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Instead of what I’d imagined, we get a wholly different (although completely tonally consistent) scenario. The trio go fishing. A conversation is head, religious debate unfolds with equal parts skepticism and humor, and Dex catches a fish that will serve as their dinner.
The first book in Chambers’ new series feels like a moment to breathe, a novel that exists to give readers a place to rest and think… Recommended for fans of Chambers’ Wayfarers series and The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.” — Booklist, starred review In A Prayer for the Crown Shy, Chambers explains the world in more detail. Since Sibling Dex and Mosscap are more familiar with each other, there’s a bit more room for development of the world and their relationship. And all the nitty gritty world elements – like how money and bartering work – I ended up loving. It’s unique and thought provoking from the littlest to the largest ways. These elements examine what our economics says about our values and communities. How we relate to others in the world and what our ‘value’ is. Can you tell how much I loved this thought kernel?? No problem, just doing my job!" ("Doing my job!" is said on an uplift, her voice rising a couple octaves and sounding almost like fake joy which always bothers me a bit.) Mosscap, less explicitly focused on physical experience, is still thrilled to observe and interact. In A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Mosscap befriends a dog and a baby, and everyone is overjoyed about it, this reader included.I’m so pleased that this is the first of a series, and that there will be more of this world, because, wow, do I want more of it. This book is the type of reading experience I’d recommend to anyone having a hard time, which might be a lot of people at this point... it’s a comforting story about comfort and care, as soothing to read as it is to think about, and so full of hope and wonder and potential discovery. I hope you’ll try it.” — Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
The variety of human settlements, towns, villages and communities across Panga offer diverse models of peaceful, generally utopian communities. While Panga doesn’t have money, for instance, the communities across it share a system of credit and thanks focused on contributing to others. These communities are not all the same as each other, but they share an overall religion and worldview that prioritizes sustainability. A joyful experience and, as with all of Chambers’s books, I was left with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.” — New Scientist
New in Series
Only to discover that they’ve both already found their destination. And that what they truly need is each other. The answer to this is, of course, there is nothing wrong with Dex. They’re experiencing the human condition. Mosscap points this out, reminding both Dex and the reader that needing rest or care or a change of pace does not require justification, nor is it wrong to want them even when things are going well. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to earn the right to be alive. You are allowed to just be. 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: At the end of the previous book, Dex and Mosscap find themselves in an abandoned temple to the gods of Panga. Reaching this sanctuary has ostensibly been the goal that Dex single-mindedly set for themself when they ghosted their own life and ventured into the untamed forest. Much of their journey in Wild-Built is dedicated to the warring dichotomy of Dex’s utter helplessness in the wild and their desire to project meaning onto the chaotic world around them.
Mosscap’s lenses shifted, and Dex could hear a small whir inside its head. “I’d never thought of it that way,” Mosscap said. It put its hands flat against its torso, falling silent and serious. Also I don’t mean to speak of it so vaguely, but I genuinely don’t want to spoil it. Just trust me when I tell you it is perfect, it is beautifully judged, and—if the first book spoke to you in any way—it is everything you need. 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.
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. These themes are as tenderly explored in this series as everything else. Inside the small economy of a novella, Chambers gives them both weight and weightlessness all at once: they are not so grim or overwhelming that they overshadow the overall charm and playfulness and humor of the story (which is frankly feels-pummelingly good!), but they nonetheless assume a fully weighted presence in the narrative (I love, for example, how the meandering quality of the plot in this book echoes so perfectly the searching lost-ness that the characters feel). Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.) We do meet a diverse and interesting collection of humans, though, including a … I hesitate to say love interest … a friendly casual sex interest for Sibling Dex (the way this encounter is handled is so well done: there’s attraction, honesty and mutual respect on both sides, and breakfast, but no expectation of anything more or different between them at this time), a representative of group of humans who have chosen to reject all technology (again, this is handled with the delicacy that is typical of this author’s writing) and we get to meet Sibling Dex’s family. Who are A Lot in the best/worst way.
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