A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: A Monk and Robot Book: 2 (Monk & Robot)

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Either someone needs help with a very specific concrete issue that either they haven’t gotten around to or for which there isn’t anyone local with the right skills or knowledge. Or, the answer is more existential, where the short version is often something like “purpose” or “fulfillment”. The kinds of things that a person needs to determine for themselves. But underneath the warmth and fuzz is a serious existential enquiry. What does it mean to be human or robot? What do we want from our connections with the universe? Seen through a robot’s eyes, the conventions even of this respectful and ecological society can seem bizarre. I was close to tears a couple of times, once when Dex and Mosscap went fishing, once when they walked through the woods. This kind of writing is deceptively simple, but it takes great skill to write deeply about such seemingly ordinary things and fill them with wide-eyed wonder. A stunning book. Like, Psalm for the Wild-Built the plot is largely incidental: having returned from their trip to the wilderness, Sibling Dex is now Mosscap’s guide and companion as the pair of them tour the local villages so that Mosscap can ask the question it has been tasked with: what do humans need. Also like Psalm, the book has a light, picaresque quality that makes it a swift, accessible read—though that accessibility should not be taken for simplicity because Prayer builds upon, and is still wrangling with, the same philosophical and existential ideas that gave Psalm such depth and resonance. Well, there’s no spontaneity in your journey, then, is there? If you’re focused on moving from sign to sign, there’s no opportunity for happy accidents. But I suppose I’ve rarely had clear destinations in mind before now. In the wilds, I simply go places.”

I was looking forward to this 2nd instalment in the Monk & Robot novella series and I was not disappointed. Mosscap nodded at the wagon trailing dutifully behind Dex’s ox-bike. “Would you say this carries everything you need?”Much of the Monk and Robot series avoids conventional ideas of conflict, though Mosscap and Dex butt heads numerous times and their arguments always make for great reading. What I mean is that conflict is internal, non-violent, and more often than not a product of Dex struggling with their own feelings. I know I spoke about this a little in my review of the first book, but I need to reiterate it here because it’s so important to me. Without context, it seems bizarrely negative to say I loved that Sibling Dex has mental health issues and exists in a world where human unhappiness is real and allowed to be real, despite the fact that humanity as a whole has learned to live in harmony both with the natural world and (mostly) with each other. I’ve used the word utopian a lot, but I guess the setting would more accurately be described as aspirational. But there’s a danger, in general, I think when we talk about utopian/aspirational settings to kind of *flatten* individual humanity into a kind of consensus of assumptions about what moral virtue is or how happiness can best be found. Which kind of ends up leading to this situation where, say, people with mental health issues have just sorta been … written out of our vision of an optimistic future? And I mean, like, thanks? I don’t think my existence is oppositional to a more compassionate and functional society. And once you’ve ditched the mentally ill you’re in this whole eugenics-ey groove without even noticing how you got there: I mean, what about people with disabilities, and queerness is kind of complicated, and would it just be easier all-round if everyone was white. Mosscap looked at them, its lenses expanded wide. “Do you think they’ll be afraid of me? Or … dislike me, perhaps?” It glanced down at its body. “Will they not like what I remind them of?” As a person, who lived in the USSR and was also interested in social utopian experiments during the last few centuries across the globe, I still consider popular in the West, esp. the US, anti-capitalist and pro-communalist (including communist) attitudes of people of art, including SFF writers, often a little naïve (this in no way mean that the current system is perfect – it should be changed for both more equal and more just for the benefit of all, there are only different views what and how to change). For example, in this novella everyone is caring, there are no free riders, no people with mental abnormalities (incl. sociopathies, manias), and no problems. I think in this aspect the series is much weaker than The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which while the author definitely likes an anarch-communistic society she describes, she doesn’t do it in rose glasses, there are still problems, just of a different kind.

Dex watched the robot contemplate itself before the remains of the stolen tree, and likewise felt a thought take root. “You know, you might be a powerful thing for people to see.” One day last week Alexa caught me off guard with something like, "Thank you for always being so appreciative. You make this AI very happy". Exchanging pebs isn’t about bartering. It’s about benefit. You are a part of the community, and the farmer doing something for you means that they are, effectively, doing something for the group.” (p. 26) After three hundred years of humans and robots not interacting at all, the news that one has deliberately come out of the wilds to talk to humans is Big News. Sibling Dex is happy to take Mosscap with them along the roads where they’ve made their living serving tea and deal with the inundation of requests for Mosscap’s presence but Dex is leery of being so much in the limelight, too. The two travel to many settlements which delights Mosscap.A Psalm for the Wild-Built begins a series that looks optimistic and hopeful, pursuing stories that arise from abundance instead of scarcity, kindness instead of cruelty, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.” —NPR This tale propels us gently through an optimistic take on humanity, one that carefully considers our precious ecology and ethos, focusing more on giving to the community than getting. It is the great beauty and tragedy of being human that we are each aware of our impermanence and individuality. Each of us, as with everything, has never existed before. There will never be another like us for all of time. With that understanding comes fear, urgency, a desire to know that we are not squandering this fleeting time. Johnstone, Doug (2022-09-15). "A Prayer For the Crown-Shy review: 'Hopepunk' novel imagines a positive future for humanity". The Big Issue . Retrieved 2023-09-12. The robot sat for a moment, considering. “I don’t want to separate myself from other robots any more than I already have,” it said. “I am having the most incredible experience out here. I’ve seen species of trees that don’t live in my part of the world. I’ve been on a boat. I’ve played with domesticated cats. I have a *satchel*!” It gestured at the bag hanging at its side for emphasis. “A satchel for my belongings! I am doing things no robot has ever done, and while that’s marvelous, I . . . I don’t want to become removed from them. The aggregate differences I have are only going to increase as we continue along, Sibling Dex. It’s very nice to be famous, but I don’t know how I feel about it yet, and I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a trait I’ll have among my own kind as well. So, you see, it’s enough that I’m experientially different; I don’t want to be physically different, too.” It paused. “Does that make sense?”

Still cozy aspirational goodness, and more friendship this time. Also yet another book I should have reviewed much closer to finishing, as my memory of it has grown a little thin. The feelings I got from it remain pretty strong, however. I actually feel like I need to re-read both of these books and take my time, really savor them. Mosscap gave Dex a sympathetic nod. The hard climb to Hart’s Brow was more than a week behind them, but Dex’s body was still feeling it, and they had made no secret of this. “On that note, Sibling Dex,” Mosscap said, “I can’t help but notice that the sign says it’s another twenty miles to Stump, and—”Crown shyness is a real-world phenomenon. About trees. Which is totally fitting for this story that features two people – even though one of them doesn’t refer to itself as “people” – who are exploring both friendship and all the myriad wonders of their world together. Each community feels like an intentional community, and while Dex and Mosscap are great characters, the calm time spent in this calm world is a major draw of the Monk and Robot series. In A Prayer for the Crown-Shy we see even more of it and its denizens than we had in A Psalm for the Wild-Built. You don’t have to have a reason to be tired. You don’t have to earn rest or comfort. You’re allowed to just be."