Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Recomanat si: tens ganes de sentir una abraçada literària, filosòfica i tendra.

Em va encantar aquest llibre i el seu predecessor. El que més em va agradar, sens dubte, va ser la filosofia i la utopia que planteja. Com és possible que, en una societat on sembla que els mals del capitalisme han sigut erradicats, encara pot quedar dolor i incomprensió davant de l'existència. M'encanta la parella que fan li Monji i en Robot, com es complementen en la seva cerca conjunta: el sentit de l'existència.

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 that's exactly what I'm going to do this summer.

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.

I started this right after I finished the first one. It deals with Mosscap's tour of Panga to learn what humans need. It gets a lot of different answers. We get to experience the different areas of the world and the different ways people choose to live there in a sustainable fashion. No spoilers but Mosscap is presented with an ineresting philosophical question and it turns out Dex still hasn't really found what they're looking for. The ending is quite open and I'm looking forward to find out where the two are heading next.

The world described in these books is one that I would love to live in, more than that described in any other science fiction book. Forget cyberpunk, give me solarpunk for life! It's a great book to read before bed, as the book is like a warm hug, helping you settle down and relax before going to sleep.

Another sweet and generous tale, so full of heart and the doubts that can fill one. I found myself moved to think about the world differently and literally reconsidered my career choices at one point while reading. The way the author teases out ideas about identity and self-perception really landed for me.

On a less positive note, this book got me trouble when I laughed out loud in bed and woke up my wife who had just nodded off. Thanks Becky!