I'm all onboard with the Murderbot series
5 stars
It took me a few months to get my hands on a copy of the second novella in this series and I'm glad I succeeded. I liked how it really focused on its protagonist while introducing one other significant actor in the drama. This was the intelligence running a transport ship which Murderbot refers to with the nickname of ART. It was recognizably different from Murderbot's personality, with its own rule and preoccupations.
Murderbot is set on revisiting the scene where they first experienced the failure of the governor module which had been imposing brakes on their behavior some time back, in the process being thrown together with a group of humans who were themselves in a desperate situation. It was ingenious how the intertwined motivations of Murderbot and those who became their clients led to a tense confrontation that could easily have lead to the demise of all of …
It took me a few months to get my hands on a copy of the second novella in this series and I'm glad I succeeded. I liked how it really focused on its protagonist while introducing one other significant actor in the drama. This was the intelligence running a transport ship which Murderbot refers to with the nickname of ART. It was recognizably different from Murderbot's personality, with its own rule and preoccupations.
Murderbot is set on revisiting the scene where they first experienced the failure of the governor module which had been imposing brakes on their behavior some time back, in the process being thrown together with a group of humans who were themselves in a desperate situation. It was ingenious how the intertwined motivations of Murderbot and those who became their clients led to a tense confrontation that could easily have lead to the demise of all of them at the hands of their antagonists. The disembodied influence of ART played key roles along the way, even though that ship mind seemed to lack any direct stake in the outcome, which felt intriguing.
This story was more tightly plotted than the first one, but the memories of Murderbot regarding the individuals in the earlier story helped to clarify what was motivating Murderbot this time around. So I am giving it a high rating even though I don't think it is really a story that can easily stand on its own.
