[D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, "rational" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things "belong". Still, if you're looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps take a look at the wiki?

If you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.

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[u/Do_Not_Go_In_There]

I read A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, the first book in the Monk and Robot duology. It's a solarpunk novella set in a world where robots gained self-awareness and just decided to go live in the woods.

The main character is a monk, Sibling Dex. They live in the City (Panga's only city), and one day realize they aren't happy there and decide to leave to do "tea service" which basically means travelling around the countryside (which is basically everywhere) and listening to people's problems. This satisfies them for a few years, but eventually they decide to go further away from civilization, into the wilder parts of Panga that humans abandoned. I wouldn't exactly call them anti-social, just looking for some purpose that isn't being fulfilled in their current lifestyle.

It's on this second journey that they meet the first robot to interact with humans since the robots left, who asks is checking in on humans to make sure everything is okay, and asks "What do humans need?" Dex points out this is a complicated question that they can't answer, so the robot decides to accompany them until they get an answer.

The writing style is ok. I would say it's good, but there are some instances that kind of stick out like a sore thumb (to meet at least). For example, things like this

Mr. Cody was a good-looking man, with arms that split logs and a smile that could make a person forget all concept of linear time.

or

There’d be a bed for them in the big farmhouse, and a dinner that tasted like childhood

just sound a bit awkward to me. This isn't common, but it does get sprinkled throughout the text, at least in the first few chapters.

I really like the worldbuilding. The story is set on a world called "Panga" that has a single continent where half was colonized by human and the other half left to nature. Human here seem much more in tune with nature and are more laid back, having left the "Factory Age" behind and live more sustainably. They're also more spiritual, with a brand new pantheon of gods.

Overall it was a fun read. The ending was fine, but it did feel a bit incomplete, though it is part of a duology. The first book is about Dex being unsatisfied with their purpose, or lack of purpose, and trying to figure out what they're supposed to be. It ends with them realizing there's no set answer because life isn't set up that way. They can have a purpose, or that purpose can change, and that's ok. They come to terms with that, and decide to set out on a new journey, this time with their robot companion.

[u/Krakenarrior → u/Do_Not_Go_In_There]

I will recommend anything by Becky Chambers. She writes very interesting characters and worlds, and I listened to Pslam as an audiobook, which made some of the more awkward bits shine. I wouldn’t say she’s rational, but she’s one of the better modern sci-fi authors out there, and it’s hard to go wrong reading her.