Read Psalm for the Wild Built

[conuly]

That's a very Becky Chambers book.

That's it, that's the whole of my review.

********************

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Comments

[altamira16]

I just finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. It is the only book by Becky Chambers that I have read. What are typical characteristics of her books?

[conuly]

Light on traditional plot, heavy on character development of the fluffy sort.

In Psalm, tea making is a religious vocation. You do it for other people because it's a whole thing. Their society has worked out all the big problems, all that's left is for our protagonist to work out a few personal problems, starting by accurately identifying those problems after a vaguely-defined trip into the wilderness. At the end, somebody makes a cup of tea. It's emotionally satisfying, at least for the characters.

I typically like her books, but this was... very Becky Chambers. People who don't like her books would really hate it. It's like pure, distilled essence of Becky Chambers in book format, with a little more sprinkled on top as a garnish.

[hudebnik]

I'd never heard of her until my mother recommended Psalm to me last month, and I read it a week ago. It's a little preachy, but light-hearted.

[thewayne]

I really enjoyed her previous series, Wayfarers, and we're in the process of ordering it for the academic library that I work at. I haven't acquired her new series yet, that's on my Soon To Acquire list.

[adrian_turtle]

Her books tend to be light on plot, very strong on character. The world-building feels vivid, but is about as technically realistic as Star Trek. I loved the whole Wayfarers series, and thought Record of a Spaceborn Few was both distilled essence of Becky Chambers and an extraordinarily good book that moved me deeply. (I loved seeing the small choices of people build up to an emerging peoplehood. But it only worked because the people were vivid.)
I was really looking forward to Psalm for the Wild-Built, but I couldn't even finish it.

[oakfarm]

Like the abandoned USSRsites.