Kim Miller
The space capsule Sunbird is on a research trip around the sun but is struck by a massive solar flare. When it comes around the other side and can contact Earth there is no response from Houston. However, soon there is a radio signal from a woman trying to contact somebody else. The confusion takes some time to settle and the three men on Sunbird are told that their mission was never completed, they never returned to Earth, and it is now three hundreds years into the future.
The women are on a space station and they manage to bring the men on board as Sunbird drifts off with no remaining fuel. They are told that a catastrophic pandemic reduced the population of Earth and there are now only two million inhabitants. The narrator, Lorrimer, the Sunbird's doctor, realises that they have been drugged and he's been rambling on, saying aloud everything he's been thinking. As his head clears he realises that their rescue ship is crewed by women only as no males survived the pandemic and Earth's population is made up of cloned women.
Under the influence of the drug, one crewman tries to rape one of the women. The commander, a man of fervent religious faith, tries to take command and says he's Christ's leader as women should not lead. Lorrimer realises that the drug has revealed the inner nature of the two men, and the women can't allow them to live. Then he realises that even though he is a passive personality type the women will not allow him to live either.
The space capsule Sunbird is on a research trip around the sun but is struck by a massive solar flare. When it comes around the other side and can contact Earth there is no response from Houston. However, soon there is a radio signal from a woman trying to contact somebody else. The confusion takes some time to settle and the three men on Sunbird are told that their mission was never completed, they never returned to Earth, and it is now three hundreds years into the future.
The women are on a space station and they manage to bring the men on board as Sunbird drifts off with no remaining fuel. They are told that a catastrophic pandemic reduced the population of Earth and there are now only two million inhabitants. The narrator, Lorrimer, the Sunbird's doctor, realises that they have been drugged and he's been rambling on, saying aloud everything he's been thinking. As his head clears he realises that their rescue ship is crewed by women only as no males survived the pandemic and Earth's population is made up of cloned women.
Under the influence of the drug, one crewman tries to rape one of the women. The commander, a man of fervent religious faith, tries to take command and says he's Christ's leader as women should not lead. Lorrimer realises that the drug has revealed the inner nature of the two men, and the women can't allow them to live. Then he realises that even though he is a passive personality type the women will not allow him to live either.
Murderbot sees a newscast that suggests the mining company that has caused all his problems was involved with another crime on another planet. He heads off to find out. To get there he needs to be a licensed employee so he takes a position as security consultant with a group of disaffected researches who are trying to get their data back.
Once again, things get very murdery, with him and his employers as the target of battlebots and armed drones. And once again we're in a story of 'getting into danger' and thinking, "How is he going to get out of this?" It's a classic (but shorter) adventure story after authors like Robert Ludlum and John Le Carre, or the Mission Impossible movie series where all the odds are stacked against the protagonist.
The endings of #1 and #2 have had a "you can stop here" feel about them, but this one ends with a very definite pointer to the next book in the series.
Murderbot sees a newscast that suggests the mining company that has caused all his problems was involved with another crime on another planet. He heads off to find out. To get there he needs to be a licensed employee so he takes a position as security consultant with a group of disaffected researches who are trying to get their data back.
Once again, things get very murdery, with him and his employers as the target of battlebots and armed drones. And once again we're in a story of 'getting into danger' and thinking, "How is he going to get out of this?" It's a classic (but shorter) adventure story after authors like Robert Ludlum and John Le Carre, or the Mission Impossible movie series where all the odds are stacked against the protagonist.
The endings of #1 and #2 have had a "you can stop here" feel about them, but this one ends with a very definite pointer to the next book in the series.
This fourth novella ends a story arc on a satisfactory note while also allowing more to follow.
Murderbot brings data drives from the events of book 3 and needs to deliver them to Mensah, his contracted 'boss' from book 1. But it seems she's been kidnapped by the evil mining company at the heart of his troubles. Of course, he sets off on a one man rescue mission. But that would be too simple, he needs a bunch of humans to get in his way, and who better than the old research team from book 1, also trying to get Mensah's release.
This book is much more a police procedural style than earlier books. Murderbot has to plan everything with the team of humans. He's the one with the software interface and multitasking coding ability to get into the computer systems of their various enemies, while at the same time trying to keep his humans alive. In that respect there is a lot more of his thinking in the narrative compared with his actions.
The escape plan works for a bit, doesn't work, works, doesn't work, back and forth. There are several points at which it looks like the whole thing is about to collapse as the mining company has superior fire power and processing ability. The rescue this time has more hopeless seeming moments than in previous books as the stakes are higher.
The ending points to a re-doing of a previous book, which is not good, but then Wells pulls it out and into a totally different direction to end the story. I think Murderbot's surprise moves are getting to her.
