Not that Sibling Dex was alone, of course. Mosscap walked alongside them, its tireless mechanical legs easily keeping pace with the bike. “It’s so … manicured,” the robot said with wonder as it studied the seam between road and forest. “I knew it would be, but I’ve never seen it for myself.” While I read this novella, I had a gentle smile on my face for most of it. I wanted to hug it and pet it and gently scritch it under its chin. I wanted to sit quietly with it and watch it experience the world and muse about its questions. It makes me feel hopeful. It’s comfort reading but more. I don’t know if there will be more “Monk and Robot” stories. But I would happily read them. A They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe. 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?” Mosscap took that in. “I hadn’t thought about me providing them with perspective,” it said. “That’s what I’m seeking.”

While Mosscap was asking itself what had happened to the humans after the robots achieved self-awareness and walked away into the depths of the forest. What did humans need? And more specifically, was there anything that robots could do for them or with them?I see,” Mosscap said, but its voice was distracted, and it wasn’t looking their way at all. “Not that I don’t care, Sibling Dex, but—” I wasn't enamored with the first book in this series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built but because it's about a sentient robot, I wanted to read this one as well. I suspect it was my mood that kept me from enjoying the first one because I liked this one a lot more. 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—” 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.

I was looking forward to this 2nd instalment in the Monk & Robot novella series and I was not disappointed. 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. 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.Hey.” Dex laid a hand on the anxious machine’s forearm. The naked metal components were uniformly warm to the touch. “It’s gonna be fine. You’re gonna be fine. You’ll do great, in fact.” If she were to suddenly develop sentience, I don't want her to feel unappreciated.... and perhaps to keep her on my good side so she doesn't turn all my smart devices into weapons against me. How do you kill it?” A note of grief had entered its voice, but there was acceptance there, too, born out of a lifetime of watching wild things eat and be eaten. (p. 71)

Could we live in a world where one person or group is not massively overshadowing the others? What would it be like to have boundaries and to respect the boundaries of others, where it is expected?

I love Mosscap's character. It is sweet and inquisitive and philosophical. Its observances while learning about humanity frequently delighted me, such as this: "'What kind of books does Ms. Amelia collect?' 'Oh, entirely pornography,' Mosscap said. 'It was very educational.'" 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. 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. 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. But they don’t. Many species are “crown-shy”, meaning that they somehow know where their limits are and leave just a bit of space, a channel, between where their leaves end and the next tree’s leaves begin. So that the sun does reach the ground to give other denizens of the forest a chance to grow.

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 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. You really don’t have to,” Dex said. They were still warring with their personal discomfort over letting the robot do tasks of this sort, despite the fact that Mosscap loved few things more than learning how to use stuff. No one has any incentive to hoard pebs or use them for ill thanks to this mindset, and because, of course, no one wants for food, shelter, or support in this world built around tenets of mutual aid and communal benefit. Similarly, a large deficit of pebs is not an indicator of greed or antagonism, but rather a cry for help from someone who is facing difficulties in their life, as Dex explains to a querying Mosscap:

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Because, whereas A Psalm for the Wild-Built was preoccupied with Dex’s journey into the unknown wilds of Panga’s reforested wilderness, Crown-Shy is its inversion. This time, it is Mosscap who is stepping into unknown territory and Dex who must act as guide amidst the world that raised them. Don’t expect big plot or twists. The writing itself manifests its core morality, and in that way proves its own core idea (because it seems too prescriptive to call it a thesis)—it is enough to ask these questions, sometimes. You don’t have to earn catharsis. It can be enough to share with the ones you care about the meditations of the wonders of the world, dwelling on what it means to be alive. These gently profound observations, these personal aches and these intimate joys…if that’s not why we’re here, it’s certainly what matters, on most of our day to days. Maybe,” 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.” As Dex escorts Mosscap from town to town, Mosscap’s ostensible purpose is to ask each group of humans, “what do you need?” as the answers to that question become Mosscap’s datapoints of research on how humans are doing. 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.