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

Product Information

I know I spoke about this a little in my review of the first book, but I need to reiterate it here because it’s so important to me. Without context, it seems bizarrely negative to say I loved that Sibling Dex has mental health issues and exists in a world where human unhappiness is real and allowed to be real, despite the fact that humanity as a whole has learned to live in harmony both with the natural world and (mostly) with each other. I’ve used the word utopian a lot, but I guess the setting would more accurately be described as aspirational. But there’s a danger, in general, I think when we talk about utopian/aspirational settings to kind of *flatten* individual humanity into a kind of consensus of assumptions about what moral virtue is or how happiness can best be found. Which kind of ends up leading to this situation where, say, people with mental health issues have just sorta been … written out of our vision of an optimistic future? And I mean, like, thanks? I don’t think my existence is oppositional to a more compassionate and functional society. And once you’ve ditched the mentally ill you’re in this whole eugenics-ey groove without even noticing how you got there: I mean, what about people with disabilities, and queerness is kind of complicated, and would it just be easier all-round if everyone was white. It is the great beauty and tragedy of being human that we are each aware of our impermanence and individuality. Each of us, as with everything, has never existed before. There will never be another like us for all of time. With that understanding comes fear, urgency, a desire to know that we are not squandering this fleeting time. Mosscap, less explicitly focused on physical experience, is still thrilled to observe and interact. In A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Mosscap befriends a dog and a baby, and everyone is overjoyed about it, this reader included. It’s one thing to be told about the world as it was,” Dex said. “It’s another to see a piece of it. We have ruins, and things like this”—they nodded at the stump—“but you’re the furthest thing from a stone shrine. It’s not like I ever doubted the Awakening happened, but meeting you made it real in a way no museum ever could. I think you’ll bring a lot of perspective to the people we meet, even if all they do is see you walk by.”

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF.This novella is gentle, hopeful, and fundamentally queer in how it conceives of care and family. Accessible and propulsive, it’s a sort of modern parable for anyone who feels somewhat adrift, even when they’re not sure they should. Escape Rating A: If you’re looking for a story that will shed some light into the darkness, just as those crown-shy trees let light through to the forest floor, read A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Because they are the purest of hopepunk, and we all need that right now. At other times, it is distressing, such as when Mosscap begins to malfunction while on the road. The robot soberly accepts that its life is now over without fanfare, as its forebears had done when they too began to break down. Dex’s response, meanwhile, is all too human, and immediately sets about finding a way to repair their friend.

As Dex escorts Mosscap from town to town, Mosscap’s ostensible purpose is to ask each group of humans, “what do you need?” as the answers to that question become Mosscap’s datapoints of research on how humans are doing. The tea-monk Sibling Dex and the robot Mosscap met in the first book in this terrific series, A Psalm for the Well-Built, because they were both asking variations of that question. Sibling Dex had pulled off the beaten path into the woods because they were in the throes of burnout and were asking themselves if what they were doing was what they wanted to do. If their endless journey was all there was or would be to their life. Yeah, day’s getting late,” Dex agreed. Twenty miles wasn’t so bad, but creamy highway or not, they were still deep in forest and had yet to see anyone else on the road. There was no reason beyond impatience to continue pressing on in the dark, and though Dex was looking forward to being in a proper town again, stillness and rest sounded preferable in the moment. And - while this bit was not something I personally identified with, it felt personal in a way that made me apologize in my head to every non-plant-person I've hiked with and bored with the details of invasive plant ecology, oak identification, and the finer points of distinguishing between congeneric species:A joyful experience and, as with all of Chambers’s books, I was left with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.” — New Scientist Wonderful! It's a rich chocolaty cup of hugs! These two travel Dex's world now and Mosscap, the robot, gets to see the world the robots left and ask the people what they need. If someone told me I would enjoy reading a book about two non-binary characters discussing various aspects of philosophy I would have laughed. I am not one to read a lot of philosophy and really enjoy it. But these two drew me in and I was captivated by the subjects and how it relates to life now. 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. Fans of gentle, smart, and hopeful science fiction will delight in this promising series starter.” — Publishers Weekly 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.

The variety of human settlements, towns, villages and communities across Panga offer diverse models of peaceful, generally utopian communities. While Panga doesn’t have money, for instance, the communities across it share a system of credit and thanks focused on contributing to others. These communities are not all the same as each other, but they share an overall religion and worldview that prioritizes sustainability. 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. The scene takes on a layer of sorrow, the gravity that comes when you realize that life and death are always existing in the same space. That this specific example takes place in a world where sustainability is key and suffering is avoided at all costs does not lessen its impact, but instead highlights how inured one becomes when removed from this reality. I love Mosscap's character. It is sweet and inquisitive and philosophical. Its observances while learning about humanity frequently delighted me, such as this: "'What kind of books does Ms. Amelia collect?' 'Oh, entirely pornography,' Mosscap said. 'It was very educational.'"Prayer is a bit cheekier than Psalm, but no less of a meditative warm hug. For me it’s even more so, because as the relationship between Mosscap and Dex deepens, we’re enveloped in the tangible, growing fondness between them. There’s teasing at times, slyness that emerges with familiarity, and I feel steadier in their stories as they wrestle with these immense concepts. Like crown-shyness, or the way the leaves of certain trees are said to stop growing before tangling with those of others, creating lines of simultaneous connection and separation between. In our world there’s some debate as to whether it’s real or not and what causes it, but it’s a lovely concept, one that feels very suited to Panga. Coexist, do less harm. We are parts of a whole.

The dedication for the first book states, “ For anybody who could use a break,” and for this book it reads, “ For anybody who doesn’t know where they’re going.” It must be said that half the joy of reading this series is one of a promise kept.

Everything in the world is shaped by its surroundings, whether we see them or not. We are all of us connected. Such a realization, when one truly sits with it, is humbling. Mosscap walked up behind them, observing. “May I ask why you do this, given that Bosh will not notice?” it asked. As does a robot. Mosscap discovers that it has no answer for itself to its own question. It doesn’t know – at least not yet – what it needs or what its fellow robots need. I sincerely hope that the series will continue, and that we’ll get to follow Mosscap and Dex as they hunt for their own answers.