Artificial condition

I think anything I could say about this book I could say about the previous ones in the series. Enjoyable, endearing, and with a sort of cultured, high-pulp feel.

Maybe it's because I started reading the Murderbot series with a much later entry, and so I know where the titular SecUnit ends up; because this story feels like it is a slice in the crescent of a larger arc, where nothing particularly groundbreaking is revealed.

Really good. I liked it a lot and have already started on the next one.

about a year since I read the first book, and a TV show in between it was time to pick up murderbot again. took me a bit of time to get into it, but once I was the book was finished in the day. enjoyed being back in murderbots head, the interactions with ART are great. just wished the climax would have been drawn out a little longer!

This is my favorite Murderbot novella. What stands out the most to me is the prickly but endearing not-friendship between ART and Murderbot. I also love seeing Murderbot taking on its first clients (by choice) and feeling just as invested in doing a good job in protecting them. My delight in this book is probably why I also like the novel Network Effect so much, as it feels like a thematic expansion of all the best bits of this book (plus ART).

I think it's also easy to read this book as such a queer and trans story (only metaphorically, as it would be horrified at this comparison). It really gets into how fraught physical change for the purpose of passing is; it's something that Murderbot feels it needs to do for safety as rogue SecUnit, even as it feels emotionally unsafe to do. And also it's Murderbot having to navigate this change with the (extremely pushy but supportive) help of ART.

This book also gets into some of Murderbot's traumatic history in its investigation of Ganaka Pit. On a reread, I think I was surprised at how little reaction this gets from Murderbot in the moment once it has unraveled a core mystery of its past. But, at the same time, trauma is unevenly distributed, Murderbot is not the best at feelings, and it certainly catches up later in conversation with ART and Tapan.

The relationship between Murderbot and ART was one of the most adorable and hilarious things I've read recently. Hoping they get to meet again in the future.

If you enjoyed "All Systems Red," you'll almost certainly enjoy this as it's a direct follow-up to that story, expanding on the Murderbot character and the surrounding universe in a nicely-executed, quick, and satisfying manner.

Murderbot is a bit sassier and more overtly brash in this one, which at times during the read felt a little forced to me but I ultimately adjusted to the new tone and ended up chalking the change up to a plausible evolution of the character given the events of the first book.

The story is fairly simple and straightforward, which leaves plenty of room for the additional world building and character development that I'd say are the bread and butter of the experience. I particularly enjoyed Murderbot's interactions with ART as they did a lot to check both of those boxes in a fun and novel way.

If you got your fill of Murderbot from "All Systems Red," I don't think there's much in "Artificial Condition" that you'll miss experiencing but if you enjoy the character and the universe, and are looking for more of both, this is certainly a worthy sequel worth exploring that will likely leave you itching for the next volume in the series.

Murderbot is such a fun character. Never thought a construct could be so relatable but it’s just the cutest. I love when it gets bewildered by humans. 

Wild that these books are so cosy. Devoured in about an hour, they're snug little reads that dont need much from you, which is very nice. Mystery, action, media, its got it all! (Loved our new friend ART, I hope it returns.)

I was reading parts 1 (All Systems Red) and 2 (Artificial condition) of the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Here is what I wrote about it: denkpass.de/2023/04/05/Reading-Murderbot-diaries-by-Martha-Wells.html

Two passages:

What’s funny is that these AIs are supposedly superintelligent, yet they behave like small kids. This is what makes them also human or relatable in my eyes. But would artificial intelligences even pay attention to humans? We’ll see why the murderbot (and the ship AI) do, but this is almost all that makes me read these books (or Iain Banks’ Culture series, which is also heavy on AI, or Anne Leckies Radj series): because the AIs want to understand humans, they observe them so much. And find out something that we humans don’t observe consciously (but most of the time subconsciously).

Martha Wells was aware of this human centred storytelling with often the only reason being that we human readers are so much interested in ourselves, not actually in any artifical intelligences. We want the AIs to focus on us, because we only focus on us as well.

Finished book 1 and went straight into book 2. Murderbot just keeps on coming, and I ain't gonna get in its way!