You Weren't Meant to Be Human

You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White, 336 pages

After presenting as a peppy cheerful girl for most of his life, Crane had trouble fully being himself. So when Levi, a handsome ex-Marine, lures him to mysterious hive-centric cult in Appalachia, Crane finds that, for the most part, they're OK with him being a silent man. However, when Levi gets Crane pregnant, the hive forces him to go through with the pregnancy, despite all of Crane's attempts to MAKE. IT. STOP. Can this really lead to anything but horror?

The answer, of course, is no. However, the horror of this book — Crane's forced pregnancy and captivity, the lengths to which he tries to end the pregnancy and escape — is so brutally and unflinchingly told that it's a very hard read and made me want to just reach into the book and give Crane a hug (as little as he'd like that). Indeed, while reading this, there were several times that I had to set this aside and pick up something lighter, and I probably wouldn't have finished it at all if I didn't have to. There was a chance to go for something easier to read by focusing on the hive — which seemed ripe for more exploration in the text — but unfortunately for readers, White chose not to go in that direction. Not my favorite, and I wouldn't recommend it.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, 160 pages

Dex is a monk in the main city on the tiny moon on which they live. They appreciate being a monk, but feel a call for something more than the city-based work they do, and so become a tea monk — a nomadic monk that visits the small villages that dot the moon, providing tea, an empathetic ear, and a place to relax for an hour or two. But when Dex strikes out into the wilderness, they discover a robot, the first one any human has seen for millennia, since the robots were given autonomy and released from the service of humankind. While this is understandably surprising, the robot wants to learn more about humans, and as the pair spend some time together, they learn about one another.

That's pretty much the whole of this short novel, but it is SO MUCH MORE than that too. With Chambers' trademark kind writing style and plenty of meaningful conversations between the two characters, this is also a meditation on humanity and our place within the universe, the relationship between the descendants of oppressors and slaves, and the importance of taking time for oneself. I knew I'd love this book (based solely on the author's other work), but this was perfect.

*This book has not yet been published. It will be released July 13, 2021.