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A review by booknooknorth
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I legit forgot this was a "cozy book".
It felt "cozy" but not really? It had the right amount of existential dread, depression, and thought provoking shit, all the while, not going into cliches.
Perfection. One of the perfect novellas I read this year.
Prose: Beginning clogs the magic of this book, get to the end of Ch 2 to understand if this book is right for you
Pace: Slow until Ch 3
Plot: You dont go into these books for the plot, its all about the journey, not the goal
Characters: Oddly, both are really deep. I wasn't expecting Mosscap, the robot, to be so deep as "it" was (the robot prefers the pronouns as it and they discuss the philosophy behind it, it makes sense). The MC is nonbinary and you understand that they're not a "John Doe" nor "Mary Sue" (idfk what the nonbinary equivalent of those are). They get frustrated, silly, weird, and angry and they become more human than we realize. Fuck, they even cry, ffs. Really loved the 3 dimensions to the characters
Vibe: Solarpunk bitches. I was one of those people who first discovered solar punk as "an art medium", not necessarily in books. But here it is in book form and I'm happy to discover it!
Worldbuilding: Oh my. The worldbuilding is surprisingly well thought out that I forgot this was a novella. A lot of novellas skirt over description and exposition to an alarming degree but Chambers strikes a good balance somehow. We talk of the gods, the past of this world, and what we might see in the future. It's so good, dude
I have a hard time putting into words that this book is literally a breath of fresh air and reminded me that books aren't rigid
They're fluid AF
5/5
It felt "cozy" but not really? It had the right amount of existential dread, depression, and thought provoking shit, all the while, not going into cliches.
Perfection. One of the perfect novellas I read this year.
Prose: Beginning clogs the magic of this book, get to the end of Ch 2 to understand if this book is right for you
Pace: Slow until Ch 3
Plot: You dont go into these books for the plot, its all about the journey, not the goal
Characters: Oddly, both are really deep. I wasn't expecting Mosscap, the robot, to be so deep as "it" was (the robot prefers the pronouns as it and they discuss the philosophy behind it, it makes sense). The MC is nonbinary and you understand that they're not a "John Doe" nor "Mary Sue" (idfk what the nonbinary equivalent of those are). They get frustrated, silly, weird, and angry and they become more human than we realize. Fuck, they even cry, ffs. Really loved the 3 dimensions to the characters
Vibe: Solarpunk bitches. I was one of those people who first discovered solar punk as "an art medium", not necessarily in books. But here it is in book form and I'm happy to discover it!
Worldbuilding: Oh my. The worldbuilding is surprisingly well thought out that I forgot this was a novella. A lot of novellas skirt over description and exposition to an alarming degree but Chambers strikes a good balance somehow. We talk of the gods, the past of this world, and what we might see in the future. It's so good, dude
I have a hard time putting into words that this book is literally a breath of fresh air and reminded me that books aren't rigid
They're fluid AF
5/5