A Psalm for the Wild-Built
By Becky Chambers
Reviewed by Oren Raynes
The Writing
This is my first encounter with Becky Chambers. Her writing style in this book feels very honest with a nice mix of humor and human insight. While reading this book I felt very seen, her description of how Sibling Dex feels about their vocation and changing to a new vocation feels very similar to my own career change and the feelings that came from that.
Chambers has such a great understanding of people, emotions and how to convey that understanding. She has crafted such a relatable character in Dex, from needing to change vocations, to the emotions of being new at something, to the emotional dance of meeting and learning someone new.
I love how she handles gender in the story without making a statement out of it. Dex is a they/them but other than that, it's not really brought up in any way. For me, this was really refreshing because almost anytime someone brings up gender, it feels like there's a political agenda and conversation behind it, but most of the time there doesn't need to be.
The world building is well done. There is so much that is given to show this large world and religion and beliefs. But at same time, there is so much left out of the story that leaves the reader wanting more. Such as the religious system that Chambers touches on but doesn't really elaborate on.
The Story (Spoilers)
This is a solarpunk story, which is a futuristic sci-fi that focuses on society living sustainably with nature. In this story we don't see too much into the politics or into the society. What we do see is that the society is post-factory-age, post-scarcity, post-capitalist. There is no money, people work only for fulfillment and growth. We see this when Dex changes their vocation not to earn a living but to find their purpose.
Dex becomes a tea monk, which is a travelling monk that serves tea and listens to people's problems. Some have equated this to a travelling therapist-barista, but I thought of it more like a travelling bartender. Like the bartender, Michael Sheen, in the movie Passengers, who was there to listen and console Chris Pratt.
I loved the lead up to the change. The feeling of needing to get out and being tired of the status quo, and the constant itch of missing something. For Dex that was cricket song, for me it's the northern lights. They didn't take an apprenticeship, they wanted to self-teach, which is how I have been doing my writing and programming. And then they got their first customer and you could feel all the impostor syndrome and insecurity of doing something new.
Afterwards, the story jumps ahead a few years and they are much better at being a tea monk but they are back to having that unfulfilled feeling again. At this point they are on a seasonal route through the settlements of Panga. And then they hear about a robot temple in the wilds. Much like how the cricket song gave them an itch, the thought of this temple also causes that itch again until one day they cancel their circuit and turn into the wild.
Enter Mosscap. A wild-built robot that has been sent to interact with humans for the first time in centuries, since the sentient AI robots chose to leave humankind. Mosscap and Dex agree to travel together and the conversation and interactions between these two are so thoughtful and heartwarming.
They travel and arrive at the temple where they discuss what it means to exist. "The point is not to find the answer. The point is to live the question." "Being. Just being." Dex works through that and lets go of all their "not enough" feelings and they head back to the settlements. They part ways and Dex sets up their tea table and takes a customer.
There's so much more but I am trying to keep this brief. Go read the book.
The Takeaway
I was left wanting more from Dex, Mosscap, and the world, and with the feeling that the story ended too suddenly. I am really looking forward to reading the next book, "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy". I am also looking forward to reading more of Chambers' works and analyzing more of her writing.
I would recommend this book, perhaps with a cup of tea.