I know I just recommended All Systems Red two weeks ago, but I’ve read all the Murderbot books that I’ve got (1-5), for the fourth time, and you absolutely need to read them.
That’s a strong recommendation.
Let me explain it. Murderbot is a cyborg/human construct, living peacefully in a corporate dystopia future, hiding that they (an asexual they) are a free agent and trying not to get killed. Or let any of their friends get killed. Or let any strangers, or stray pet bots, get killed.
It’s a violent, violent world, full of profiteering corporations, dangerous alien remains, spaceships, combat drones, prejudice, slavery, and human stupidity.
And teenagers. Yeah, they’re exasperating. So is Murderbot. So is everyone.
Because they’re human. You get to look inside the head of a killer robot with a phobia of feelings that they can’t avoid because, hey, human bits that do stupid things like squirt adrenaline at the very moment when you need to stay calm and focused.
But Murderbot manages. And manages to pull through, mostly in one piece, with some very smart moves, plenty of firepower, an a ship-load of snark.
They’re great, and I’ve just seen that there’s a book 6, 7, and 8 available. Which I’m getting as soon as I can.
Do yourself a favor, and go read the Murderbot Diaries.
Blurb (book 2)
It has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.
Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.
What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…
