A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a 2022 solarpunk novella written by Becky Chambers and published by Tor.com on July 12 2022. It is the second book in the Monk & Robot series, preceded by A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which was released on July 13, 2021. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy won the 2023 Locus Award for Best Novella.

Background
In 2018, for its Tor.com Publishing imprint, Tor Books commissioned Becky Chambers to write a two-book novella series within the emerging solarpunk genre. The first novel in the series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, was released in 2021 and won the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Synopsis
After befriending each other in A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Dex the tea monk and Splendid Speckled Mosscap the robot begin a road trip across the moon called Panga. They travel to various human populations asking "What do people need?" Along the way, they meet a range of different characters, including Dex’s family, who all offer different answers to the question. By the end of the book, Dex and Mosscap both realise that they don't know what they need but they want to work out the answer to that question together.

Reception
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was the bestseller within the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.

The Washington Post stated that it was one of the best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2022. The Big Issue praised the novel, stating that "it takes great skill to write deeply about such seemingly ordinary things and fill them with wide-eyed wonder." Writer Maya Gittelman described the book as "a bit cheekier than Psalm, but no less of a meditative warm hug."

In 2022, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella. It went on to win the 2023 Locus Award for Best Novella.