We must protect Becky Chambers at ALL COSTS. Her writing is charming and moving and lovely and somehow, in tiny little book volumes, she finds all the right words to pluck your heartstrings and fill you with hope. Reading this book series is like talking to a friend that knows what you are going through, has been there, and has figured out the most perfect way to express the fears and emptiness that you feel. Or maybe that’s just me?
Nah. These books are universal and everyone should read them.
In our first book, Monk (Sibling Dex) and Robot (Mosscap) first meet and begin to travel together while Mosscap looks for answers to his question. On behalf of all robotkind, Mosscap wants to know “what do humans need?” The two travelers have left the wilderness and begun to venture to villages and cities. Eventually, they plan to make their way to the capital city, where the list of those that want to meet Mosscap grows every day.
This book also gives us a visit to Dex’s family home and we get a deeper understanding of their character and what they might be looking for. Mosscap experiences a wide array of humanity, those that are eager to meet his kind, and many who have eschewed technology completely and may question his motives. Both of our explorers are grappling with the concepts of meaning and purpose and grasping to find whatever it is they are looking for. But throughout it all, they have each other.
I am dismayed to read this might just be a duology because I need a third book. And maybe a fourth. And so on. If that’s the case and this is all we get, then I’m going to buy my own copies and reread them and gift them and cherish them.