Hardcover, 160 pages
English language
Published July 11, 2022 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
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?
The way the relationship between Dex and Mosscap matured in this book, is so charming and nostalgic. I love how they both explore existential ideas in a way that makes you, as the reader, feel and think about those ideas.
Even better than the first book in the series! Funnier, more moving and (even) more thought-provoking at once.
In A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, we spend more time focusing on Mosscap, and how it learns the human way of living. Sibling Dex changes and learns too, watching their friends and self-reflecting a lot on what their life used to be and what it has become. I am amazed how subtly the author depicts the evolution of such profound and complex characters in the span of so few pages. It is delicate, soothing, and overall a wonderful read !
I am so very glad Becky Chambers chose to be an author, we'd have missed something great.
At first I was low-key disappointed: Mosscap's candid questions slightly annoyed me, and I was dreading the answer. The moment where the story would answer its central question: when all your basic needs are met, what else do you need?
In other stories about the meaning of life (or adjacent themes), I could always relate to the part with the questions, and end up disappointed by the answer that the characters find, because the answer specifically works for them, and not for me. It's probably impossible to answer this kind of question in a way that will satisfy every reader, so why even try in the first place?
And... well, I like the direction that the book took, especially in its last chapter. It made me think of How to do nothing, except that Jenny Odell explains you what Becky Chambers makes you experience.
Also, I just …
At first I was low-key disappointed: Mosscap's candid questions slightly annoyed me, and I was dreading the answer. The moment where the story would answer its central question: when all your basic needs are met, what else do you need?
In other stories about the meaning of life (or adjacent themes), I could always relate to the part with the questions, and end up disappointed by the answer that the characters find, because the answer specifically works for them, and not for me. It's probably impossible to answer this kind of question in a way that will satisfy every reader, so why even try in the first place?
And... well, I like the direction that the book took, especially in its last chapter. It made me think of How to do nothing, except that Jenny Odell explains you what Becky Chambers makes you experience.
Also, I just read it at home, with closed blinds due to the heat, while preparing for the heat wave that will occur during the next two days and reading about fires, drought and our general inability to address climate change fast enough. Even though the utopian aspects of the book's world didn't always work for me, it made me emotional to read a story when things actually improved and the world turned out fine.
What do you need? Well, today specifically, I needed a story like that.
Like the first book in the series, I had a good laugh and paused to think a few times. An excellent novella for a warm summer night that offers a peculiar perspective on some of our real world problems.
