Jeff
Not quite as good as the other entry in the series, but still a reasonably enjoyable read.
The injection of some real-world politics and single-purpose characters felt a little off, and while it was satisfying to see them get their comeuppance, it was a hollow satisfaction, the kind you get from junk food, not a real meal.
As I said in my review of Outland, the idea of this universe reminds me a lot of a Steven Gould book. In Outland, it was mostly a reminder of Wildside, but this one felt a bit more like the third and fourth books in the Jumper series, which also had a story that seemingly had modern-day (for the time) politics grafted on, diminishing the actual story in the process.
At the end of this book, not really all that much has changed since the beginning. A few new plot threads for future books have cropped up, sure, but we've still got a collection of survivors from the Yellowstone eruption, some conflicts among them, and no real change to anything of significance.
I await the next entry in the books, hoping it can actually drive the overarching plot forwards, and not get bogged down in itself like this one seemed to.
Not quite as good as the other entry in the series, but still a reasonably enjoyable read.
The injection of some real-world politics and single-purpose characters felt a little off, and while it was satisfying to see them get their comeuppance, it was a hollow satisfaction, the kind you get from junk food, not a real meal.
As I said in my review of Outland, the idea of this universe reminds me a lot of a Steven Gould book. In Outland, it was mostly a reminder of Wildside, but this one felt a bit more like the third and fourth books in the Jumper series, which also had a story that seemingly had modern-day (for the time) politics grafted on, diminishing the actual story in the process.
At the end of this book, not really all that much has changed since the beginning. A few new plot threads for future books have cropped up, sure, but we've still got a collection of survivors from the Yellowstone eruption, some conflicts among them, and no real change to anything of significance.
I await the next entry in the books, hoping it can actually drive the overarching plot forwards, and not get bogged down in itself like this one seemed to.
A fun little book, and a good entry into the genre. Didn't get too heavy on tech macguffins, didn't overstay its welcome with references and memes. The characters were all a little bit more capable than was realistic, which clamped down the suspense and "danger" of any particular point in the book, but it kept the plot moving forwards.
While reading this I couldn't but help thinking of the Stephen Gould book Wildside, which features a similar initial plot device (gates) and initial early motivation (take depleted resources from the other side). While the books diverge in their plots, they start off incredibly similar
A fun little book, and a good entry into the genre. Didn't get too heavy on tech macguffins, didn't overstay its welcome with references and memes. The characters were all a little bit more capable than was realistic, which clamped down the suspense and "danger" of any particular point in the book, but it kept the plot moving forwards.
While reading this I couldn't but help thinking of the Stephen Gould book Wildside, which features a similar initial plot device (gates) and initial early motivation (take depleted resources from the other side). While the books diverge in their plots, they start off incredibly similar
A very good return to form, with somewhat of a novel mystery, and fairly high stakes. The return of some friends from the past make the book a lot more interesting, and the plot was given some room to breathe in places, not rushing between events, which greatly helped out.
Suffers a little bit of similar-name-itis amongst its characters, exacerbated by the fact that two of such characters are related, but the characterization throughout the book is a bit more in depth than we've seen in much of the other books.
Also explores some more backstory of some other characters in the series, which is always welcome
A very good return to form, with somewhat of a novel mystery, and fairly high stakes. The return of some friends from the past make the book a lot more interesting, and the plot was given some room to breathe in places, not rushing between events, which greatly helped out.
Suffers a little bit of similar-name-itis amongst its characters, exacerbated by the fact that two of such characters are related, but the characterization throughout the book is a bit more in depth than we've seen in much of the other books.
Also explores some more backstory of some other characters in the series, which is always welcome
A bit of an odd duck in the Murderbot diaries, as it takes place out-of-order of the otherwise normal chronology of the books. The plot this time returns to Detective Murderbot, which is nice, but unfortunately its Det. MB investigating something he had nothing to do with. Proceeds like most other detective stories, with clue finding, a couple of tense moments where the bad guy seems like they could win, and then a happy resolution at the end.
It could practically be Murderbot Noir.
The book is technically very good, and the plot pacing issues some of the past books have faced isn't present here, but I just didn't find this particular story the most interesting. There are no issues with prose, characters, or delivery, its just very formula murder mystery, complete with the mayor/chief of police/security head/whatever imposing artificial limitations on our enterprising detective.