This fourth novella ends a story arc on a satisfactory note while also allowing more to follow.
Murderbot brings data drives from the events of book 3 and needs to deliver them to Mensah, his contracted 'boss' from book 1. But it seems she's been kidnapped by the evil mining company at the heart of his troubles. Of course, he sets off on a one man rescue mission. But that would be too simple, he needs a bunch of humans to get in his way, and who better than the old research team from book 1, also trying to get Mensah's release.
This book is much more a police procedural style than earlier books. Murderbot has to plan everything with the team of humans. He's the one with the software interface and multitasking coding ability to get into the computer systems of their various enemies, while at the same time trying to keep his humans alive. In that respect there is a lot more of his thinking in the narrative compared with his actions.
The escape plan works for a bit, doesn't work, works, doesn't work, back and forth. There are several points at which it looks like the whole thing is about to collapse as the mining company has superior fire power and processing ability. The rescue this time has more hopeless seeming moments than in previous books as the stakes are higher.
The ending points to a re-doing of a previous book, which is not good, but then Wells pulls it out and into a totally different direction to end the story. I think Murderbot's surprise moves are getting to her.
Murderbot has been removed from the company inventory and is a free agent. He leaves his people and sets off to find out what really happened in the event in which he thinks he murdered a whole mining team. He links up with another research team as their security consultant as they try to get back some stolen data. He also finds an unexpected friend, but friendship is not something that constructs do and he struggles to form a relationship.
The research team comes under threat, his exploration of his own past reveals further intrigue, and he finds himself helping a sexbot escape.
Murderbot has been removed from the company inventory and is a free agent. He leaves his people and sets off to find out what really happened in the event in which he thinks he murdered a whole mining team. He links up with another research team as their security consultant as they try to get back some stolen data. He also finds an unexpected friend, but friendship is not something that constructs do and he struggles to form a relationship.
The research team comes under threat, his exploration of his own past reveals further intrigue, and he finds himself helping a sexbot escape.
Comfort food for a rainy day. This is a short novella and a quick read. Murderbot is the security semi organic robot that guards a survey team on a distant planet.Things start to go wrong and Murderbot ultimately fixes things, almost. There are a couple of crisis points where he's (she) is damaged and starts shutting down, but those moments are saved by one or more of the humans. The story is a nice romp of "Who is trying to kill us and why?" with a very satisfying ending that subverts reader expectations and sets us up for further adventures.
A few points.
Murderbot is the name it gives itself after incidents that happen long before this story. What he really wants for himself is to sit quietly in a corner and watch TV shows on his inner digital feed. To that end he's disabled some of the control systems built into his central module and is semi-autonomous.
He/she/it is genderless but, like dogs are always boys and cats are always girls, I see it as a male figure. The others in the story struggle to relate to both his robot element and his organic human element.
The characters is this story are not fleshed out at all. They are two dimensional in most cases. This is probably because the narrator is a robot and does not understand depth of personality or human inner conflict etc.
There is humour here but only of the robot being innocent of the motivations of humans and indifferent to their feelings. He mostly operates in his own little bubble of ironic observation. The story ends with that humour turned on himself as he becomes more human than he would have imagined at the beginning of the book.
Comfort food for a rainy day. This is a short novella and a quick read. Murderbot is the security semi organic robot that guards a survey team on a distant planet.Things start to go wrong and Murderbot ultimately fixes things, almost. There are a couple of crisis points where he's (she) is damaged and starts shutting down, but those moments are saved by one or more of the humans. The story is a nice romp of "Who is trying to kill us and why?" with a very satisfying ending that subverts reader expectations and sets us up for further adventures.
A few points.
Murderbot is the name it gives itself after incidents that happen long before this story. What he really wants for himself is to sit quietly in a corner and watch TV shows on his inner digital feed. To that end he's disabled some of the control systems built into his central module and is semi-autonomous.
He/she/it is genderless but, like dogs are always boys and cats are always girls, I see it as a male figure. The others in the story struggle to relate to both his robot element and his organic human element.
The characters is this story are not fleshed out at all. They are two dimensional in most cases. This is probably because the narrator is a robot and does not understand depth of personality or human inner conflict etc.
There is humour here but only of the robot being innocent of the motivations of humans and indifferent to their feelings. He mostly operates in his own little bubble of ironic observation. The story ends with that humour turned on himself as he becomes more human than he would have imagined at the beginning of the book.
The Keeling is a top secret spaceship with some kind of alien backstory. Because it goes into the most dangerous battle situations and has massive crew losses, the crew is mostly made up of criminals serving a two year term in place of their original sentence. And somehow some of them survive their mission.
