CBR14Bingo: “Dough” – There is no money in Panga. Instead there is an exchange system of ‘pebs’ (digital pebbles) to “acknowledge someone’s labor and thank them for what they bring to the community”.
They were running up against a wall, and it didn’t matter whether they understood where the wall had come from, or what it was made of. The only way to get through it was to stop trying, for a while. … They would focus on Mosscap and let the remainder wait. … Welcome comfort, they reminded themself, rubbing the little pectin-printed bear with their thumb. Without it, you cannot stay strong.“
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is more philosophical than A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Sibling Dex is struggling with what comes next in their life. In the course of tea service, they tell others that they are enough just as they are. However, Dex feels this doesn’t apply to them. Mosscap contemplates how consciousness arises and the life cycle of robots. It encounters and has to process prejudice. In asking the people of Panga what they need, Mosscap finds that the answers fall into two categories. One is a specific need by an individual or community. The other is esoteric, in regards to feeling satisfaction with life. But there is a small subset who have their esoteric needs met but recognize it as a need. This throws Mosscap for a loop. Does a need have to be unmet to satisfy it’s question?
Throughout is Chambers’ evocative prose.
There were beaches nearer the City with pillowy sand and playful waves, but Shipwreck was not of that reed. The currents here were as unforgiving as the toothy predators that navigated their pull. The shoreline was carpeted with stones in need of a ew more epochs before they became sand, and the cliffs they’d been ground from towered over the pounding surf, their edges sharp and scabrous.
While I loved A Prayer for the Crown-Shy and recognize how wonderful a book it is (hence the four star rating), it did not land the same way for me as A Psalm for the Wild-Built (which I gave five stars). I’m not certain why this is. It did minorly bother me that crickets were never mentioned. Crickets were a motivating factor of the first book and even though this picks up immediately after, crickets aren’t mentioned a single time. Maybe it’s the restiveness of the characters. My understanding is this is a duology but feel overall story would benefit from a third volume. But is that me projecting? Do I want more because I need deeper discussion of purpose and what I should be doing with my life? Maybe. These books definitely remind me that it’s okay to seek out comfort and that I deserve it, for no reason other than that I exist, and that is enough. If you’ve read A Psalm for the Wild-Built then I absolutely recommend A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. It is well worth your time.
Note: The picture includes a pint of my local hard cider. A small comfort I prefer to not live without!
Bingo- Series, Funky, Star, Verse, Dough