In this concluding second volume of Becky Chambers' Monk & Robot series*, a tea monk grows weary of their fulfilling but horizon-limited life and takes the road less travelled (literally) instead of following their routine once again. (Those are the pronouns the author used.)

The monk lives in a time when the people of the story had experienced severe environmental decline ages ago, and, in order to save their dystopian society, had divorced themselves from all their technology and had forsworn further development. That had happened so long ago that stories about their lives and machines had taken on the mustiness of myth.

The monk's life takes a new direction when a robot appears in the wilds, says that it sees that society has survived, indeed flourished, and wants to know what people need right now. The pursuit of an answer to that question becomes the force that drives the story's plot to a very uplifting and satisfying conclusion.

*The first volume is A Psalm for the Wild-Built. ( )

The Monk and Robot series (two books, for now) is a search for purpose, for meaning, for fulfillment, and for friendship, only to discover that these things are found in the most unlikely places.

I’ve read Becky Chambers’ work before (Books 1 and 2 of the Wayfarer series), and was enamored of her storytelling style, her compassionate outlook, and her way of showing us what should be obvious, but so often is not. So when I picked up A Psalm for the Wild-Built and immediately fell in love with the characters, I wasn’t surprised. The introduction to Sibling Dex and their internal struggle to find contentment with their chosen life choices is so universal that it could have been directed at me; it felt as though Dex’s thoughts could have come from my own mind, even though their own path is very different from mine. When Mosscap enters the story, it brings its own unique views that, while robotic in origin, are so organic in nature that many times its words moved me to my core.

While the sole point-of-view character is Sibling Dex, this is not their story alone, nor is it just a story about Dex and Mosscap. This is a story of acceptance for self and others, of boundaries and absolute respect, of frustration and the joy of discovery. Chambers’ narrative fleshes out these two essential characters in a descriptive way that leaves plenty of room for the imagination, yet reaches deep into the reader’s heart and twangs the strings it finds there. More than once, I was moved to tears by tender or telling moments between Dex and Mosscap and, when the last page was turned on book 2, I felt bereft. I did not want their story to end.

The Monk and Robot books will speak to readers who enjoy a deeper message embedded within a well-told tale. Heartfelt, evocative, and sincere, both books in this series are likely to touch the emotions of all who enter their pages. Most highly recommended. ( )

4.5 stars. such a comforting series. i need book 3 asap ( )

A quiet, introspective, soft wander. A meditation on being, on community, and relationships that don't require anything more than respect and understanding. I think I liked this one more than the first. ( )

Philosophy! Travels! Bromance! I'm literally (literally!) the person who needs to stop every dozen paces and look at a tree or a lichen, and I'm full of random biology facts, and I do feel called out.

Thinking about how monocultural religio-philosophical agreement takes the place of government to regulate conflict in this world, which, hm. :/ Like, she does try to complicate this with the coastal community, and that's interesting! But they're working from the same axioms---there's no one who thinks that it should actually be OK to build robots and use fossil fuels, and no indication of how a society like this would deal with that kind of disagreement. Have the ascetics ever tried to convert others to their way of thinking or fight what they see as harm? Also, there's no one who doesn't believe in the same 6-god system, even though there are disagreements between scholars within that system.

I do want to reread both of these. ( )