This time, I read the duology back-to-back (how I wish this series had continued, but I understand Chambers stopping here). Where Psalm for the Wild-Built was really just about Sibling Dex and Mosscap, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is much more the story of community. Having made it to the monastery and back the pair now embark on the promised road trip for Mosscap to ask its question of humanity. To do that, they travel from town to town on their way to the city. Dex is convinced that if there is an answer to what humanity needs it will be found in the city, but they are willing to spend the time getting there slowly so that Mosscap can experience the wide variety of people and their ways of living.
The story shows Sibling Dex and Mosscap taking the time – making the time – to find what they need. In that way we rather episodically make our way through their world, learning to see it as they each do. Chambers builds on the character beats of the first novella and expands the world of the characters which in turn increases what we know and what they learn.
Chambers is pulling at any number of things with this book, but perhaps most important of all is being able to come to terms with wants and needs and how we fulfill them – and the vast quantity of ways we can experience both. Sibling Dex is fighting against the guilt of having unfulfilled wants even if all their needs are fulfilled. The journey here, in a not so small way, is fighting with the notion that you can have a happy life full of all you could need but still want an undefinable more – and that is a normal part of personhood. Because those needs and wants are what make us people, doing our best day in and day out. There are some perfect scenes in this book that capture emotions so clearly that they would stop me dead and make me think about them and spend some time processing. Which is what I want from this book, and therefore my needs are met.
Bingo Space: Wheels. A robot on a road trip!
