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A review by vickycbooks
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
I read this with my queer book club but I'm sad to say I didn't love this (and, also embarrassed, because I am the one who suggested it).
I adored THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET -- it had such a rich depth of feeling and connection, both between characters, and for readers to the characters. A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT, in contrast, felt so...shallow.
Maybe I shouldn't have gone into this thinking about how much I liked Chambers' debut, but A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT was missing teeth. I wanted it to have more punch. I firmly believe that even a book that's supposed to be somewhat revolutionary* in how it centers on joy and happiness, there can be passion and emotion and something that really makes you feel deeply. But this story was so measured, so intentionally peaceful, that it was hard for me to feel connected to the characters and hard for me to really feel invested in Dex's story.
And I don't disagree that they had a journey. The book was fine! It was a novella! It did what it intended to do! It just didn't really click with me, and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was longer and had more meat.
I can see why so many people liked A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT, but it honestly just didn't click with me. I found it kind of boring and a little forgettable, and I'm not really sure I would pick up the sequel.
(I also have weird feelings about vague Asian aesthetics being used, but I don't really mean this as a criticism or have anything substantial to back my claims. I think part of it is just the fact that it's a Feifei Ruan cover - and I'm glad that she's not being pigeonholed into only making covers and art for Asian content! - but in some ways it does feel misleading that this might be about an Asian nonbinary character but is also so vague, so alternate-world, that Chambers doesn't have to commit and can just vaguely include various topics that are not exclusively Asian, but are oftentimes related to Asian culture. Like tea. I don't know. Like I said, this isn't really meant to be a direct criticism, the vibes are just a little weird to me but I might just be overly sensitive.)
* caveat that being regarded as revolutionary for writing a soothing, gentle, joy-focused book is not really fair praise, as authors of color are largely still not afforded these opportunities nor do they get lauded the fact.
I adored THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET -- it had such a rich depth of feeling and connection, both between characters, and for readers to the characters. A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT, in contrast, felt so...shallow.
Maybe I shouldn't have gone into this thinking about how much I liked Chambers' debut, but A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT was missing teeth. I wanted it to have more punch. I firmly believe that even a book that's supposed to be somewhat revolutionary* in how it centers on joy and happiness, there can be passion and emotion and something that really makes you feel deeply. But this story was so measured, so intentionally peaceful, that it was hard for me to feel connected to the characters and hard for me to really feel invested in Dex's story.
And I don't disagree that they had a journey. The book was fine! It was a novella! It did what it intended to do! It just didn't really click with me, and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was longer and had more meat.
I can see why so many people liked A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT, but it honestly just didn't click with me. I found it kind of boring and a little forgettable, and I'm not really sure I would pick up the sequel.
(I also have weird feelings about vague Asian aesthetics being used, but I don't really mean this as a criticism or have anything substantial to back my claims. I think part of it is just the fact that it's a Feifei Ruan cover - and I'm glad that she's not being pigeonholed into only making covers and art for Asian content! - but in some ways it does feel misleading that this might be about an Asian nonbinary character but is also so vague, so alternate-world, that Chambers doesn't have to commit and can just vaguely include various topics that are not exclusively Asian, but are oftentimes related to Asian culture. Like tea. I don't know. Like I said, this isn't really meant to be a direct criticism, the vibes are just a little weird to me but I might just be overly sensitive.)
* caveat that being regarded as revolutionary for writing a soothing, gentle, joy-focused book is not really fair praise, as authors of color are largely still not afforded these opportunities nor do they get lauded the fact.