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sexualedward's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
4.25
I do like this novella. Murderbot and ART are great characters. But I do see a lot of room for improvement. The climax was lackluster with no real danger, most of the story was predictable, and the secondary characters weren’t fleshed out enough. I much prefer longer books, so I may be biased, but I think it would have been better if it had more time to set things up.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Gun violence
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, and Gore
Minor: Colonisation and Panic attacks/disorders
asexualandriod's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Slavery
beccaand's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Cursing
bookwisp's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.0
With a resigned, but deeply-felt sense of responsibility for the humans around them, Murderbot is my most favourite socially-anxious android. Also, ART can stay.
Vibe: Sarcastic. Witty. Off-beat but amusing.
Vibe: Sarcastic. Witty. Off-beat but amusing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Medical content and Blood
bexi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, and Violence
Minor: Kidnapping, Slavery, Torture, and Mental illness
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gun violence
Moderate: Kidnapping and Blood
Minor: Medical content
readerette's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
An excellent continuation of Murderbot's story. There wasn't as much learning about Murderbot's past as I'd hoped, but its human connections, and its relatability for this reserved but still people-loving reader, were as delightful as in the first book. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and Violence
divine529's review against another edition
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, Slavery, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual content
andra_mihaela_s's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
Surprise, surprise! "Artificial condition" is a different animal than expected!(And I love the direction I see it going in the future!^^)
I heard from many booktubers that this second novella wasn't as good as the first one, but I dare to disagree! >..< (I think it depends on what got you in "All Systems Red")
I believe that Martha Wells wanted to create a world for Murderbot to explore why he is the way he is; why he makes choices that he could very well avoid and live perfectly given the setting and how all that speaks to us, the readers....after all, this universe is perfect for someone as him...literary antisocial and hyper-anxious!
<b>I WILL MAKE A STATEMENT! In this moment, my hot take on Murderbot is the following: this character is as much a stand-in for people to recognize themselves in, as he is a way to explore and talk about the human psyche!</b>...only time and reading more in this series will validate my opinion (maybe..>..>..this interesting focus of the story may just be a one-off moment for Wells)
Coming back to the novella, Murderbot makes an interesting decision at the end of the first installment. In this one, we get to meet ART (a rather annoying and emotionally fragile deep space research vessel - according to our MC..>..>) as the protagonist decides he wants to find out what led him in the previous situations and if his suspicions are valid( yey! ^^ we get to see the overarching plot! ^^) -> hence, mistery plotline engaged! Prepare for WARP!>..< (Star Trek reference here...nothing in common with the actual plot, in case anyone is confused..>..>)
Problems that are still there: besides Murderbot and ART, the other 4 characters: Rami, Maro, Tapan and Tlacey; are somewhat stale and one dimensional. If "Artificial Condition" were a novel, I would have had a bigger problem with this, but if we take into consideration the length, the amount of time in which we explore both Murderbot's psyche and issues AND a different character(ART); the well constructed action and intrigue; I will give it a yellow card instead of a red one...after all...it's a novella.(plus, the characters were ok, the interactions believable, AND, most importantly...we see them as our MC sees them...and we get to know and care about them only as Murderbot does...something that mirrors actual human life..we don't get to see highly complex and sofisticated people too much because we really don't care to spend so much time and effort on info that is ultimately irrelevant to us...)
A lovely surprise was the ComfortUnit we got to see and interact with. Not only we have a bigger mistery, it introduced tension in the story with Tlacey and our group of naive researchers, but it also gave us another important glimpse in the society of Murderbot's world!
Now we came to the moment in which i give <b>content warnings</b>: slavery for sexual reasons exemplified through a character entire motif to exist, discrimination based on status and occupation, violence and/or physical abuse and death.
I cannot wait to learn more through Murderbot's eyes! At the end of our side quest with the new humans...MC got some answers..some, it didn't like, and some left him confused as to "WHY?". It also grew as a person and managed to make a reliable connection!
