Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Artificial Condition

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

10 reviews

quotablehedgehog's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

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maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Really loving the murderbot series. I liked this book even more than the first one which I also gave 5 stars. Absolutely loved the relationship and dialogue between Murderbot and ART. Really liked the casual inclusion of queer stuff -

Polyamorous relationships, more than 2 genders, Murderbot seemingly being asexual.

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obscurepages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

And just like the first book, this was funny as hell too 😭😂 I particularly loved it when Murderbot, with thousands of new media in storage, chose to rewatch their comfort show instead. They're just like me fr 😂

I think I like the pacing and character build-up better in the first book though. However, I just really loved the writing style and the tone of the book. The perfect balance of funny and suspenseful.

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

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

4.75

Another cozy sci-fi novella! I enjoyed this one a lot but it didn’t have the same draw as the first one in the series. I’m so excited to start the next one!

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some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Most entertaining part was towards the beginning when (very minor spoilers)

murderbot & ART were talking about media

The ending was not as strong as that of the first book and knocked down my rating from 4.5 to 3.5.

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saskiahill's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

The murderbot books are so well written, I always end up devouring them in a really short time! Clever, witty, well paced and just such a well written lead character (though I also loved ART!)

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iono's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

5.0

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divine529's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Murderbot strikes again! I absolutely loved this.

This is the second installment in the Murderbot series and I had such a fun time with this. I enjoyed the first one, but I think I liked this installment, just a bit more.

Once again, we're following Murderbot as it delves into a mystery of it's past and makes some new friends along the way.

As with the first one, I liked the writing and the plot. I really enjoyed the bit of expansion into the world we got as well. But really where these books shine are the characters. Murderbot is always a delight and I loved the addition of ART. Snarky characters are some of my absolute favorites, and we have so many of those in this series. Finally, the new human crew Murderbot ends up connecting with was also great.

Another great installment, and I can't wait to read the next one!

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michaelferlazzo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book reminds me of the best Star Wars books… and I love it.

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tachyondecay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A year and a half and one gender identity change later, here I am reading the second Murderbot Diaries novella, Artificial Condition! My review of the first book focuses quite a bit on Murderbot’s portrayal as agender, along with some critiques of the worldbuilding (or lack thereof). The good news is, I think I liked this book even more than the first! That being said, I’m happy with the current lengths of these books—I know Martha Wells has a Murderbot novel out, but I’m not sure I would want to read a novel-length story with this protagonist? Hmm. We’ll see.

Having “escaped” from the humans who bought it, Murderbot books passage on an uncrewed research transport vessel. Its destination is the planet where it thinks it hacked its governor module and then killed a bunch of people, for unknown reasons. Murderbot wants answers. What it doesn’t anticipate is that the bot intelligence that runs the transport is smarter than your average bot. Murderbot nicknames it ART, for Asshole Research Transport. The two of them “bond,” if you can call it that, over watching human-produced media, and ART kind of starts to feel protective towards Murderbot. So ART helps out as Murderbot poses as a security consultant to get down to the surface of the planet and learn more about its missing murderous memories.

The dynamic between Murderbot and ART is everything in this book. This is the odd couple bot comedy I hadn’t realized I needed. I mean, yes, there is still murder and intrigue and all that stuff—but none of that matters compared to the banter between these two. You come to find out what happens to Murderbot, but you stay for ART’s sulking and Murderbot’s reluctant partnership with it.

Indeed, this is probably the most appealing element of this series: the protagonists are not human. The humans in this series are bad or fragile, and Murderbot knows how to deal with one even if it still struggles to understand the other. Watching Murderbot interact with its new humans is a rewarding experience that helps us understand what it is struggling with: it wants to hide that it is a SecUnit, so it attempts to become more human-like. But how far does it want to go in its emulation of humanity? Murderbot’s obsession with uncovering its past is laudable and understandable—but will this hinder Murderbot’s ability to conceive of a concrete, satisfactory future?

Artificial Condition doesn’t answer all those questions, nor should it. It’s a competent little novella that sets up a problem and shows us how Murderbot approaches it, and that’s good enough. If you liked All Systems Red, this one is worth a read too! Will I read the next one? Who knows! Stay tuned.

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