Travel Documents 93: A Psalm For The Wild-Built
Genre: near-future, synthetic intelligence, social change, solarpunk, cultural change
The Dust Cover Copy
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
The Scene
Worldbuilding
In a world that has moved past the Factory Age and back into balance with all its species, this story invites you to take a stroll into a deeper sense of the possible, and a deeper kind of purpose.
There are a lot of amazing books out there; I’ve reviewed a bunch. And most of them are written in worlds I absolutely wouldn’t want to live in. Set against that background, reading a story set in a world I would love to inhabit is a real breath of fresh air. On Panga, the culture has reworked itself into a sustainable fabric of supportive communities, designed to take care of people and the living world instead of economies and GDPs. In this world, half the land is given to human activity, and half the landmass to the natural world. Buildings are made from mycellium masonry, and the city is alive with green walls, gardens, and health. Humans have finally figured out how to give as much as they take. But the wonder of this book is that it is no unattainable Elysium. It’s a living world, with pests getting into the pipes, dogs that eat socks, sore muscles and crappy days. Chambers uses details about organic waste digesters, graphene-based batteries, caring for solar panels and the intricacies of community responsibilities to ground us in this universe and understand it as a real possibility. She uses broken water tanks and fixing broken wheels to get our hands dirty right along with the characters. Reading the pages, you understand that Panga isn’t a utopia; it’s a real world. It’s just organized to maximize thriving, not profit. And that makes it both tangible and approachable for the reader. As a side note, I listened to the audiobook, and the reader does a perfect job of underlining the emotional impact of the books with her voice and intonation. You can feel the joy in some scenes, and the frustration in others, with every word she speaks.
One of my favorite elements about this work is the normalization of mental health care. Among the monastic orders of Panga are the Tea Monks. I was attracted by this right off the bat, since I’m a tea addict cough aficionado myself. But then I read what tea monks do. Their work is to travel the human settlements, setting up their mobile shrine in a circuit of townships. Once arrived, they sit with each person, share a cup of tea with them, and listen to their troubles. Sitting with a Tea Monk is as normal as going to a café. Everyone from every walk of life takes part in this little gesture of respite and comfort. Oh, to live in a world where we treated our mental health that way.
I also appreciate the organic nature of the worldbuilding. Page by page, Chambers weaves a world with a full history to atone for, an ethos, a strong sense of culture in several different forms and a wonderful sense of secrets yet to be discovered. You could walk into this world. And I want to.
The Crowd
Characterization
When I read Tea Monk, I realized that some culturally conditioned assumptions immediately clicked into place. He’ll be elderly. He’ll be following some version of a Zen or Taoist path. He’ll be unruffled. A font of wisdom. Here to speak to us about how to be more harmonious, as a teacher speaks to novitiates. I expected these things. So I was completely delighted as the author took those assumptions and yanked them out from under me. Sibling Dex, a nonbinary monk, is in their late twenties. They curse. They mess up. They’re sometimes bullheaded, and they often feel lost. They’re right in that stage of young adulthood when a lot of us want to shout ‘what the f*#$)?!’ And I loved them for it. They made all these clumsy, difficult, challenging days where everything looks so right and feels so wrong into a normal thing, including the part where you ask yourself if you’re broken for feeling that way.
And right when they’re in the middle of that mess, they meet Splendid Spotted Mosscap. I really have to give props to Chambers for breaking more stereotypes here, sometimes explicitly. Mosscap is a goofball, a scatterbrain in love with life, and it has trouble calculating and talking at the same time. When asked about it, this is how Mosscap responds:
“Sorry, there’s just so much here to experience, I keep getting distracted.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed that robots got distracted.”
“Why not?”
“Well, can’t you … I don’t know, run programs in the background, or something?”
Mosscap’s eyes adjusted their focus. “You understand how resource-heavy consciousness is, yes? No, I can’t do that any more than you can. But we’re getting off track.”
The sheer exuberance of this character is a delight. Its kindness is a balm. And its insights range from the genius, to the kind of comments that make us look at little kids and whisper ‘from the mouths of babes…’
Around them are characters bustling, living, connecting and parting ways in an organic whole that moved and shimmered like deftly woven cloth. Everyone’s a person. Even the robots.
The Lingo
Writing Style
Bracing as a good cup of Assam, Chambers’ writing style is down to earth, up front, and even a bit brusque at times. But it holds a grounded authenticity that allows the more lyrical and philosophical elements to take root and blossom.
Reading this book feels like taking that hike you’ve been meaning to do. It’s tough in spots, but it’s invigorating, and you feel great afterwards.
The Moves
Plot
Moving away from outright conflict and into self-discovery, this plot is exactly like a good long hike: it has meanders and surprises, and it doesn’t need somebody you’re fighting with to make it challenging. You’ve set a goal, and now you find out how you get there. What comes next? That’s for later. Right now, the goal is to climb this mountain.
Reading a story like this, an introspective and character-driven story where the conflicts are internally motivated and the challenges are chosen, was like drinking cool water after a long run. I feel refreshed. And in its words, I found something I really needed to hear.
“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.”
Overall Rating
This book is the most wholesomely indulgent thing I’ve read all summer. It’s both an escape to somewhere better, and a promise OF somewhere better existing. A world where our needs our met, we take care of each other, and where you can go looking for the songs of crickets to soothe your soul.
I’ll leave you with one last quote.
“Do you not find consciousness alone to be the most exhilarating thing? Here we are, in this incomprehensibly large universe, on this one tiny moon, around this one incidental planet, and in all the time this entire scenario has existed, every component has been recycled over and over and over again into infinitely incredible configurations, and sometimes, those configurations are special enough to be able to see the world around them. You and I—we’re just atoms that arranged themselves the right way, and we can understand that about ourselves. Is that not amazing?”