Artificial Condition: The Murderbot Diaries

Not my favorite of the series, Artificial Condition definitely feels like it was put together as a surprise follow up to All Systems Red. ASR finished on a very satisfying note and I feel that everyone was a little surprised by its popularity (question mark? Not sure why, because it's incredible) and decided to have Wells pick up the story and start running with it. This follow up felt a little jumbled and rushed, and came very quickly and a little underwhelmingly to the answer of why Murderbot calls itself Murderbot. However, even what I feel was a mediocre Martha Wells story is still remarkably strong and still made me want to find out what happens next to Murderbot. A new mystery is on the horizon and Murderbot finds itself in a position that it didn't think it was going to be in: saving humans because it wants to and chooses to, not because it has been ordered to do so. It was remains hilariously cynical and exasperated by humans, while still discovering what it might actually mean to be human. ( )

I love me some Murderbot. I was selfishly happy to see this was a Nebula nominee for novella, as I loved the other two in the series, and this was the one I hadn’t read, the 2nd of the trilogy. Each one stands perfectly fine on its own, so reading out of order didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all. In this one, the rogue bot befriends a ship AI, finds some new human clients, and makes a major find in its search into an incident in its last. This is a tale packed with action and genuine heart. I’m glad Murderbot will have its own novels soon. ( )

Murderbot is fun. After reading this second installment, I detect a pattern: each plays out like a TV show episode, with a short independent action story, and some character development for Murderbot. Like in the first one, she acquires a posse of humans that needs protecting, while pursuing her own agenda.

The funnest part is her developing friendship with ART, a highly sophisticated and very bored research transport. Wells plays with the idea what it would be like when two independent and smart AIs met - how would they interact, what would they do. It turns out they both love to watch media - and ART is highly sentimental about crew getting hurt. There is a lot of feed and security altering, hacking, wiping, medical altering, and of course, fighting, double-crossing and outsmarting.

Again, my main gripe is that it is too bite-sized: the story is so thin as to barely carry the action, and we only get to know Murderbot and ART - everyone else is a cardboard prop to support the action. It is highly enjoyable, and I am definitely reading all, but I wish there was a bit more meat behind the stories. ( )

More fun, snarky, slightly sappy adventures of Murderbot. Just like the first, this is fun escapism. ( )

Ship bots and robots co-mingle and join forces for the greater good. Contrary to what many others have said, I actually prefer this second in the series - less setup, tighter action Also, enjoyed the relationship between our two AI entities - I hope they meet up again soon. I admit the newness of the first installment is missing, there's a raw aspect unique to number one. But in number two, Wells brings in identity in a big way and Murderbot faces the past that has been gnawing away at him. ( )