I loved this one as much as the first book if not more. I highly recommend this duology. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Dex and Mosscap venture out of the wild and into the villages in the second installment of Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series. Despite the addition of noise from other people (including Dex's very charming family), the conversations between Dex and Mosscap remain the highlight of their adventures. Readers who found A Psalm for the Wild-Built charming and soothing will find more of the same here.

I think if you read this book at the perfect time in your life when you are contemplating exactly these questions...it is going to knock your socks off. This is going to be an amazing reading experience for you. But if it doesn't catch you at just the right time, it will leave you feeling like, huh, well, ok.

Our monk and robot friend continue their journey and the robot's quest to discover what humans need. There is basically no plot. We see scene after scene of touching human life or robot wonder. It is contemplative with tons of philosophical discussions, usually from a robot perspective which will either strike you as charming or saccharine.

I'm not totally sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I love that Becky Chambers imagines and discusses a world where people (and robots) are conscientious about their communities and their impact on the environment. I especially loved the description of their "currency" and of the biodegradable tech they use for manufacturing.

On the other hand, I did feel that much of this book was saccharine and preachy. To be fair, I think I don't vibe with the audiobook reader's voice. But a lot of these philosophical questions just aren't questions that I'm currently mulling or finding interesting. I think I would absolutely love this book if they had been things I was already mulling or hadn't ever considered. To me, these questions weren't new or pressing.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free audio arc.

Sexual violence? No. Other content warnings? No.

A lovely continuation of the story started in “A Psalm for the Wild-Built”. The only thing that’s gotten me through the last few weeks has been my undying love for Mosscap, the sentient robot and his quest to learn about humans and their needs. Would absolutely recommend it to anyone eager for a vision of a better world in these trying times.

Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for this ALC!

Pros: I was so excited to read this sequel to A Psalm for the Wild-Built. I think readers need to read Wild-Built before reading Crown-Shy to get to know Dex and Mosscap. These sci-fi novellas are charming, quiet, and relaxing while also examining big questions like “what does humanity need?” I think this series is more about the cozy feeling the reader gets from reading the books rather than a plot.

Cons: I listened to this book on audio, and while I like almost everything the narrator does, their pronunciation of words with an “ag” like “bag” and “wagon” was a bit distracting to my southern ears.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read this book.

Another perfect book from Becky Chambers. A sweet little book that just feels like a hug. I LOVE Sibling Dex and Mosscap and their friendship is so pure. All the heart eyes

Sibling Dex and the robot, Mosscap, return to human society to help Mosscap answer the question of "What do humans need?" As they move from community to community towards the big city it becomes clear that perhaps the answer is more complicated than Mosscap once thought.

Unlike the first book, this one seems more like a collection of vignettes that serves to five snapshots into their journey as they travel back to the city. As usual it's reassuring to see Sibling Dex' uncertainty with their purpose in life, that they have to have one despite intellectually believing that it's not necessary to have value as a being. The metaphor of Crown-Shy, together but individual, was beautiful.

I didn't love this as much as the first one. It felt much more disjointed for me. Overall, it still has the same feel of the first book, but something was missing. Maybe it felt like a stop over book until the next stop or maybe it was missing some joy. Also, I think maybe the audiobook, while well produced was not the best way for me to read this. Definitely will read the next one, though.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the advanced copy of the audiobook!

This second book in the Monk & Robot series is every bit of the same cozy, warm hug as the first!

In the first novella, we learn that robots have become sentient and have retreated to the wilderness, completely separating themselves from humanity. Sibling Dex is a tea monk who is constantly seeking his own happiness and satisfaction with life. This wanderlust takes them on a journey where they meets Mosscap, a robot who is determined to learn all about humans and their unique ways. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy picks up with Dex and Mosscap continuing their adventure from city to city for Mosscap to meet as many people as it can and to ask the humans it encounters what they need in order to gain a deeper understanding of humanity itself.

I absolutely loved how this story was so beautifully philosophical, delving into relationships, one’s purpose in life, spirituality, mental health and the human condition in general. It was delightful to watch Mosscap learn about humanity with such child-like innocence and naivety, resulting in heartwarming commentary and the deepening of its relationship with Dex.

I think I had a smile on my face the entire time I was listening to this heartwarming novella, and I’m so very looking forward to getting a hard copy for my shelves when it is published so that I can go back and enjoy it over and over again. A big thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Becky Chambers is writing some of the best SF out there. A recommended first purchase in all formats for collections where the genre is popular.

Spoil sport alert! Read on only if you are willing to hear a viewpoint that diverges wildly from the overwhelmingly glowing advance reviews that have already come in for A Prayer For the Crown-Shy, the latest feel-good science fiction fantasy by Becky Chambers.

Don't get me wrong -- there's nothing wrong with feeling good, with writing optimistic stories, with choosing to approach issues in a breezy, easygoing, cheerful manner. I've read about half of Becky's books and there's no denying the uplifting qualities of her stories, settings, and characters.

But this one just rubbed me the wrong way. This time, it felt like a children's story being told to adults as if we are children -- the occasional use of profanity makes this a decidedly adult venture, not for kids. It may be because that's the way it was narrated in the audio edition I listened to, but it was in the writing too.

