This book is an Instagram darling and after reading it, it is so easy to see why. For so many of us who look to sci-fi and fantasy for close-up examinations of the foibles and faults of our own world, this book goes one step further and doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

Dex is a tea monk, struggling with their sense of meaning and purpose in life. Despite becoming one of the planet’s most loved tea monks, they are starting to once again feel a sense of {    }. That nameless feeling of restlessness partnered with apathy --you want to be doing something, but you don’t want to be doing what you usually do. When he literally steps off the beaten path, he meets a robot, Mosscap, who was chosen to check in on humanity after the robots went their own way.

A gorgeous little novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built packs so much into it. While the contrast between Mosscap and its purpose between Dex’s struggle to find one isn’t deeply explored, a sequel has already been announced, and this book sets it up wonderfully. Woven between the often no-subtle philosophical, social, and technological questions are tender descriptions of nature, the beauty of community, and connection.

Looking forward to A Prayer for the Crown-Shy next year to see how Dex’s and Mosscap’s stories grow and develop.