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Leisurely prose firmly roots setting and characters, with a nonbinary lead and non-traditional family structures, plus finely balanced introspection and interaction. The story is thoughtful, with a gentleness that is as encompassing as any action-filled work. Chambers's second Monk and Robot novella continues the quiet, contemplative journey through philosophy, nature, and personal experience." - Library Journal (starred review) The episode that follows is an engrossing and fascinating philosophical exercise, in which Dex and Mosscap debate concepts of bodily autonomy, self-augmentation, transhumanism, and transparent consumption practices. Also Dex meets a hunky 3-D printer. And that’s what’s at the heart of the Monk & Robot series so far. That question about what do beings want, either as individuals or as a community. What, for that matter, is there to want once society has somehow evolved past our current, endless hunger for more?
In this second instalment of her Monk & Robot series, we follow Sibling Dex and Mosscap out of the wilderness and into villages and settlements along the road, as Mosscap fulfills it’s wish to meet humans and try to understand what they need. This question, which it thought simple, turns out to be much more nuanced than expected. This new turn in their travel also gives Sibling Dex a lot to ponder, as they aren’t quite sure about their own purpose at this stage of their journey. Mosscap’s questions, concerns and view points send their thoughts in unexpected directions and I must say that the characters’ inner process are just as interesting as the external events. Sigh. I needed this. In so many ways I needed this. It’s such a lovely, thoughtful, introspective story of seeking answers but being okay with not finding them yet. Of friendship and quiet companionship and just … being. It’s more than a little bit of a repeat of last year’s “A Psalm for the Wild Built” but it digs a little deeper as this time Mosscap asks its question “What do people need?” to people other than Sibling Dex and Dex finds themself seeking the answer for themself. Much of Dex’s experiences with Mosscap require them to try to explain facets of human life that they’ve never questioned, and in turn Mosscap must contend with the many ways in which humanity, ever resourceful, have engineered conditions that separate them from the basic necessities and limitations of animals.
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Mosscap took that in. “I hadn’t thought about me providing them with perspective,” it said. “That’s what I’m seeking.” As Mosscap discovers, the value is in both asking and being asked the questions. The robot started out with “what do humans need?” The answers that it finds surprise it. In a world where striving for more for more’s own sake seems to have been eliminated, what humans need seems to boil down to one of two things. Sibling Dex’s mental health—their inability to allow themselves the peace it was once their calling to give to others—continues to play a significant role in the narrative and, once again, I was really comforted by the way this was handled. I think anyone who has ever suffered with any sort of mental health type thing will be familiar with deep alienation that accompanies it: it can very much feel like you live in a perfect world, surrounded by people who love you, and yet there is still something gracelessly, ungratefully wrong with you. For Sibling Dex, of course, this is literally true in terms of the setting itself (a utopia in all but name) but, for the reader, it’s a perfect of allegorical reflection of a very specific mental health moment. Mosscap’s lenses shifted, and Dex could hear a small whir inside its head. “I’d never thought of it that way,” Mosscap said. It put its hands flat against its torso, falling silent and serious.
When Sibling Dex headed into the wild and was found by a robot named Mosscap, it was a meeting of human and robot-kind that hadn’t taken place in centuries. Once robots somehow gained consciousness, they left humans to relearn how to live without all the robots that had been invented to make life easier for humans. It also allowed the moon to be reclaimed from the cesspit that humanity had turned it into. It’s anti-dystopian. Is that a word? Anyway, things are better now. 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. I'm the world's biggest fan of odd couple buddy road trips in science fiction, and this odd couple buddy road trip is a delight: funny, thoughtful, touching, sweet, and one of the most humane books I've read in a long time. We could all use a read like this right now.” —Sarah PinskerMaybe,” Dex said with gentle honesty. “But I highly doubt many of them will feel that way, and anyway, you don’t have to worry about that.” I love the wonderful world they live in. An optimistic, utopian type society where even the young are taught goodness and kindness. Ah, it was so heartwarming. I loved seeing Mosscap explore everything for the first time like a child! Wonderful! It's a rich chocolaty cup of hugs! These two travel Dex's world now and Mosscap, the robot, gets to see the world the robots left and ask the people what they need. If someone told me I would enjoy reading a book about two non-binary characters discussing various aspects of philosophy I would have laughed. I am not one to read a lot of philosophy and really enjoy it. But these two drew me in and I was captivated by the subjects and how it relates to life now.
Yeah, day’s getting late,” Dex agreed. Twenty miles wasn’t so bad, but creamy highway or not, they were still deep in forest and had yet to see anyone else on the road. There was no reason beyond impatience to continue pressing on in the dark, and though Dex was looking forward to being in a proper town again, stillness and rest sounded preferable in the moment. Uh, it’s a formal gathering where all the monks come together at the All-Six for a few days for a…” Dex gestured vaguely. “You know, there’s a ceremony, and talks, and … it’s a big deal.” They scratched their ear as they read over the gushing message. “We don’t do those very often.” I listened to it and that is my only gripe really. While the narrator does a good job with subtly voicing the characters, she has a weird way of subtly emphasising the neutral pronouns used for Sibling Dex, which actually contributed to my occasional confusion about who was being referred to. The text did not flow when she said, "THEY did this and THEY did that" It sounded a bit like she was referring to someone else (who was maybe mentioned earlier?), even though it was kind of obvious that it was Dex. It was a shame, because it very often threw me out of the narrative. The communities in Panga are like that. They grow but so big and no further, so that each village has enough – actually more than enough – to sustain itself and its people. No one needs to want for more. There are no significant advancements in the plot, there is just a journey, which can end in the next book or continue for a dozen more. The almost unique feature of the series – there are no antagonists, no ‘bad’ / ‘evil’ characters – everyone is eager to help and made you happy or at least content, it is an extremely altruistic society that lives a sustainable life, quite unlike our world.Also on a purely personal note—because I am obsessed with robots—I was kind of hoping to meet more robots, or at least learn a little more about them … but ultimately, like all books about robots, these are books about people, and it wouldn’t ultimately make sense for the narrative and emotional arcs of the story to introduce more robots to us. So that isn’t really a complaint, just a random public confession about my intense feelings for robots. Sorry about that. But if, like me, you're secretly hoping to meet more robots, you won't. You honestly won't really feel like you're missing anything, but temper your expectations regardless. Everything in the world is shaped by its surroundings, whether we see them or not. We are all of us connected. Such a realization, when one truly sits with it, is humbling. I read this book in one sitting when I was having a really wretched day, and it helped. It felt like a warm cup of tea made by someone who loves me. It's a soft hug of a book, and it says 'It's okay if you're not okay right now.' It made me cry the good sort of tears—the sort when someone is unexpectedly kind to you at the moment you need it most.” —Alexandra Rowland
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