a psalm for the wild built becky chambers

I felt both vulnerable and safe when reading it.

I cannot express enough how much I needed this book in my life. Instead, they find a self-aware robot, and that’s when their journey really begins. Out there, Dex hopes to find their purpose, their satisfaction, their reason for living. The wild has been protected for many years, a place humankind not only does not touch, but is not allowed to touch. So, what does a tea monk do when faced with a lackluster view of a completely fantastic life: they go into the wild. They change their vocation, becoming a tea monk traveling around to the various villages and towns to bring whatever comfort they can to the citizens through good tea and patient listening…except that’s not satisfying Dex either. Sibling Dex is a monk of the Child God Allalae in Panga’s City and is completely unsatisfied with their life. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers is the biggest, cuddliest, most-needed hug I could have ever asked for. But sometimes, I just need a book to give me a hug. Sometimes, I find comfort in an angsty book that rages with me. Like many others, I have taken solace from all the messiness in reading. Fans of gentle, smart, and hopeful science fiction will delight in this promising series starter. 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. Seeking solitude, they venture into the protected wilderness zone, where no human has set foot in centuries. 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. 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. Hugo Award winner Chambers (the Wayfarers series) launches the Monk and Robot series with this contemplative, bite-size novel.

A psalm for the wild built becky chambers