This series seems to enstablish itself (in my eyes) as more world and close-up first person narrative with a big mistery, than plot-driven and high on action.
In conclusion, this second novella is more of a character study and exploration with interesting questions being asked than a mistery solving one, or a high action-high stakes narrative. If you were attracted to the character and world, I think you'll enjoy this one even better than the first! But if you came for the mistery, space action and other things than self-exploration...not so much...I still think you'll like it (based on the premise you enjoyed the first story), but yeah...this one may not be for you.
Before I forget, I switched to audiobooks narrated by Kevin R. Free and I must say I really think this is the way to go for this series!
Enjoy
I heard from many booktubers that this second novella wasn't as good as the first one, but I dare to disagree! >..< (I think it depends on what got you in "All Systems Red")
I believe that Martha Wells wanted to create a world for Murderbot to explore why he is the way he is; why he makes choices that he could very well avoid and live perfectly given the setting and how all that speaks to us, the readers....after all, this universe is perfect for someone as him...literary antisocial and hyper-anxious!
<b>I WILL MAKE A STATEMENT! In this moment, my hot take on Murderbot is the following: this character is as much a stand-in for people to recognize themselves in, as he is a way to explore and talk about the human psyche!</b>...only time and reading more in this series will validate my opinion (maybe..>..>..this interesting focus of the story may just be a one-off moment for Wells)
Coming back to the novella, Murderbot makes an interesting decision at the end of the first installment. In this one, we get to meet ART (a rather annoying and emotionally fragile deep space research vessel - according to our MC..>..>) as the protagonist decides he wants to find out what led him in the previous situations and if his suspicions are valid( yey! ^^ we get to see the overarching plot! ^^) -> hence, mistery plotline engaged! Prepare for WARP!>..< (Star Trek reference here...nothing in common with the actual plot, in case anyone is confused..>..>)
Problems that are still there: besides Murderbot and ART, the other 4 characters: Rami, Maro, Tapan and Tlacey; are somewhat stale and one dimensional. If "Artificial Condition" were a novel, I would have had a bigger problem with this, but if we take into consideration the length, the amount of time in which we explore both Murderbot's psyche and issues AND a different character(ART); the well constructed action and intrigue; I will give it a yellow card instead of a red one...after all...it's a novella.(plus, the characters were ok, the interactions believable, AND, most importantly...we see them as our MC sees them...and we get to know and care about them only as Murderbot does...something that mirrors actual human life..we don't get to see highly complex and sofisticated people too much because we really don't care to spend so much time and effort on info that is ultimately irrelevant to us...)
A lovely surprise was the ComfortUnit we got to see and interact with. Not only we have a bigger mistery, it introduced tension in the story with Tlacey and our group of naive researchers, but it also gave us another important glimpse in the society of Murderbot's world!
Now we came to the moment in which i give <b>content warnings</b>: slavery for sexual reasons exemplified through a character entire motif to exist, discrimination based on status and occupation, violence and/or physical abuse and death.
I cannot wait to learn more through Murderbot's eyes! At the end of our side quest with the new humans...MC got some answers..some, it didn't like, and some left him confused as to "WHY?". It also grew as a person and managed to make a reliable connection!
This series seems to enstablish itself (in my eyes) as more world and close-up first person narrative with a big mistery, than plot-driven and high on action.
In conclusion, this second novella is more of a character study and exploration with interesting questions being asked than a mistery solving one, or a high action-high stakes narrative. If you were attracted to the character and world, I think you'll enjoy this one even better than the first! But if you came for the mistery, space action and other things than self-exploration...not so much...I still think you'll like it (based on the premise you enjoyed the first story), but yeah...this one may not be for you.
Before I forget, I switched to audiobooks narrated by Kevin R. Free and I must say I really think this is the way to go for this series!
Enjoy
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual violence and Physical abuse