Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This would be an excellent introduction to science fiction

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

by 3 Comments

#CBR12Bingo: Gateway (this would work as an excellent gateway into sci-fi fiction) All Systems Red – 4.5 stars I have reviewed this first novella before, back in 2018, and my original post can be found here. I decided to re-read this first Murderbot story and then read the following three novellas in preparation of the full novel about everyone’s favourite misanthropic sec unit, being released in May 2020. By now, when I’ve finally gotten around to writing my review, the book has of course been out for […]

Relay-Reading Murderbot

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

by 1 Comment

As far as I know, my dad doesn’t read a lot of fiction; the one exception to this is science fiction, at least of the what you might now call classic or vintage variety, as in William Gibson and Isaac Asimov. I was home visiting recently and Dad made a comment about not being sure what to read next after he finished whatever he currently had in his hands; I had Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries 2) in mine, so I let him have a look […]

“No. There aren’t that many shows with SecUnits, and they’re either villains or the villain’s minions.”

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

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When Artificial intelligence is brought up in fiction, the focus is often on the negative aspects, milking them for dystopian drama. The worst scenario of all involves an AI rebellion, where humanity’s own creations gain awareness and decide to turn against us. You know the one – everything is fine one moment, and then suddenly, Skynet is shiv-ving you. A more unconventional direction though is having an AI killing machine gain awareness and instead of rebelling, decides it wants to be alone for a bit. […]

Wrapping Up the Murderbot Novellas

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

by 1 Comment

I read Artificial Condition earlier in the year, but finally read the final two novellas in the last month.  Given that, I figured it might be easiest to combine my reviews of the three novellas. Spoilers, naturally. When All Systems Red ended, Murderbot had decided to strike on its own, and find answers.  Artifical Condition follows Murderbot as it goes back to the system and planet where it became the titular Murderbot.  Murderbot has wondered for a long time what happened and what made it […]

I was having an emotion, and I hate that

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

by 9 Comments

I probably don’t love these as much as a lot of people do, but I do like them. And I think the treatment of AI and non-human emotions, non-human relationships are very interesting. I think that my biggest complaint is simply that the world in which we inhabit is not spelled out enough for me to really connect with the story. I like the character of SecUnit, Rin, Murderbot or whatever you want to call our narrator. I think the voice here is really funny […]

Murderbot brings me so much joy

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

by 6 Comments

The last half of 2018 was such a hellhole for me personally that I kind of just stopped posting reviews and one that I missed out on getting to review was the excellent first book in the Murderbot series. I’m not surprised at how popular the series is here as they seems like the perfect Cannonball Read kind of books. Plus, they’re novellas so it’s really easy to tear through them quickly. —> Spoilers below for previous books! <— Artificial Condition (Murderbot #2) – 5 […]



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