A Psalm for the Wild-Built
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?
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about A Psalm for the Wild-Built
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
On a moon where robots walked off into the wilderness centuries ago, a wandering tea monk meets one returning to ask a single question: what do humans need? A short, hopeful novella.
Yes. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is the first novella in Becky Chambers's Monk and Robot series, followed by A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Both can be read together as a complete short story arc.
Hopepunk is a science fiction subgenre focused on optimism, kindness, and small-scale ethics in the face of dystopia. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a frequently cited example, depicting a post-collapse society that chose to live gently with the natural world.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built was written by Becky Chambers, published in 2021 by Tor.com.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built is 160 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, A Psalm for the Wild-Built takes most readers 2 to 3 hours to finish.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.