Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Murderbot lives up to the hype: cbr12bingo – “Fresh Start”

All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries 1 by Martha Wells

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If memories serves, I first became aware of Murderbot through Cory Doctorow and was intrigued.  Then came all the love for Murderbot from Cannonballers.  When bingo was announced and there was a “Fresh Start” square, I knew immediately what I was going to read, All Systems Red. All Systems Red is set in a distant, space faring future, where all planetary exploration is done through the a corporate entity referred to only as ‘the company’.  Company requirements demand that Security Units (SecUnits) must be included as […]

Murderbot: I finally read it.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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This book has been reviewed so many times!  Everyone loves it!  And I liked it.  I’m glad I read it.  It didn’t change my life, but it is a well-crafted and fresh novella, easy to read, with great worldbuilding and endearing characters, especially for a novella. Our narrator, the Murderbot, is a sarcastic, socially awkward robot.  Murderbot has hacked the software that controls its actions — space robot gone rogue!  Well, kinda – but this Murderbot just wants to watch videos and avoid people, mostly.  […]

Everything I wanted and more.

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) by Martha Wells

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I loved this book so much, and that of course means I am at a loss to describe it. I also read it almost three months ago, and am only now attempting to write this review. This means BULLET POINTS. But first, I do want to say that I was very pleased with the first outing of Murderbot in novel form, as opposed to novella. I enjoyed spending a longer page count with Murderbot, whose character arc continues to develop in a pleasing fashion. I […]

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

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#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 […]

‘We tend to think that because a bot or a construct looks human, its ultimate goal would be to become human.’ … ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.’

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

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  Well, well, well, guess who had some catching up to do before ordering that new MurderBot Novel? Me. It was me. It’s not like I’m going out anywhere –  more like I’m sitting at home re-watching series Murderbot style. So I made some time for myself earlier this month and finally read the last two Murderbot novellas. In Rogue Protocol, Muderbot has been thinking of leaving the Corporate Rim. While they’re better at passing as human these days, they still worry about getting caught. […]

First Impressions About Half Right This Time

Network Effect by Martha Wells

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I don’t often pre-order, but the Murderbot series is one of the few that I will do that for.  I am however realizing that this often means I have to wait a few days after the release to actually get the book; this was true even before pandemic close/slow-downs. This meant that I was getting a little impatient for Network Effect to show up. When the novel showed up, I got into it right away, and I think this might have been a bit of […]



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