A Psalm for the Wild-Built

, #1

4h runtime; narrated by Emmett Grosland

English language

Published July 13, 2021 by Macmillan Audio.

ISBN:
978-1-250-80774-8
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
1260212088
5 stars (14 reviews)

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They're going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

3 editions

A breath of fresh air, the wild-built could be us

5 stars

Content warning Spoilers

Mesmerizing

5 stars

I love Becky Chambers’ books. All of them. A Psalm for the Wild Built is slightly different, because it’s not set in the Wayfarer series. With subtle sci-fi story elements. And again with the focus on the protagonists.

It follows the tea monk Sibling Dex, refreshingly having they/them pronouns and their fortuitously met companion the intelligent robot Mosscap.

They are both on a journey, on the land and in their mind. So actually … they are wayfarers.

I particularly liked the last chapter. It captured the whole spirit of the book and has a meaningful message for me (and us) as readers.

I’m absolutely looking forward to reading the next part.

Review of 'A Psalm for the Wild-Built' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I wanted to read this because I had heard about this genre of “hope punk” or “cozy punk,” and I was curious. As I expected, there was no real conflict, or any jeopardy or much in the way of stakes. But this is what the genre is about, giving a break from the catastrophe that is our current world, so on that count, I would give it a high score, but I prefer novels with more at stake and more conflict. But I can see how many who are very stressed in everyday life and stressed about the planet and technology might take comfort in this sort of a book (not that I’m not stressed about these things, but I guess I’m used to higher level of stress). I don’t expect to continue with the series, but who knows?

Review of 'A Psalm for the Wild-Built' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I'm such a huge fan of all the Becky Chambers books. The author's work continues to amaze me with futuristic stories full of hope and diversity. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is no exception to that. The ideas I loved most in this story were humanity reacting with acceptance when the robots gained sentience far in the past. That humanity adapted to life without them. But also the idea that what those robots chose to do with their lives was to retreat to nature and study it, with excitement and curiosity. The idea that a robot created to work in industry would then turn around and spend decades just watching a tree grow for no other reason than because it was fascinating, is such a refreshing take. And of course, it's a lot more complex than all of that, but the story doesn't feel overly complicated. These are the kind …

reviewed A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)

Feels like a warm embrace

5 stars

This novella felt like a warm embrace. It's cozy, cute and light. A traveling tea monk exploring the world coming in contact with a conscious robot. Robots were long forgotten by humanity, having fled to the wilderness to live their own lives. I loved the discussions about life purpose and consciousness. It made me want to continue reading the next one.

solarpunk road trip?

5 stars

Becky Chamber's works are rare among science fiction stories because instead of action-adventure plots they're about people talking about what it means to be alive.

The first couple of chapters felt like the plot was jumping around a hell of a lot, because they're really just backstory/preamble for the actual story

It's good that there will be a sequel because I do want to know what both Mosscap and Dex will do next

Humane sci-fi. With robots.

4 stars

There isn’t much I can add to loppear@bookwyrm.social’s review; once again, Chambers is simply wonderful. Here, she is running with the wholesome if slightly insipid promise for the future Solarpunk holds to explore human condition and (not entirely incidentally, I suspect) thumb a very long nose to the whole “machine uprising” crowd. I don’t know how someone can be so relentlessly, melancholically upbeat, but I do know I had to finish this before work, and that I had a little happy cry when I did.

Subjects

  • Robots — Fiction
  • Mythology — Fiction
  • Self-consciousness (Awareness) — Fiction
  • Gender-nonconforming people — Fiction
  • Science Fiction

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