Artificial Condition

Uh! I love this character! This is the 2nd book in the murderbot books and the main character, who I realise now doesn't have a name (nor gender as it's a bot) is so fun to read.

The murderbot is so dry and grumpy and so different from previous characters I've read in sci-fi.

The first book definitely works as a stand alone, and although there's a self contained story in this second book, it definitely carries through a decent number of references to the earlier story that I'd not recommend reading this on it's own.

Since the books are only around 160 pages, I'm moving right on to the next installment and looking forward to it already.

Detective Murderbot

Our beloved murderbot tries to blend in the society and struggles with new kinds of anxiety. There’s a lot of mystery and detective work here and just one action scene.

The simplicity of descriptions is kinda refreshing after most other books and reminds me of some classic sci-fi like Stainless Steel Rat. But there’s a bit too much recapping of the previous book, especially considering that they’re both pretty short.

Also it features some new, interesting sci-fi concepts like future forms of money and communication between bots. And the ending is fine, leading to the next adventure.

Wish it was a bit longer, but I'm still glad that it exists.

Book 2 was very good. Engaging and fast. Loved ART. Robots interacting interests me more than j thought. Feeling bad for the Sexbots. Curious where book 3 will take me.

Murderbot and ART are the best cybernetic odd couple.

Alternate Title: The Adventures of a Rogue SecUnit and Asshole Research Transport

This was once again super fun. Murderbot is now trying to act like an Augmented Human and learns various mannerisms like sighing!!?!

- Murderbot meets a transport unit it names ART (Asshole Research Transport)

I was gonna wait for my library ecopy of this book to arrive (where it has a couple of weeks waitlist) but I was just too moody to choose something else, and decided to pick up the audiobook instead. And that was an excellent choice because I ended up liking this much more than I thought I would.

I didn't think I would love Murderbot more but I surely did. It's trying to navigate its new life, free from all obligations and trying to figure out what it wants to do. I think all the tv show binging it does is making it much more vulnerable than it wants to be, feeling sympathetic towards humans, wanting to protect them and feeling awful when it's unable to. It's such an endearing SecUnit construct and I love seeing it evolve now that it can make its own decisions. And the introduction of another character ART which is a much more sophisticated and powerful transport vessel was just what I needed. Their sarcastic banter is hilariously entertaining and the way Murderbot comes to rely on ART though it doesn't want to is a bit of a treat to watch. And both of their tv show binging habits and reactions to what happens to their favorite characters is so similar to me that I just couldn't stop smiling. I never though I would relate so much to AIs.

Just like the first novella, the plot isn't very important here though we do get some insight into Murderbot's backstory which was interesting. The theme of Murderbot encountering and helping another human crew continues and the author cleverly uses these interactions to show how Murderbot is changing. We also get to know a bit more of the world and especially how interplanetary transportation works, but not much more - but I surely hope the world is expanded upon in the later books. The writing is funny and very easy to follow, and engaging enough that I didn't wanna put it down. The audiobook narration is also perfect, and I thought the narrator did a brilliant job bringing the voice of Murderbot to life, particularly the sarcastic tone of its banter with ART.

To conclude, I'm having a blast reading these novellas and if you wanna read some thoroughly entertaining sci-fi, you should totally pick up this series. It has a tv obsessed Murderbot which is shy, doesn't want to but cares about humans and has anxiety and depression, and ironically is full of heart - what's not to love.

The ongoing tale of poor Murderbot catching feelings over dumb humans. I love them so much.

2.5 ⭐
I liked this book, but I really was waiting for the action to come.

Nothing coherent to say.

Read the novella pls.

I loved this one. The interactions between ART and Murderbot were my favorite parts. The dramatized version of the audiobook really sells it for me, it's too good!

Martha wells has done it again

I loved it! I was disappointed with the first book and almost didn’t read this one. I gave the series another chance and it did not disappoint. It was everything that I was looking for in the first one. I laughed, gasped, then started clapping at the end. I am officially a Murderbot fan 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾.

Didnt enjoy this as much as the first book, but I'll continue with the series

4.5

Laughed out loud multiple times, love Murderbot as always, loved ART even more.

Hoopla has all the audiobooks fully acted and sound edited! Probably gonna run through them all in the next few days since they're so quick!!

You could say this book was ART.

I started this series earlier this year and enjoyed the first book and was interested in continuing on. I picked up the 2nd book this month to fill a prompt for a bingo challenge I was participating in. I do still want to continue on with the series but so far I'm not loving it as much as everyone else seems to. This one was ok but not a whole lot happens. As of right now I feel like this story would have been better if it was a full novel and not novellas.

Another enjoyable entry in the Murderbot Diaries series! I actually enjoyed the first book just a bit more than this one, but I loved that our Murderbot friend is doing things of his own volition and looking for answers to the big questions he has about his past. It almost feels a bit like a footnote in this book though, as most of the plot centers around Murderbot's interaction with a group of down-on-their-luck workers trying to get their IP back.

There's a lot going on in this book, and while it's all fun to read about, in novella form everything feels like it happens so quick. That's really my only minor hangup about this one, but it's still an entertaining read regardless.

Another great Murderbot adaptation. 

I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory  issues. Read them at your peril! 

Murderbot gets himself into an another fine mess. Same funny, charming, sometimes violent, interactions between the narrating cyborg and everyone /everything else it meets. It's a space thriller, with both naive and bad humans causing trouble for MurderBot again.  He's trying to get back to the planet where he apparently went rogue and murdered 57 humans. On the way he hitches a lift with a very powerful transporter bot whose motives are unclear. 

I loved this story. As it's a novella, there's no baggy world building or side plots. Murderbot gets into trouble and out of it pretty quickly. 

I am loving this series. It brings some reflections regarding human x robot and what makes as human, but that is very thin, the story is mostly focused on the adventures. A new character was added, Art, which I loved, and I hope Art will be back on the next adventures, their partnership was amazing.

Liked this one better than the first. Not invested enough to continue the series though...

TL;DR

I really liked this book, in my opinion it's way better than the first one. I still miss the old characters but ART made up for it, him and Murderbot's interactions, working together solving problems was the best part of the book. The story is a bit more interesting as well. Highly enjoyable read.

My Scoring System

I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:

✓ - Main Story: I like this one better than the previous one, more infiltration and action. Enjoyable story.

X - Side Stories (if it applies):

✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying. ART was the best part of the book by far. The new humans are also interesting.

✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The space station they spend the mayority of the time is pretty standard in my opinion. Much more interesting than a bland planet.

✓ - Ending: Normal ending, nothing spectacular but not terrible either.

Extensive Review

Murderbot's interactions with ART were the hightlights of the book. The other group of characters were nice but I really like the cooperation of Murderbot with ART, these two are an unstopable force. Don't have much to say, I really liked this book and I can't wait to read the next one in the series.

Cool sequel. I think the first part was better, but not by much. The series is not very hard on AI and things like hacking is used as a magical tool a bit too much, but its an entertaining read posing some interesting questions.

The dramatized edition of Artificial Condition was easier for me to follow than All Systems Red. Perhaps because I was more prepared for the presentation. I still like the single narrator better, though I thoroughly enjoyed this.