Shakedown is #1 of a series of not yet published books. The first half is the setup with the many characters being introduced and their histories revealed. The second half is their first mission as they settle in to the strange spaceship and their new crewmates. The characters are either ship crew or Raiders, the on-site marines who do the close up fighting. Of course they hate each other, but then most of the individuals hate everybody else anyway.
It's a fast paced story once it gets going and has lots of violence between crew members until they are forced to act together in battle situations. The long introduction component takes concentration to get through as the backstory of certain characters influences their later actions. And with so many characters things can get lost in the narrative. It also suffers somewhat from the descriptive passages of some parts of the spaceship. We don't really need to know the dimensions of the galley area and how seats are only on one side of the table etc. Same with other areas of the ship. We are already familiar with the general layout of a control deck or navigation table.
The book ends the shakedown mission well enough, and also launches us into a major event that signals that the sequel will start on a big moment.
The Keeling is a top secret spaceship with some kind of alien backstory. Because it goes into the most dangerous battle situations and has massive crew losses, the crew is mostly made up of criminals serving a two year term in place of their original sentence. And somehow some of them survive their mission.
Shakedown is #1 of a series of not yet published books. The first half is the setup with the many characters being introduced and their histories revealed. The second half is their first mission as they settle in to the strange spaceship and their new crewmates. The characters are either ship crew or Raiders, the on-site marines who do the close up fighting. Of course they hate each other, but then most of the individuals hate everybody else anyway.
It's a fast paced story once it gets going and has lots of violence between crew members until they are forced to act together in battle situations. The long introduction component takes concentration to get through as the backstory of certain characters influences their later actions. And with so many characters things can get lost in the narrative. It also suffers somewhat from the descriptive passages of some parts of the spaceship. We don't really need to know the dimensions of the galley area and how seats are only on one side of the table etc. Same with other areas of the ship. We are already familiar with the general layout of a control deck or navigation table.
The book ends the shakedown mission well enough, and also launches us into a major event that signals that the sequel will start on a big moment.
This is Christopher Priest's first novel. It is a good story overall but suffers from a very laggy first section that stops the story from progressing. It begins with the protagonist working in a secret lab far below the surface of Antarctica, a decision that seems to have been made only for the final stages of the book to have a jumping off point.
Research chemist Wentick is taken from the lab and into the jungles of Brazil where, after a long trek through the jungle, he's incarcerated in an abandoned jail and interrogated. The jail sections takes up 30% of the book and is a long meandering sequence of almost surreal events. Almost, but not quite. The whole section is given no meaning in the story apart from the suggestion of total disorientation. Wentick's captors are quite mad at time while Wentick himself is perfectly rational through it all.
At last he's moved from the 'jail in the jungle' environment and finds himself in Sao Paulo with a sympathetic associate and a new laboratory, except that he's 200 years into the future. There has been a nuclear war that has blown up most of the world and only South America survives without too much damage. It turns out that these future people think Wentick and his research has caused a severe problem that arose in the war and he's been brought into the future to set things right. This is quite a shift from the idea that people go back to the past to correct things.
The second half of the book moves along well and the characters are much more relatable. Wentick goes through a lot of thinking about time displacement as he considers that his wife and children are now long dead and probably didn't survive the war anyway. But with a bit of time travel left to him he makes a very unexpected decision.
This is Christopher Priest's first novel. It is a good story overall but suffers from a very laggy first section that stops the story from progressing. It begins with the protagonist working in a secret lab far below the surface of Antarctica, a decision that seems to have been made only for the final stages of the book to have a jumping off point.
Research chemist Wentick is taken from the lab and into the jungles of Brazil where, after a long trek through the jungle, he's incarcerated in an abandoned jail and interrogated. The jail sections takes up 30% of the book and is a long meandering sequence of almost surreal events. Almost, but not quite. The whole section is given no meaning in the story apart from the suggestion of total disorientation. Wentick's captors are quite mad at time while Wentick himself is perfectly rational through it all.
At last he's moved from the 'jail in the jungle' environment and finds himself in Sao Paulo with a sympathetic associate and a new laboratory, except that he's 200 years into the future. There has been a nuclear war that has blown up most of the world and only South America survives without too much damage. It turns out that these future people think Wentick and his research has caused a severe problem that arose in the war and he's been brought into the future to set things right. This is quite a shift from the idea that people go back to the past to correct things.
The second half of the book moves along well and the characters are much more relatable. Wentick goes through a lot of thinking about time displacement as he considers that his wife and children are now long dead and probably didn't survive the war anyway. But with a bit of time travel left to him he makes a very unexpected decision.