A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

This still had the same brand of fun and introspection that I enjoyed in the first book, but personally I felt like the first book hit harder with the insights.In this one, Sibling Dex and Mosscap begin to make a tour of the human cities left in Panga, introducing Mosscap as the first robot to make contact with humanity since the crisis event long ago in their history. In each city, we meet different people and situations that have Dex and Mosscap questioning the way they view life and the world around them.In the previous book, we had seen Dex and Mosscap meet and then travel together in the wilderness to a hermitage. That leaves a lot of room for conversation. Because it was also their first time meeting each other, there's also a lot more exchange of ideas and mindsets between them, a sort of catching-up between robots and a humanity that has largely thought them only the stuff of legends. Because this book focuses more on Mosscap's interaction with other humans and how Dex facilitates that, I feel like there's a bit more plot and a bit less time to reflect.We are also introduced to a semblance of a currency system in Panga, where pebs are exchanged. This are basically pebbles that are given to someone who renders you a service in order to show your gratitude for receiving their aid, and which you aim to then pay it forward by rendering a service to someone else and possibly getting pebs in return. Ultimately - this seems a lot like regular money but with an element of gratitude and a big dose of an honour system since nothing is actually priced. I found this ambitious and perhaps unrealistically utopian, although I could somewhat excuse it in this book. Panga is itself unrealistically utopian - to even think humanity could learn a lesson and try to avoid mistreating technology and robots after a crisis event! I just didn't think that, if a peb system existed in the real world, we could find any community that was devoid of some people who would abuse it.On a little side note, Mosscap reads a book in Ch 3 called “I, Myself” and that would be an amazing reference to [b:I, Robot 41804 I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) Isaac Asimov https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609035271l/41804.SY75.jpg 1796026] if that had been intended.Overall, a great continuation to [b:A Psalm for the Wild-Built 40864002 A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600789291l/40864002.SY75.jpg 63655961] and a cozy enough read, but not ultimately essential reading either.