I absolutely adored Becky Chambers’ “Monk & Robot” novella series and recommend it often to anyone who asks me for a book rec, in particular those who I think could use an emotional boost. It was a no brainer for me to pick up this Hugo Award winning series as I was sure I would like it, and I definitely did. In fact, I immediately bought it for a friend who I thought would like it and she read it in about 3 days. Four thumbs up from us!
This novel can bridge the gap between die-hard fans of science fiction and reluctant newbies to the genre. I mean, certainly as others have said if you’re a fan of Star Trek and/or Firefly, you’re going to like this book. She has some of the same elements found in both: interspecies explorers, a motley crew, found family, and a lot of heart. But where Trek can be heavy handed in its examination of big themes, Chambers has great skill at creating insightful but not preachy social commentary with her writing.
Rosemary is a young woman with a secret who has chosen an assignment on a crew tasked with tunneling wormholes for space travel: she’s nervous but excited to try something new, and leave her past behind. The crew has been together for a while and have strong bonds, but welcome her with open arms (and some of them have more than two arms that they can use for the task). An even-tempered captain, a reptilian (but don’t call her a lizard) pilot, a cantankerous fuel scientist, a multi-limbed Doctor/Chef, an omniscent navigator, a friendly AI, and a duo of zany engineers round out this group.
As they embark on missions and tackle challenges, Chambers shows us a world not dissimilar to ours, where beings of different ideas and values have to learn to work together, or risk tearing each other apart. This group of explorers captured my whole heart and I was delighted to follow them on their advenures.
