Cbr17bingo Favorite
I’ve read this book, actually the whole existing Murderbot Diaries series, a few times, and I think I have reviewed it for CBR a couple of times, too. So it is definitely a favorite. Artificial Condition is the second book in the Murderbot series, the follow up to All Systems Red. Series 1 of the Murderbot Diaries just ended on Apple TV and I loved it. They made some changes from All Systems Red but they were changes that made sense for a TV version and added some heft to the story. The first couple of Murderbot books are shortish, around 150 pages each. I was thrilled to read that Apple has renewed Murderbot for season 2, which should mean that we will see an adaptation of Artificial Condition and the introduction of one of my favorite characters — ART (Asshole Research Transport). Anyway, after finishing season one, I decided I wanted to go back and read the next book. And I will probably end up reading the whole damn series again.
Murderbot is what is known as a “SecUnit,” that is, it is a security bot with both mechanical and organic parts. SecUnits have human looking bodies but they are armored and heavily armed, and they are kept under control through a “governor module.” Researchers and companies who are traveling to various planets and outposts in space need SecUnits for protection while they are mining or researching or whatever. You can’t get insurance unless you rent a unit from one of the big companies within what is called the Corporation Rim. The governor module ensures that the SecUnit is kept under control and obeys its “owners.” The units also have amazing processing ability and can assess and collect massive amounts of information within seconds. They are armed supercomputers. Good thing they don’t have free will! Except Murderbot figured out how to override his governor module a long time ago; it has gone “rogue,” the stuff of nightmares and pulpy TV drama in this world. The funny thing is, Murderbot (a name it gave itself based on hazy deleted memories of some past job) now that it is free, just wants to watch the entertainment feeds. It downloads massive amounts of TV shows, including its favorite “Sanctuary Moon,” which was handled superbly in the Apple series. It acts like it is still a “normal” SecUnit and in book one, was hired out to a team of researchers from a small independent planet called Preservation Alliance. While protecting these folks, Murderbot finds itself starting to care about them and they, unlike every other team it has worked for, they care about it, too. At the end of book one, Preservation Alliance leader Dr Mensah has purchased Murderbot from its company, believing it is immoral for any being, even human/bot hybrids, to be enslaved. Mensah is Murderbot’s favorite human, but it needs to find answers to the questions it has about its past and so it sneaks away and hitches a ride on a transport to get to work.
That is where book 2 picks up. Murderbot is trying to work its way back to the mining planet where it believes it was once stationed and may have contributed to the mass murder of miners there. It gets its hands on regular clothing and uses its intelligence and computing abilities to find safe transport ships to hitch rides on. The thing about transport ships is that they are also “bots.” They have intelligence and communication skills of their own, far greater than any biped robot. Murderbot can override security obstacles in transportation hubs (these are like train stations for space ships) and make contact directly with ships, offering them all of his entertainment downloads in exchange for a ride. In Artificial Condition, Murderbot gets a ride on an empty research transport owned by a university. Its expectations of being left alone to watch TV for days or weeks on end is quickly upset when it finds out that the ship knows exactly what Murderbot is — the rogue SecUnit that has been featured on the news. The ship bot, which Murderbot dubs ART (Asshole Research Transport), flexes a bit to show Murderbot it would be dumb to try to harm it, but it also is genuinely interested in trying to help Murderbot find out whether or not it participated in a massacre, and if so, why. ART also likes watching TV with Murderbot a lot. I love Murderbot and ART. They are so funny together, with Murderbot being a bit intimidated at first but also recognizing ART’s impressive power. ART, because it spends its time with nice humans who are university students, cares about humans and Murderbot (even if a bit snarky at times).
Murderbot’s goal in this book is to get to the mining outpost called RaviHyral, where it is pretty sure it was once stationed. ART, being very smart, is able to point out all of the problems with Murderbot’s plan and also to help strategize ways to get around them. ART knows that Murderbot is going to stick out like a sore thumb on this planet and helps it change its appearance and find a legitimate way to be allowed on a mining facility. As a result, Murderbot ends up hiring itself out as a “security consultant” to a small group of young researchers who have gotten screwed over by their employer. The employer has unceremoniously fired them and taken their research. They want their notes back but Murderbot can tell that not only is this employer not interested in giving back the information (related to “alien remnants,” a powerful and little understood substance), they want to kill these researchers. What Murderbot expected to be a simple job to front its secret investigation turns into a potentially deadly situation for everyone. There is a lot of thrilling action as Murderbot tries to protect its clients, get answers to its own questions, and figure out whether or not it can trust the “ComfortUnit” (aka SexBot) that has reached out to it, too.
This is a great series and you can zip through the first couple of books in an afternoon. Martha Wells includes lots of interesting side characters and is slowly building up this big interstellar conspiracy related to “alien remnants”. It’s a fun series.