Prayer for the Crown-Shy

4h runtime; narrated by Emmett Grosland

Idioma English

Publicado el 12 de Julio de 2022 por Macmillan Audio.

4 estrellas (8 reseñas)

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.

3 ediciones

Goodreads Review of a Prayer for the Crown-Shy

5 estrellas

Becky Chambers's books are exactly what I need right now. It's almost disappointing that they are so short, and so easy to read! In fact, she makes writing look easy, and every moment is a pleasure. I flew through the chapters, and I bawled my way through the last chapter. The Monk & Robot books have really resonated with me lately, and they offer both an escape and a glimpse of what a better world could look like. I'm going to have to read her Wayfarers series a bit later, as I can't get enough of her writing (although I don't want to complete it all at once).

Chambers is right; this book is for those who need a break. Although I don't have Dex's cricket or Mosscap's turtle, I do have the sounds of cicadas, the forests of Kroumirie, and fields of olive trees to get lost in, and …

Somewhat underwhelmed

3 estrellas

I really loved A Psalm for the Wind-Built and signed out A Prayer for the Crown-Shy immediately after finishing it (a rarity for me). However, I found this follow-up to be a bit underwhelming. I didn't see the same type of development of Dex and Mosscap that I so loved in the first book—everything just kind of coasted along without tension. I realize these books are meant to be comfortable and cozy, but I just couldn't enjoy this as much as the first book. Perhaps it was the way the two of them jumped from settlement to settlement that made it hard to connect with the story in a way that it wasn't for the first book. I'm not really sure. It wasn't bad, just not a book I could really be excited about.

Searching for meaning in the spaces between us

5 estrellas

What does it mean to be, to exist? How do we find satisfaction in simply being? Or does satisfaction come from contributing something back to others while having our own needs met by them? What do we need as people? As individuals? As a society? As a shared planet?

Chambers explores big questions, maybe even bigger ones in our second journey with Dex and Mosscap as when we first met them.

I left the first book wanting a friend to serve me tea. In leaving this one wanting to give and to be given to. For in that is life and meaning and contentment. Thriving and leaving space for others around me to thrive, too.

Five stars.

An enjoyable and thoughtful read as we discover, along with the robot, what humans may need.

4 estrellas

An enjoyable and thoughtful read about the continuing journeys of a tea monk and a robot who wants to know what humans need. Plot-wise, there isn't much; but in terms of musing over the condition of humans, nature and one robot, there is plenty.

Both the monk and the robot have returned to human civilization, with the robot eager to visit and discover more about the human area and various human communities (with one exception) eager to learn more about the robot.

Through their interactions, the robot (and us readers) learn more about the human society that rose after the robots achieve sentience and left the factories, and about how they now live in a more ecological sustainable manner while maintaining some technology.

But would it be enough to answer the question the robot first asked about what humans need and how it can help them?

🙏

5 estrellas

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 …