A PRAYER FOR THE CROWN SHY (audio) by Becky Chambers

5 stars

The charming, fable-like, thought-provoking novella picks up where Psalm for the Well-Built, the first book in the Monk and Robot series, left off. Chambers serves up both folksy wisdom and large societal philosophy as Sibling Dex (“they”) an impoverished monk, bicycles his cart from town to town offering well appreciated home-brewed tea and comforting conversation along with robot Mosscap.

Decades have passed since Robots have absconded to the woods after coming to sentience and escaping their factory work for Humans. As a result. all the villagers and city dwellers as they travel about have endless curiosity about the robots in general and Moscsap in particular. Mosscap inspires such curiosity and crowds of humans wherever they go, that Dex actually stops offering his comforting tea service in order not to vie for attention.

To each person encountered, Mosscap asks, “What do you need?” He then proceeds to try to help people with their needs, which often veer to the mundane and manual labor. But in asking the question Mosscap is actually trying to ascertain the state of humanity since the robots departed working the factories and trying to ascertain this via asking a wide sampling of people.

But the most interesting moments of the novella center on Dex and Mosscap conversations with each other, such as talking over the uses of “pebs” by human in the place of currency to acknowledge and reinforce the need both for societal contributions to others and what each want to contribute or get from that cultural paradigm. After much debate, both decide they were happier in isolation in the woods, continuing their emotional growth together. Dex realizes that in experiencing burnout, it’s okay to take a break and that productivity does not equate to identity. Mosscap explores what it means to make individual choices, rather than group robot think, for the future.

This audio book is fabulously narrated!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.