Becky Chambers continues to set a high bar for solarpunk science fiction with the second installment of her Monk and Robot series. The books — set in a future utopia where economic systems like capitalism are a thing of the past — are not only a pleasure to read, but are a great exercise in imagining better and more sustainable futures.
Ever since her novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, came out last summer, I’ve been telling people it’s the best book I’ve read in years. Book one itself is a wonderful adventure that, with important themes about the value of therapy and the relationship between people and nature, will likely be counted among the classic examples of comfort literature. And while there’s no hyperbole in that opinion, I’m also no longer able to say that book one is the best book I’ve read in years.
I just read the sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, which is scheduled for release on July 12, 2022 from Tordotcom, and I have to say, this second installment of the Monk and Robot series blew straight through my already high expectations. It didn’t stop there though; it kept going, and I was grateful. Together, the two books tell a tender, hopeful story of empathy and healing, like a soft blanket that keeps you warm on a cold night.
Like book one, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy follows the tea monk Sibling Dex as they travel the tiny moon of Panga with Splendid Speckled Mosscap. Mosscap is the first robot to make contact with Pangans since robots attained consciousness and departed for the rewilded half of Panga countless years before. Whereas book one has Mosscap guiding Dex through an exploration of the mysterious wilderness, book two flips the script and brings the unlikely companions out of the wilderness. Sibling Dex now guides Mosscap from village to village, navigating their newfound fame while the robot seeks an answer to its primary question, “What do humans need?” which is the question he has been tasked with exploring and answering by the robot population.
