Tag: author-martha wells

Murderbot book 4 depends a little more heavily on the previous books to make sense; it does not stand alone as well as the previous ones. But it’s still really good; as Murderbot continues trying to protect its humans, it also finds it harder and harder to avoid questioning its own motives. I love that Murderbot would risk its life for a human without hesitation (scolding the human for being an idiot the entire time), but is so uncomfortable dealing with gratitude or friendship that it would rather run away than accept an overture. I loved seeing the characters from the first book come back to interact with Murderbot; their familiarity and patience with its quirks mean that it is even harder for it to turn away, even though it tries its very best.

The Murderbot Diaries novellas just get better and better (this one is #3). Murderbot’s narrative voice is a work of art – it feels emotions but doesn’t want to admit to them, or talk about them, so we get beautiful, terse little notes like “I don’t know, everything was annoying right now and I had no idea why.” But we all know why; it’s because someone is trying to treat Murderbot as worthy of friendship and respect, and Murderbot absolutely cannot deal. The characterization was great, especially that of Miki, a friendly little bot whose sweetness would have been saccharine except for how it was presented through Murderbot’s annoyed eyes. Wonderfully condensed piece, where mystery and sci-fi action and those emotions that Murderbot hate so much combine and build towards a beautiful and poignant conclusion, propelling Murderbot unwillingly towards further character growth and plot development.

Murderbot Diaries #2 is almost as good as its prequel, which is to say that it’s still extremely good. In this story, the security cyborg that calls itself Murderbot is investigating some strange events in its past, and reluctantly accepts the help of a bored research transport ship in doing so. Murderbot being Murderbot, it also finds itself once again reluctantly protecting naive humans who get themselves into dangerous situations. Love Murderbot’s exasperated and sarcastic internal monologue, and how Wells gently eases in the character development and moments of growth. Beautifully done. And there are space station battles too, which are always fun.

The Murderbot Diaries had been recommended all over the place and the praise is well deserved. I really liked the self-named Murderbot, a security cyborg AI provisioned to a planetary exploration team.  Murderbot managed to hack into its controller module to gain its freedom… and proceeds to carry on doing the bare minimum required by its job while binging on entertainment serials in its spare time. (So relatable!) Despite Murderbot’s general antisocial tendencies, it finds itself trying to take care of its assigned humans as things around them get suspiciously dangerous. Murderbot is a super adorable character, the humans around it are well-sketched, and the plot moves really well. Next few books on hold!