en-US Sun, 05 Jan 2025 18:03:21 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7178986058 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 18:03:21 -0800 /review/show/7178986058 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) by Martha Wells
Murder mystery at the space station leads to human smuggling and rogue corporate actions.

Fun as a serialized story--the protagonist's anxiety makes for relatably amusing reading.
]]> Review7178992768 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:50:20 -0800 /review/show/7178992768 Andrewcharles420 gave 4 stars to System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7) by Martha Wells
Space exploration thriller

Murderbot is trying to help its newly paired bands of humans (Preservation world and ART's university crew) negotiate a solution for the alien remnant-infested Adamant colony world, but are being countered by one of the galactic corporations that wants to enslave the planet's humans and confiscate their equipment. Negotiations go back and forth until an unanticipated problem occurs.

One thing I didn't care for (or prepare well enough for) is the book order. This book began basically at the end of Network Effect. I think I should have waited to read all the shorter stories before reading that one, and then read this one immediately after. There were callbacks and references to things that had occurred in the previous stories.

I appreciated getting more of a feel for the artificial intelligences in this universe, and I think they've been implemented cleverly. it would seem that the larger the physical system, the larger the intelligence, at least if it's just based on a computer. The computer-human hybrid constructs like SecUnit/Murderbot fit somewhere above their weight class and have additional capabilities not found in the computer-onlys. Even the bots & constructs & humans don't seem to fully understand their intellectual relationships and hierarchy. The ship intelligences that seem to be common in the university ships seem to be unheard of elsewhere in the galaxy... though the station/habitat-sized control systems seem similarly intelligent and capable.

The secunit, comfortunits and combatunits seem to have some personality, feeling, and intelligence, it's surprising that only the Preservation scientists seem to have any inkling they might be conscious--and even that only recently--based on the lived interactions with Murderbot.

I have so far liked both how short the short stories are, and the detail and development in the longer ones. (This opinion is actually pretty predictable). I could have used a little more context when talking about different characters, and a little more detailed description when describing locations and movements--I didn't always feel like I was following the action precisely, though I also only rarely slowed down or turned back to reread.

I'll probably continue reading the series if it continues. I am not convinced I need to read more of the author yet (time for a break, I think!), but I'll take a look through their repertoire and see if anything jumps out.
]]> Review7178986058 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:49:54 -0800 /review/show/7178986058 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) by Martha Wells
Murder mystery at the space station leads to human smuggling and rogue corporate actions.

Fun as a serialized story--the protagonist's anxiety makes for relatably amusing reading.
]]> Review7178974393 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:45:22 -0800 /review/show/7178974393 Andrewcharles420 gave 4 stars to Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) by Martha Wells
Murderbot saves its post-scarcity friends from a minor problem just in time to get caught up in a major problem. Old 'friends' reappear and new problems are addressed.

The story universe is interesting and growing more complex and fully-featured. We finally get to see some evidence of the 'alien remnants' and their effects. I hope future stories tell more about this--so far humans just seem to go crazy when exposed to presumably biological alien artifacts, but it's not been discussed if these are uniform ruins of a galaxy-spanning ancient civilization, or the common effect of diverse alien populations. I'm not even sure if alien life currently exists in the story universe.

I'm a little curious about the wormhole functionality--they seem to cut travel times from impossible, multi-generational distances down to weeks, but the characters are all surprised about the idea that travel times could be dropped to hours. I'm also curious how the protagonists intend to keep the advanced shuttle secret after it negotiated with the corporate entity and then bombed the colonists (though that might be easier to paper over by claiming it had acted on behalf of the ship's captain).

The book presents some unique perspectives of non-gendered AIs forming and, uh, consummating a relationship, of sorts, especially as one of the AIs (cyborgs?) has an underdeveloped sense of self and strict aversions to touch and feelings (and the other AI is an "asshole" [sic]). Relationships otherwise are interestingly presented--certainly as poly, and potentially as non-gender roled. I appreciate that this is just part of background tapestry of the universe and not a motivating part of the story, but strange sexual scenarios are present throughout the scifi genre and its history.

While I appreciated the short length of the prior novellas, this felt more like the appropriate length. I think it was helpful to have read the 4 prior novellas--several characters and incidents were referenced. It took me about twice as long as I'd expected to get through it due to some overlapping deadlines I had with work.

I'll keep reading the series. The stories are fast reads and humorous, and while I think the protagonist's inner voice overdoes it sometimes (repetitive? predictable?), those parts can just be read through quickly. Recommended for those wanting a quick space adventure.
]]> Review7178969715 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:44:20 -0800 /review/show/7178969715 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4) by Martha Wells
Murderbot finds out their earliest friend (& legal owner) is being held captive, so returns to save her, tying together several of the main developments from previous 'chapters'.
]]> Review7178965319 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:44:03 -0800 /review/show/7178965319 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells
Murderbot sneaks aboard a survey ship to investigate an abandoned terraforming operation that might have been cover for a secret mining expedition. Murderbot eventually befriends and protects the ship's crew.

Fun serial adventure caper like before. I'd like to see more development in the universe or world at large. Hopefully the next one will have more than just the single episode plotline.
]]> Review7178965319 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:43:25 -0800 /review/show/7178965319 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells
Murderbot sneaks aboard a survey ship to investigate an abandoned terraforming operation that might have been cover for a secret mining expedition. Murderbot eventually befriends and protects the ship's crew.

Fun serial adventure caper like before. I'd like to see more development in the universe or world at large. Hopefully the next one will have more than just the single episode plotline.
]]> Review7178961926 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:43:10 -0800 /review/show/7178961926 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) by Martha Wells
Murderbot 'befriends' a transport ship bot and does research on a mining world they had a checkered history with.

Quick read again--so I'll likely continue with the series. Interesting characters and perspectives. Main character less relatable than the first issue but still quite entertaining. ]]> Review7178961926 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:42:41 -0800 /review/show/7178961926 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) by Martha Wells
Murderbot 'befriends' a transport ship bot and does research on a mining world they had a checkered history with.

Quick read again--so I'll likely continue with the series. Interesting characters and perspectives. Main character less relatable than the first issue but still quite entertaining. ]]> Review7178957711 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 17:42:18 -0800 /review/show/7178957711 Andrewcharles420 gave 3 stars to All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) by Martha Wells
An engineered humanoid who self-identifies as Murderbot is working on a planetary exploration project. Murderbot has disabled their governor circuits and uses their free-will (& time) to stream video entertainment. things go horribly wrong for the exploration project and Murderbot steps up to the challenge.

Fun story. Relatable main character despite their unique background. I'm interested in more from the universe this character is from. I did not anticipate going through the book so quickly, so I'll likely grab a sequel or two and keep going. ]]>