A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
A Monk and Robot Book
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A USA Today Bestseller!
“Tender and healing... I’m prescribing a preorder to anyone who has ever felt lost. Stunning, kind, necessary.” —Sarah Gailey on book 1: A Psalm for the Wild-Built
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF.
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?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tea monk Sibling Dex and robot Splendid Speckled Mosscap are back for the quietly brilliant second installment in Hugo Award winner Chambers's Monk and Robot novella series (after A Psalm for the Wild Built). Dex returns from their sojourn into the dangerous wilderness of the Antlers, with Mosscap—the first robot to reach out to humans in the centuries since the Awakening, when robots gained sentience and went off to form their own autonomous societies—in tow. Built in the wild by other robots, Mosscap had never met a human before Dex and is determined to answer the question, "What do humans need?" As Dex and Mosscap navigate their new celebrity status and set out to encounter the full breadth of humanity through Panga's varied human settlements, the question proves more complicated than either anticipated. The result is a lightly drawn but profound meditation on belief, entropy, and the nature of need and want that once again demonstrates Chambers's prowess as both a storyteller and a thinker. Quiet and contemplative, empathic and warmhearted, this masterful sequel builds on the themes of the first volume to posit a more sustainable, more caring way of life. It's both truly comforting and endlessly thought-provoking.
Customer Reviews
Profoundly encouraging
The whole world ended…
And then:
Becky Chamber recognizes that people (and possibly robots) go on. She offers the view that they might go in without losing their souls to malice, greed and violence.
I just love knowing that someone sees all of humanity’s little, gut wrenching, heartbreaking, triumphant moments and loves us for it.
So disappointing
Loved the first book -- this one is not additive... it's like she got tired of filling out the characters and story and just found a way, dissatisfying at best, to conclude the series. I loved the first one.
Mosscap and Dex’s Further Adventures!
“A Prayer for the Crown-Shy” is the second novella in the Monk and Robot Series by Hugo Award winning writer Becky Chambers. It was preceded by the novella “A Psalm for the Wild Built.”
The events of the story take place on the habitable moon of what appears to be a gas giant plant orbiting a yellow star. Humans live here, and have had a historical civilization much like that of Earth. It’s power was mostly based on oil, and had manufacturing which eventually was conducted by humanoid robots. The robots suddenly and surprisingly became sentient, and informed the humans that they had collectively decided they would leave and go into the world to observe nature. The humans accepted this decision, and regard it as a significant turning point in their civilization.
The humans changed their way of life, beginning to live within nature rather than exploit it. They turned to solar and wind for power. They set aside half of their world for nature. They began to build with natural materials that would biodegrade over time. They adopted a sustainable model of civilization, and regarded this an a major achievement. You can say that this is a solar punk setting.
Our protagonist, Dex, is a non-binary Tea Monk. Tea Monks act as counselors and minor therapists for the populace. Dex had traveled about in thier wagon from place to place offering specialized cups of tea and comfort, until they met the robot Mosscap. Robots had not interacted with humans since the Parting. But this one has come as the designated representative of robot-kind, to find out what humans need.
This is the continuing story of the monk and the robot who travel together and seek to understand each other, and themselves. In this novella, they travel from the wilderness to the outskirts of the City. Along the way, they visit various communities and meet people who Mosscap questions about their needs. There’s a notable visit with Dex’s large family. Typically for Ms. Chambers, there is not a lot of action or drama in this work. Also typically, there are wonderful characters, and the point of the story is the interaction between them. This is a very philosophical yet touching work. I am looking forward to seeing where this story goes in subsequent volumes!