A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021)

The robots of Panga have already left human service when Mosscap encounters the travelling tea monk Dex. Their conversation asks what anyone needs once productivity stops being the measure of a worthwhile life. Chambers allows a machine curiosity and purpose without requiring it to earn acceptance by solving a human crisis. Start with this short, gentle first Monk and Robot book for a useful disagreement with stories that make service a robot's inevitable destiny.