Zoe's Reviews > A Psalm for the Wild-Built

I really enjoy Becky Chambers' utopian fiction, which, having not grown up with Star Trek, was about the first of this kind of speculative fiction I ever encountered, when I read Record of a Spaceborn Few some years back. I remember being surprised that I still found a fictional world compelling, even without obvious antagonists, and this story had a similar effect on me. In particular, as a therapist, I've been interested in her depiction of the role of the "helping professions" in a world in which oppression and abuse are no longer widespread. In this case, the professional at the heart of the novella is a tea-monk – a sort of barista/therapist/cleric. They're struck with wanderlust and pulled away from their work, and the central question of the story is about whether we need to serve a purpose to find life fulfilling. The pace is gentle and slow, the conflict is present, but low, and the nonbinary representation is solid. Sign me up for more "cozy sci fi."