Maybe because I'm already firmly a member of the choir, this sermon on economic, environmental, and identity issues irked me no end. The naivete of this world view, as appealing as it is to people on my end of the spectrum, renders any lessons moot -- it's just not ever going to be this way if humans are involved, we are not going to trust people with our economic credits, we are not going to keep people from exploiting the natural world as long as there is anything that people want for themselves.

We are not going to achieve any kind of post-scarcity society or economy without productivity enhancements that in the real world are too complicated to ever not create, er, complications. Becky doesn't do any of the work in her world-building to address the wholly unrealistic means by which her world can exist, and maybe you can suspend your disbelief in those areas, but in contemporary science fiction, that is not acceptable -- Rob Lowe's one line fixes just don't hold water (or air, if you want to get literal about it).

Let me try another tack (not tact, Becky -- tack): What do people need when they have all that they want? That's what Mosscap asks everyone. Interesting to get all sides on that question. But one side is missing: why do we have so many people who want more and more just for the sake of having more even when they don't need it? That's the world we actually live in -- as long as humans are in the picture, there will always be a free rider problem. That's the question most relevant to solving so many of these issues. In a book where there is no conflict or drama, perhaps adding that very common human element would have made things more interesting and more pertinent.

I don't want feel-good escapism and life lessons I've already learned that has absolutely no basis in reality. There is no lesson to be learned if it can never be realized in real life. This is just a bunch of hooey that left me more depressed than when I started because it is so implausible, because it highlights just how out of whack our current reality is, and promotes wishful magical thinking (or more like no thinking at all) when real world solutions are more necessary than ever.

In my review of The Galaxy, and The Ground Within, I wrote:

"I find it hard to resist the best qualities Chambers has to offer -- breezy, optimistic, inclusive character-driven stories with relevant messages for contemporary readers. One the other hand, I find it difficult to quell my frustration at the dearth of story arc for overly archetypical characters, occasionally tedious dialogue about inane subjects, and the gratuitously naive simplicity in dealing with complex contemporary issues. But Chambers has improved -- there is some conflict, some drama, some subtlety to her characters' development."

In this book, that improvement is undone -- no conflict, no drama, no subtlety; tedious dialogue about inane subjects is rampant rather than occasional (one of the side characters may find it entertaining to listen into Dex and Mosscap bickering over some pointless triviality but I most certainly did not), and the naive simplicity in dealing with contemporary issues, well I've already whinged enough about that.

I'm sorry to be a spoil-sport, but as much as I would love to, I just can't forget about what is going on in the world today with war in Europe, virus run rampant, attacks on our rights from our own courts, attacks on our institutions from our own elected officials (even if he lost the popular vote even the first time around), economic volatility, and oh by the way, it's all going matter less than a hill of beans if we don't do something about our destruction of the planet.

The be nice, pay if forward, stick your head in the sand pablum Becky Chambers if offering up is not going to help as long as there are selfish stupid hateful people out there unwilling to listen to anything but their own fascistic fantasies. This is a time to fight the real fight, not a time to lay down like sheep dreaming electric fantasies that can never come true.

A great example of nothing happening, but so much changing. A perfect sequel to the first book in the series, and I can only hope there will be another book.
This series is perfect as something to help you look inward, to try to better understand what connects us to each other, what connects us to the world around us, and what connects us to those who are different to us.
A. beautiful exploration of friendship and humanity. To investigate where our materials come from, and the cost of them on the planet.
I love this series so much, and I hope there are many more adventures of Mosscap and Sibling Dex to come. I love their world, their society, and their entire way of life.

I will read everything that Becky Chambers writes as it always has the solid middle of familial (found or otherwise) warmth that just hits home. I will say I still have a preference for the Wayfarer's series as I believe it hits higher highs, but I did really enjoy this book that is both domestic and a road novel. A vision for multiple societies that would be a better way to live. A way centered on community will always always always lead to a better world.

Chambers’ books are always perfect for when what you really need is to sit down beside a close friend you don’t really have to talk to just for the sake of enjoying each other’s company and familiarity. Her books are introspective and full of that particular innocent wonder that comes from making a new discovery. But the books also don’t necessarily shy away from the shadows, from inequality, from differences of opinion and lifestyle.

When compared to book one, Crown-Shy gives us a much clearer direction, which I definitely appreciate. Dex and Mosscap encounter countless other people and deal with the particular conundrum of finding their place in the world. This is the kind of book that aims to slowly ease one’s mind and untangle thoughts of things like imposter syndrome while also being wholesome and full of small joys.

It’s a perfect read for right now, given the state of the world, when what you need is a low-investment escape.

I was downright giddy when I was approved on NetGalley for this audiobook. I LOVE the Monk and Robot novellas. Dex is a traveling monk who met Mosscap the robot in the first book in the series. (You don’t have to read that one first to read this.) Robots became sentient hundreds of years ago and left humanity to form their own community. No one has seen them since, until Mosscap shows up to learn how humans are doing.

Mosscap is delightful. He sees the world with wide-eyed wonder. Dex and Mosscap travel around meeting people—there’s not much more to the plot than that. But this book isn’t about plot. It’s about heart and joy and characters. It’ll make you smile. Sometimes I laughed out loud. The narrator, Em Grosland, is perfect. They do a fantastic job bringing this world to life.

I wish I could give everyone a copy of this book! Sometimes you need a story that gives you hope, that makes you feel good, that shows you that people can get along and the world can heal. Dex and Mosscap’s journey makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It comes out July 12. Thank you to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for my copy.