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mateyy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Gun violence
scarlettskyes's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Violence
mimeflower's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Violence, Body horror, Slavery, and Medical trauma
yedikedi2k03's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Medical trauma, War, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Medical content, and Slavery
divine529's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Normally, novellas aren't really my cup of tea, but this one was very well-paced and generally felt like a solid story. I'm not going to lie though, it did take me a little bit to settle in to the story as a whole (I loved Murderbot immediately though, but more on that in a minute), but once I did, I was hooked.
The gist of what this is about is it follows our main protagonist, Murderbot, who is a Security Unit (SecUnit) and part of this Corporation. He's part human and part robot and pretty much just wants to be left alone and not told what to do. But he's been assigned to this group of humans as their SecUnit for the duration of this contract and pretty soon things start to go wrong and they have to figure out what's going on.
Since you're in Murderbot's mind the entire story, it took a little bit to settle into the writing, since it's a bit stilted and awkward so it emulates a robot-human hybrid. Once I settled into that though, it was very fun and interesting to follow everything going on. The plot of this ended up being pretty interesting and involves a kind of murder mystery and some action which is always fun.
One thing I really struggled with with this novella was the world building. You're kind of thrown into the world and don't get a ton of information about what it's like. It takes place on another planet and there's this Corporation that controls these Units and acts as a kind of "Big Brother" almost, but you don't get much more than that. There's also a type of tier system relating to the beings. You have humans, augmented humans (humans who have computer bits in them that can alter certain functions) and then the Units who are half human and half robot. I'm still a bit confused about some of the distinctions, but I think we might learn more as the series goes on.
The strength of this was definitely the characters, but particularly Murderbot. I love Murderbot and he must be protected at all costs. He's incredibly precious and very relatable in so many ways. He really doesn't like humans and really just wants to be left alone and find his own way without being told what to do. But despite everything, the humans Murderbot ends up assigned to in this story end up being his favorite humans. I really liked 2 of the side characters a fair bit, but I also felt like they were the two we spent the most time getting to know. I wish we got to spend more time with all of them getting to know them properly, but at it's core, this story is about Murderbot and his life and his experiences, so on some level it makes sense.
Overall, I had a really fun time with this first installment, and I'm looking forward to continuing.
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Murder, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Slavery
fiveredhens's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Gun violence and Slavery
Minor: Body horror and Sexual content
darkmattersoybean's review
- 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
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
fruya's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma and Confinement
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder, Medical content, and Kidnapping