Toby
As a fiction, it has a very nice concept and an alright execution which isn't too corny. I was immersed with the story and did hope the main character the best. I didn't personally like the themes as much, it felt too repetitive, even though technically it made sense since they're all the same person (climate change - a specific philosopher - family - bad life - disappointment or sadness - repeat)
As a self-help book, which it becomes in the second part, it wasn't for me, the only notable thing is that metaphor with chess doesn't make any sense lol, just a nitpick though.
I feel like there's a lot to explore in the theme of something along the lines "AI becomes conscious". This book doesn't do that. Maybe other entries of the series might, but Murderbot is basically just an introverted human, there's nothing "robotic" about it whatsoever, apart from having cybernetic parts.
I guess that may be the point, as killing machines are made of organic matter along with cybernetics, but I'm not sure how much of that organic matter is used and how exactly does hacking the government module affect things: Did Murderbot become conscious after that or was it always conscious but suppressed because of modules dictating behaviour(and beneath lies a regular human)?
If it's the latter then it's an okay book with some cheesy humor which I personally didn't enjoy and a mystery that would be uncovered fully only in the later books
If it's the former then it's a book I personally wouldn't recommend because of the sheer amount of potential lost, because the idea of an emerging consciousness isn't explored whatsoever(you can imagine Murderbot as a very introverted teenager who is really uncomfortable with socializing, not as a murderous killing machine that became self-aware)
I have strong dislike towards the comedy parts of this book, they're very “millenial” and almost never land. Otherwise it's an easy read and I'd recommend it purely because of the premise and potential as a book series, although personally i'd probably wait until reading the second book.
if you want to enjoy the book, don't read Crow's plot, read Nakata's(the old man's plot). I'd give it a 4 if Kafka on the Shore was more about Nakata's psychedelic adventures
Nakata's plot is great, very surreal and dream-like, very open to interpretation
Could be a cultural thing but man do all of these sexual descriptions in the Crow's plot feel so unnatural and weird. It starts of small and escalates to sex scenes of a 15(if i recall) year old boy with women who are like twice his age(one of the scenes explaining all that as, *well actually the woman is mentally still a teenager*)
Screwed up is all I can say
It's certainly a very immersive book. There were some parts I personally disliked, but overall a great read