A bit of an odd duck in the Murderbot diaries, as it takes place out-of-order of the otherwise normal chronology of the books. The plot this time returns to Detective Murderbot, which is nice, but unfortunately its Det. MB investigating something he had nothing to do with. Proceeds like most other detective stories, with clue finding, a couple of tense moments where the bad guy seems like they could win, and then a happy resolution at the end.
It could practically be Murderbot Noir.
The book is technically very good, and the plot pacing issues some of the past books have faced isn't present here, but I just didn't find this particular story the most interesting. There are no issues with prose, characters, or delivery, its just very formula murder mystery, complete with the mayor/chief of police/security head/whatever imposing artificial limitations on our enterprising detective.
This book closes the loop of Murderbot-out-on-its-own, which is timely, given that plot was getting a bit stale at this point. Unfortunately, MBs quest to find more answers about its past was abandoned at the end of the last book, and there's no hint of it anywhere in this book.
MB fights off more bastard corpos and reunites with Dr. Mensah, which lets the future books in the series drive forwards, but once again the pacing of the book seems ever so slightly accelerated. Scenes and plot devices aren't given room to breathe, and the book just seems to jump from action to action. Good as a page turner, but its a meal that quickly leaves you hungry for more.
This book closes the loop of Murderbot-out-on-its-own, which is timely, given that plot was getting a bit stale at this point. Unfortunately, MBs quest to find more answers about its past was abandoned at the end of the last book, and there's no hint of it anywhere in this book.
MB fights off more bastard corpos and reunites with Dr. Mensah, which lets the future books in the series drive forwards, but once again the pacing of the book seems ever so slightly accelerated. Scenes and plot devices aren't given room to breathe, and the book just seems to jump from action to action. Good as a page turner, but its a meal that quickly leaves you hungry for more.
Continuing the trend from the previous book in the series, this sees our friendly MB taking on new work and contracts, and pulling on one more little thread of its past. Unfortunately, the investigating-the-past plot ends here, without any real resolution, other than revealing that one of the previously known to be shady corporations was actually extremely shady.
MB also makes a new friend, and unlike ART, MB really starts to care about this new friend, which makes the ending of the book a lot more poignant.
Still, I wish there would be more in-depth plots covering MB's history, as I did enjoy Detective MB in the last few books
Continuing the trend from the previous book in the series, this sees our friendly MB taking on new work and contracts, and pulling on one more little thread of its past. Unfortunately, the investigating-the-past plot ends here, without any real resolution, other than revealing that one of the previously known to be shady corporations was actually extremely shady.
MB also makes a new friend, and unlike ART, MB really starts to care about this new friend, which makes the ending of the book a lot more poignant.
Still, I wish there would be more in-depth plots covering MB's history, as I did enjoy Detective MB in the last few books
Murderbot has become more fleshed out as a character, and we get a bit of a look into its drive and motivation. New "friends" are made, and the overarching mythos and drive of the character itself is explored a bit. But this is really the last time we find out anything about that. MB investigates things from his past, and then finds half of an answer, and thats the end of that plot line.
That said, the smaller, tighter cast, and more focused story did fix cover some of the issues I'd had with the previous book, and I did enjoy reading this one
Murderbot has become more fleshed out as a character, and we get a bit of a look into its drive and motivation. New "friends" are made, and the overarching mythos and drive of the character itself is explored a bit. But this is really the last time we find out anything about that. MB investigates things from his past, and then finds half of an answer, and thats the end of that plot line.
That said, the smaller, tighter cast, and more focused story did fix cover some of the issues I'd had with the previous book, and I did enjoy reading this one
An enjoyable entry into a larger series. The plot never lagged, and in some areas seemed to jump a bit faster than it really should have. My only other problem was that the characters hadn't really been fleshed out that much. Suffered a little bit of the characters-with-similar-names-and-minimal-identifying-traits thats common in a lot of science fiction, but not as bad as some later entries in the series.
An enjoyable entry into a larger series. The plot never lagged, and in some areas seemed to jump a bit faster than it really should have. My only other problem was that the characters hadn't really been fleshed out that much. Suffered a little bit of the characters-with-similar-names-and-minimal-identifying-traits thats common in a lot of science fiction, but not as bad as some later entries in the series.