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quotablehedgehog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Xenophobia, and Blood
Minor: Medical content, Classism, and Slavery
foobar's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore
hapikohw's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I am excited for the rest of this journey, to see our murderbot (yes, our!) become human.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
blandrew's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book is very much a set up to the other series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Cursing
Minor: Gore
kryg's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery
aksmith92's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I did love the idea of Murderbot!
The setup: Murderbot (but only to itself - to others, it's known as SecUnit) is a Company-supplied security android made to protect certain people who buy (or rent) it. It's made specifically for security detail but also follows Company rules via the governor module. After a past incident that left Murderbot scornful of humans, it also decides to hack its own governor module to play by its own rules. So now, Murderbot, self-aware and annoyed at the world, wants to be left alone by a team of scientists and only wants to watch (essentially) the soap operas it downloaded.
However, things start to go a bit wrong when conducting surface tests on the planet. The team of scientists notice discrepancies in their data and decides to investigate the issue(s) with the neighboring society. One thing leads to the next, and the team decides to figure out the truth of what's going on.
Even though Murderbot wants to sit down and watch its TV, it also begins to have human emotions with the team that it has been assigned to, especially as they begin to piece together a rather intriguing mystery.
What I liked: This was a quick and easy read while still packing a punch as we got to know Murderbot and its companions. The premise of them working through a space mystery was compelling and exciting and made me keep turning the pages (well, clicking on my Kindle). The novella was told from Murderbot's first-person point of view, and I felt it was great to get to know Murderbot, its past, and its rather complicated "feelings" for the situation and people at hand. I enjoyed Murderbot and the plot and thought it was an interesting take on science fiction. Additionally, many pieces of Murderbot's "person"ality were quite funny. It was complicated for a bot, yet at the same time, pretty emotionally distant.
What could have been better: Honestly, this book was a bit of world-building sliced between the novel's action (because it was so short!). While this needed to be done because of the book's shortness, it led to me needing clarification. This is a personal problem; it might not be your problem! All things considered, Martha Wells did an excellent job combining the two (action and world-building), but I was still slightly puzzled.
Additionally, the ending fell flat. I totally get that the purpose of this novel was told from Murderbot's perspective, so we only knew what Murderbot knew. We heard what Murderbot cared about, and if it didn't care about something, then we didn't get to know about it or hear more about it. With that said, the ending could have been fleshed out, and we only got small pieces about the aftermath of the significant action scene!
Overall, I was confused, leading to a 3.5. I was itching for more from this novel but plan to continue the series!
The setup: Murderbot (but only to itself - to others, it's known as SecUnit) is a Company-supplied security android made to protect certain people who buy (or rent) it. It's made specifically for security detail but also follows Company rules via the governor module. After a past incident that left Murderbot scornful of humans, it also decides to hack its own governor module to play by its own rules. So now, Murderbot, self-aware and annoyed at the world, wants to be left alone by a team of scientists and only wants to watch (essentially) the soap operas it downloaded.
However, things start to go a bit wrong when conducting surface tests on the planet. The team of scientists notice discrepancies in their data and decides to investigate the issue(s) with the neighboring society. One thing leads to the next, and the team decides to figure out the truth of what's going on.
Even though Murderbot wants to sit down and watch its TV, it also begins to have human emotions with the team that it has been assigned to, especially as they begin to piece together a rather intriguing mystery.
What I liked: This was a quick and easy read while still packing a punch as we got to know Murderbot and its companions. The premise of them working through a space mystery was compelling and exciting and made me keep turning the pages (well, clicking on my Kindle). The novella was told from Murderbot's first-person point of view, and I felt it was great to get to know Murderbot, its past, and its rather complicated "feelings" for the situation and people at hand. I enjoyed Murderbot and the plot and thought it was an interesting take on science fiction. Additionally, many pieces of Murderbot's "person"ality were quite funny. It was complicated for a bot, yet at the same time, pretty emotionally distant.
What could have been better: Honestly, this book was a bit of world-building sliced between the novel's action (because it was so short!). While this needed to be done because of the book's shortness, it led to me needing clarification. This is a personal problem; it might not be your problem! All things considered, Martha Wells did an excellent job combining the two (action and world-building), but I was still slightly puzzled.
Additionally, the ending fell flat. I totally get that the purpose of this novel was told from Murderbot's perspective, so we only knew what Murderbot knew. We heard what Murderbot cared about, and if it didn't care about something, then we didn't get to know about it or hear more about it. With that said, the ending could have been fleshed out, and we only got small pieces about the aftermath of the significant action scene!
Overall, I was confused, leading to a 3.5. I was itching for more from this novel but plan to continue the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
comradehaasboy's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Gore
Minor: Cursing
_cecilie_'s review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
On the downside, it wasn't very smart of me to start another series but on the upside, it's shaped up to be a pretty good one so I'll overlook my own poor decision making and probably continue with the second volume the next time I'm bored while doing laundry.
Murderbot, as he refers to himself, is a supposed cold-blooded killing machine but in reality he's like everybody whose life is too much for them, has high anxiety levels and self-soothes with excessive media consumption. He's very relatable in that way, although I would have loved to dig a bit deeper into his sense of self, his becoming self-aware and wanting to stay that way. Instead we're dropped into the middle of the narrative, in media res, which is a 'fast paced intergalactic space mission'-kind of plot, not the most original sci-fi storyline but action-driven, well-written and very effective on its own terms. But still, I hope the next installments of The Murderbot Diaries give a few more glimpses into this lovable, anxious robo-weirdo who's just slightly obsessed with soap operas.
Murderbot, as he refers to himself, is a supposed cold-blooded killing machine but in reality he's like everybody whose life is too much for them, has high anxiety levels and self-soothes with excessive media consumption. He's very relatable in that way, although I would have loved to dig a bit deeper into his sense of self, his becoming self-aware and wanting to stay that way. Instead we're dropped into the middle of the narrative, in media res, which is a 'fast paced intergalactic space mission'-kind of plot, not the most original sci-fi storyline but action-driven, well-written and very effective on its own terms. But still, I hope the next installments of The Murderbot Diaries give a few more glimpses into this lovable, anxious robo-weirdo who's just slightly obsessed with soap operas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Moderate: Mental illness
amschelly153's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
If you took the Martian and added K2SO from Star Wars and maybe a little bit of Moss cap from a song for the wild build, that is what the book would feel like. It was a really fun and cozy, sci-fi read and I will absolutely be reading it again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Violence and Gore
judassilver's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Gun violence