After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.
Becky Chambers's new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?
Recomanat si: tens ganes de sentir una abraçada literària, filosòfica i tendra.
Em va encantar aquest llibre i el seu predecessor. El que més em va agradar, sens dubte, va ser la filosofia i la utopia que planteja. Com és possible que, en una societat on sembla que els mals del capitalisme han sigut erradicats, encara pot quedar dolor i incomprensió davant de l'existència. M'encanta la parella que fan li Monji i en Robot, com es complementen en la seva cerca conjunta: el sentit de l'existència.
Chambers accomplished what i affirm is the most important role of the sci-fi genre: to present potent reflections of our own day to day. The virtues we yet lack, the ways things could be different, the questions that are pervasive and perhaps inescabably human. Its not about the future, and my issues with the book come less from the contemplative value, but in the set dressing that fools the reader into shallow idealism. I think Chambers is aware of this, and is reluctant to fully embrace ideology, carefully placing Dex and Mosscap in a space of ambivalence.
The treatment of the luddite colony i found however, in bad taste. the colonist who differentiates themself from the rest, further reinforces ideology that luddism is equal to close-mindedness and that technology is akin to enlightenment. I feel that Chambers consulted someone to write this characters dialogue, but doesn't internalize the meaning of …
Chambers accomplished what i affirm is the most important role of the sci-fi genre: to present potent reflections of our own day to day. The virtues we yet lack, the ways things could be different, the questions that are pervasive and perhaps inescabably human. Its not about the future, and my issues with the book come less from the contemplative value, but in the set dressing that fools the reader into shallow idealism. I think Chambers is aware of this, and is reluctant to fully embrace ideology, carefully placing Dex and Mosscap in a space of ambivalence.
The treatment of the luddite colony i found however, in bad taste. the colonist who differentiates themself from the rest, further reinforces ideology that luddism is equal to close-mindedness and that technology is akin to enlightenment. I feel that Chambers consulted someone to write this characters dialogue, but doesn't internalize the meaning of what she wrote. She could have simply depicted people living happily as they pleased like we know indigneous people have for thousands of years. different, but no lesser than the rest, but instead she wrote the Amish. It gives the impression that the harmony and cohesion of this society is because they simply have everything right and that deviation from the model is inherently reactionary. I think Chambers grapples with this haunting element present in utopias with the presentation of the luddites, but i think it could have been more valuable if communties had more challenging differences that upend the apparent unity of the world.
Circling back, i appreciated the treatment of human nature, the search for meaning, right relationship and the smaller discussions about money, consciousness and mystery.
Overall, a bit too challenging a read maybe for believers in the status quo, too much ideology for the hungry leftist, just enough targets for thorough anarchist to take shots at.
Becky Chambers's books are exactly what I need right now. It's almost disappointing that they are so short, and so easy to read! In fact, she makes writing look easy, and every moment is a pleasure. I flew through the chapters, and I bawled my way through the last chapter. The Monk & Robot books have really resonated with me lately, and they offer both an escape and a glimpse of what a better world could look like. I'm going to have to read her Wayfarers series a bit later, as I can't get enough of her writing (although I don't want to complete it all at once).
Chambers is right; this book is for those who need a break. Although I don't have Dex's cricket or Mosscap's turtle, I do have the sounds of cicadas, the forests of Kroumirie, and fields of olive trees to get lost in, and …
Becky Chambers's books are exactly what I need right now. It's almost disappointing that they are so short, and so easy to read! In fact, she makes writing look easy, and every moment is a pleasure. I flew through the chapters, and I bawled my way through the last chapter. The Monk & Robot books have really resonated with me lately, and they offer both an escape and a glimpse of what a better world could look like. I'm going to have to read her Wayfarers series a bit later, as I can't get enough of her writing (although I don't want to complete it all at once).
Chambers is right; this book is for those who need a break. Although I don't have Dex's cricket or Mosscap's turtle, I do have the sounds of cicadas, the forests of Kroumirie, and fields of olive trees to get lost in, and that's exactly what I'm going to do this summer.
I really loved A Psalm for the Wind-Built and signed out A Prayer for the Crown-Shy immediately after finishing it (a rarity for me). However, I found this follow-up to be a bit underwhelming. I didn't see the same type of development of Dex and Mosscap that I so loved in the first book—everything just kind of coasted along without tension. I realize these books are meant to be comfortable and cozy, but I just couldn't enjoy this as much as the first book. Perhaps it was the way the two of them jumped from settlement to settlement that made it hard to connect with the story in a way that it wasn't for the first book. I'm not really sure. It wasn't bad, just not a book I could really be excited about.
Definitely the light comfort read I was looking for, and like the first in its series it has just enough moments of emotional tension and and philosophical debate to never get twee or boring. But more than its predecessor, the world this is set in is the most convincing, appealing hopepunk I have yet to read. It's clear that it had gone through some very hard times in the past, but the equilibrium that the books are set in feels plausible and inviting. I can think of many other books whose worlds I'd like to visit, but these are among the few I wish I could move to.
The way the relationship between Dex and Mosscap matured in this book, is so charming and nostalgic. I love how they both explore existential ideas in a way that makes you, as the reader, feel and think about those ideas.
i liked how the storytelling shifted and adapted with the story change that we have between the two groups.
the discovery of the different human settlements and their societies is fascinating, thought-provoking and poetic all at once.
i loved the ending, even if i had to read it multiple times to be sure.
i will miss Dex and Mosscap. :(((
I started this right after I finished the first one. It deals with Mosscap's tour of Panga to learn what humans need. It gets a lot of different answers. We get to experience the different areas of the world and the different ways people choose to live there in a sustainable fashion. No spoilers but Mosscap is presented with an ineresting philosophical question and it turns out Dex still hasn't really found what they're looking for. The ending is quite open and I'm looking forward to find out where the two are heading next.
Been struggling a bit with starting new fiction, and have fond memories of reading the first of this sequence on a trip to the Isle of Skye a year and a half ago, so started this as a way to prime the pump for future reading. A satisfying, enjoyable read on its own merits, incorporating some great descriptive material, and more thoughtful than it had to be, adding depth to an otherwise light-touch bildungsrobot (sorry) plot. The ending is well-judged, breaching reader expectations while keeping things open, and I really appreciated being able to start and finish a book in a single sitting.
The world described in these books is one that I would love to live in, more than that described in any other science fiction book. Forget cyberpunk, give me solarpunk for life! It's a great book to read before bed, as the book is like a warm hug, helping you settle down and relax before going to sleep.
Like the first book in the series, I had a good laugh and paused to think a few times. An excellent novella for a warm summer night that offers a peculiar perspective on some of our real world problems.
