A Psalm for the Wild-Built
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4.6 • 340 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Hugo Award!
In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hugo Award winner Chambers (the Wayfarers series) launches the Monk and Robot series with this contemplative, bite-size novel. Hundreds of years ago, when the robots of Panga first gained sentience, they chose to retreat from human society rather than live in it as free citizens—and they haven't been seen since. When Sibling Dex, a tea monk, leaves The City, Panga's only metropolis, to travel the countryside offering tea and a listening ear to anyone who needs it, they are forced to acknowledge a deep sense of dissatisfaction with their life. Seeking solitude, they venture into the protected wilderness zone, where no human has set foot in centuries. Their plans quickly go awry when they are approached by Mosscap, an inquisitive robot elected by its fellows to make first contact with humanity and find the answer to the question: what do humans need? Written with all of Chambers' characteristic nuance and careful thought, this is a cozy, wholesome meditation on the nature of consciousness and its place in the natural world. Fans of gentle, smart, and hopeful science fiction will delight in this promising series starter. (Jul.)
Customer Reviews
Great gentle read
a solarpunk book that tartly and gently moves you to the best tears for what compassion looks like - and that we (and AI?) can learn how to be kind and compassionate with our small actions.
Hip pocket
Soothing. Textured. A place to return when everything feels like too much.
Just what I needed
I’ve read Becky Chambers once before: “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” was so good I immediately searched for Chambers’s other stories.
I found this, and put it back down after the first chapter of a sample. I saw the potential, and as an enby barista I got a kick out of an agender tea-maker protagonist, but the vibe wasn’t landing for me.
That was about a year ago. Most recently I tried to finish up Dune Messiah, and when I allowed myself to admit I just really disliked that book, I moved on to a different space opera. Another huge letdown.
Then I came back around to “A Psalm for the Wild-Built”, comfortably awaiting me, and I blew through the remainder of my sample. I bought it without hesitation and finished the short novel a week later.
I have never related more to a protagonist. It’s scary to see one’s situation so precisely articulated in a novel. It could have been word-for-word. I’m trying to keep my expectations of an answer low, because that’s not fiction’s job.
But the journey will be more than satisfactory, whether the protagonist’s solution to our problem is actionable for me or not.
This book is COZY. It is heartfelt and wise and honest and cute and fun, but it still manages to have the movement of a good Studio Ghibli film, the sense that things are happening and the character is changing and the story is going somewhere.
It’s what solarpunk books are aspiring to be, I think. Low stakes, but not merely a slice of life, either. An optimistic and, in many ways, utopian future, but people will always have their problems.
This book was exactly the cup of tea I needed. It’s short, easy to read, full of captivating worldbuilding, and two lovable characters. Excellent book.