A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: A Monk and Robot Book: 2 (Monk & Robot)

Product Information

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the second book in The Monk and Robot Series, the second book after A Psalm for the Wild Built.

The shrine’s not for Bosh,” Sibling Dex said. “It’s for us. People, I mean. Bosh exists and does their work regardless of whether we pay attention. But if we do pay attention, we can connect to them. And when we do, we feel … well, you know. Whole.” I see,” Mosscap said, but its voice was distracted, and it wasn’t looking their way at all. “Not that I don’t care, Sibling Dex, but—” And that’s what’s at the heart of the Monk & Robot series so far. That question about what do beings want, either as individuals or as a community. What, for that matter, is there to want once society has somehow evolved past our current, endless hunger for more?This is the second volume of a utopian SF series Monk and Robot. The first volume, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, was nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards this year, I’ve read and reviewed it here. I read it as a part of monthly reading for August 2022 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group. JadePhoenix13 on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 3 hours ago

There was only one reminder of the giants that had once stood in this forest (and would again, one day). Dex stopped the wagon and hopped off their bike as they approached the village’s namesake: an enormous stump, wide as a modest house, its spiring might cut clean away in the early days of the Factory Age, a time in which not much thought was given to spending twenty minutes on killing something that had taken a thousand years to grow. There was a shrine to Bosh placed before the stump, a stone pedestal with a carved sphere set on top. Small ribbons had been tied to it by countless passersby, their colors faded and fraying in the open air. Dex had ribbon in the wagon but did not fetch it. They merely capped their hand atop the mossy stone, and bowed their head in greeting and reverence.Don’t think of it that way,” Dex said. “You don’t have to do anything. You just have to be you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you nervous.” I wasn't enamored with the first book in this series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built but because it's about a sentient robot, I wanted to read this one as well. I suspect it was my mood that kept me from enjoying the first one because I liked this one a lot more. Also on a purely personal note—because I am obsessed with robots—I was kind of hoping to meet more robots, or at least learn a little more about them … but ultimately, like all books about robots, these are books about people, and it wouldn’t ultimately make sense for the narrative and emotional arcs of the story to introduce more robots to us. So that isn’t really a complaint, just a random public confession about my intense feelings for robots. Sorry about that. But if, like me, you're secretly hoping to meet more robots, you won't. You honestly won't really feel like you're missing anything, but temper your expectations regardless. The answer to this is, of course, there is nothing wrong with Dex. They’re experiencing the human condition. Mosscap points this out, reminding both Dex and the reader that needing rest or care or a change of pace does not require justification, nor is it wrong to want them even when things are going well. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to earn the right to be alive. You are allowed to just be.

Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.A joyful experience and, as with all of Chambers’s books, I was left with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.” — New Scientist You really don’t have to,” Dex said. They were still warring with their personal discomfort over letting the robot do tasks of this sort, despite the fact that Mosscap loved few things more than learning how to use stuff. So everything I loved about A Psalm for the Wild-Built is present in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. By which I mean, this is a gentle, healing, beautiful book that also doesn’t shy away from the reality of sadness and lostness, or the general complexity of humans and human relations. Envisioning a world where, even in the face of great upheaval, the powers that be would ever choose to abandon the death cult of capitalism in favor of collective support and restraint, can be difficult. Such things are easily written off as escapist fantasy. But then again, once upon a time so was the idea of humans being able to fly. Some trees spend their early years growing taller as fast as they can, reaching for the open sky and the sun. Then they start growing outwards, filling in branches and creating their part of the canopy of a forest. You’d think that those leaves and branches up in the canopy would overlap with the trees on all sides, creating a barrier between the sun in the sky and the ground far, far below.

And yet the moment is striking. For the first time in this exceptionally gentle series, we observe a living thing die at the hands of another. It isn’t malicious or even unexpected: we are told early on that we are going fishing, an activity synonymous with humanity since time prehistoric. There is likewise no moralizing against it on the part of the narrative. Dex doesn’t go out of their way to eat meat, but is not a strict vegetarian, and in fact they eat meat several times in this book alone (in meals enticingly rendered by Chambers’s concise descriptions). It is only because of Mosscap’s presence that the act is reframed as anything other than commonplace. I’m a bit more conscious about focusing on this stuff now. Because photos aren’t going to capture what it feels like, and focusing on future despair won’t prevent it, it’ll only prevent me from experiencing present peace. I’m not saying I’m great at it, it’s still a practice, but I am practicing. I started the last time I was in my mother’s homeland of the Philippines at the end of 2019, grieving my father. I was bug-bitten and sunburnt and staring at a magnificent little waterfall nestled within the trees, and I had the obvious yet quietly massive realization that it doesn’t stop when no one’s watching. It’s this gorgeous, heart-shifting marvel, and we can all crowd around and look at it but it doesn’t do it for us. It doesn’t stop at night, and it doesn’t care we’re there, and it doesn’t care that I’m grieving. How wonderful, how humbling, to share this world with life and power like this. There are no significant advancements in the plot, there is just a journey, which can end in the next book or continue for a dozen more. The almost unique feature of the series – there are no antagonists, no ‘bad’ / ‘evil’ characters – everyone is eager to help and made you happy or at least content, it is an extremely altruistic society that lives a sustainable life, quite unlike our world. The story continues from where the last volume has ended – the Monk (Sibling Dex) and the Robot (Mosscap) travel together and finally visit some places, where there are other people. Mosscap has a mission – to find out what people need, for after robots achieved sentience and people decided they cannot exploit them no more, for the last few centuries humans and robots lived without any communication. Dex has to help it, to work as a middle person and teach it what is ok and what is not in a society. The robot behaves like a kid, for almost everything for it is new, stopping at every second tree or anthill to observe it.The robot sat for a moment, considering. “I don’t want to separate myself from other robots any more than I already have,” it said. “I am having the most incredible experience out here. I’ve seen species of trees that don’t live in my part of the world. I’ve been on a boat. I’ve played with domesticated cats. I have a *satchel*!” It gestured at the bag hanging at its side for emphasis. “A satchel for my belongings! I am doing things no robot has ever done, and while that’s marvelous, I . . . I don’t want to become removed from them. The aggregate differences I have are only going to increase as we continue along, Sibling Dex. It’s very nice to be famous, but I don’t know how I feel about it yet, and I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a trait I’ll have among my own kind as well. So, you see, it’s enough that I’m experientially different; I don’t want to be physically different, too.” It paused. “Does that make sense?”