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

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These are the best parts of the book, and there are a few instances where the world and the characters align and say something profound about the human condition. They shed their dirty, sweat-soaked, forest-flecked clothes, set up the camp shower, turned the water on, and stepped into the spray. They leaned their head back, letting the water run through their hair as they stared at the sky above the trees. Sibling Dex, in his capacity as a renowned tea monk, would undoubtedly say that a key requirement of perfect tea is allowing it to steep; letting it soak in the water long enough to be powerful. Yeah, well, we’re not in a ruin,” Dex said, panting lightly as they crested the last of a mild incline.

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 thing about fucking off to the woods is that unless you are a very particular, very rare sort of person, it does not take long to understand why people left said woods in the first place. Uh, it’s a formal gathering where all the monks come together at the All-Six for a few days for a…” Dex gestured vaguely. Between the world she has created, the characters we meet, and her writing style, the book is a thought provoking masterpiece. Point is: this one, arguably, maybe, if you give a damn, might feel a tiny bit less structured than the first one.We welcome respectful dialogue related to speculative fiction in literature, games, film, and the wider world. 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. Each chapter details their interactions with the different communities and the interactions are diverse as Mosscap is introduced to the populace.

The moment Dex had regained satellite signal after climbing back down the mountain, they’d sent messages to the village councils, the Wildguard, the monastic network, and every other contact they could think of. It made me cry the good sort of tears--the sort when someone is unexpectedly kind to you at the moment you need it most. If someone told me I would enjoy reading a book about two non-binary characters discussing various aspects of philosophy I would have laughed.But then again, perhaps it was a good thing for someone to appreciate the craftsmanship of a backroads highway or a quick-printed road sign. 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.

Still, I would heartily recommend A Prayer for the Crown-Shy to fans of A Psalm for the Wild-Built, with the caveat that they should expect something different in this outing.I think anyone who has ever suffered with any sort of mental health type thing will be familiar with deep alienation that accompanies it: it can very much feel like you live in a perfect world, surrounded by people who love you, and yet there is still something gracelessly, ungratefully wrong with you. A Psalm for the Wild-Built begins a series that looks optimistic and hopeful, pursuing stories that arise from abundance instead of scarcity, kindness instead of cruelty, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here. I’m so pleased that this is the first of a series, and that there will be more of this world, because, wow, do I want more of it. There is a discussion of their transaction system (which is not money, according to Dex) and meetings with people show what mores prevail.