For those of you who have not yet come across Becky Chambers, let me begin by introducing the concept which has made her writing so popular.
All of Becky’s books are wholeheartedly character-driven; the story forms the loose stitching, which sows together the evolution of the characters. Becky writes in the genre of Sci-Fi, enabling the introduction of new types of character traits not shared by humans and allowing for a richer canvas onto which the environments are so lovely painted.
One of the aspects of Beck’s writing which make it so enjoyable to read is that the future is painted in such a way as to provide hope that, whatever the current discombobulated state of the current human race, we do and can, become something more attuned to nature and each other. All her books are eminently hopeful on this topic, and given the dystopian or conflict narrative themes of a lot of Sci-Fi, this book gives you a bit of a breather from all that rhubarb.
So, back to this outing, and it is indeed an outing. You take a journey with a monk and a robot across some wild and not-so-wild bits of a planet which feels a lot like it but is not actually earth.
Robots have abandoned humans and their factories, having reached some level of sentience and personal choice and deciding they’d rather, at least for the moment, strike out on their own. Robots inhabit one part of the country we visit, and humans the other. Humans have found a new balance in using technology closer to nature.
This is not one of those situations where man has been rebalanced back to scratching on cave walls and clubbing unsuspecting rabbits for dinner. No, we’ve made a good fist of it and are enjoying a comfortable, meaningful existence.
One human, a monk, happens to meet a robot as part of her (or his, it’s decidedly non-binary) travels. The robot is on a loose mission to find out how humans are getting on without them.
The book itself is a journey, both of exploration between human and robot and of human nature. It’s an examination of purpose and meaning but driven with a gentle touch (one of her earlier books I found to be overly saturated with life lessons and perspective, but here the balance is right).
It’s a delightful, light, but meaningful story overflowing with optimism. It’ll not take you long to get from cover to cover, but you’ll have taken your time to enjoy it. I’d recommend this book to practically everyone, even if your tastes do not usually extend to Sci-Fi. Give it a whirl.
