A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

A short, beautiful follow-on.

Perhaps less impactful than the first, but continuous with its themes.

The idea I love the most from these books: Humans, having made technology for their own purposes, find it has rebelled. Yet that rebellion is not recrimination, revenge, Terminator-style threat and destruction.

Instead it’s a rejection of this purpose, and the tech disappearing off into the woods to live a life consciously free of human purpose.

Many of our sci-fi books seem to be working through themes of empire and slavery. With the questions of rebellion, domination and tables turned looming large.

Yet the most savage end of those stories feels a long way from my daily life. And the idea that our tech, perhaps the AI tools that help me edit this, might choose the equivalent of “lying flat” is both funny and thought-provoking.

Chambers grows that idea into an overarching canopy, then makes space for smaller, quieter ones to flourish in its undergrowth.

I’ll look forward to returning again with the next installment.