Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Artificial Condition

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Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

82 reviews

booksthatburn's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

*I received a review copy as part of the 2021 Hugo voters packet.

ARTIFICIAL CONDITION finds Murderbot gradually accruing companions/clients, trying to handle a chronically understimulated transport vessel and keep three young and foolish technologists alive on a fetch quest.

I like the dynamic between Murderbot and ART, the main plot is good and the humans are interesting. The worldbuilding expands well on the first book, I like how finally learning the company's name doesn't change anything for Murderbot because the role is more important than the particular signifier. It's a great sequel with interesting characters, because they're all novellas the series feels very episodic, which created this dynamic where ARTIFICIAL CONDITION has to communicate exactly how much backstory this particular entry needs and there's isn't much room for fluff.

This doesn't specifically wrap up anything left hanging from ALL SYSTEMS RED, it's more of a continuation that usually feels like it could have been section two of one large book. It works really well and I like this story on its own. The main thing it wraps up is the question of what happens next for the character, and the answer is this whole story and any additional sequels. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present before, with several major things introduced and resolved in this volume. The thing it leaves for future volumes is, again, what does this character do next? There is an overarching plot involving the search for answers about its past, and my best guess is that the next step is to find out who's responsible for what happened, but I don't know for sure. The main character is the same as the first book. This might actually make sense even if someone hasn't read the first one. There are obviously be some events from the first book that get referenced but never really explained (since they just happened a day or two ago from the main character's perspective), and those might seem odd to someone who picked up ARTIFICIAL CONDITION without knowing it was a series, but I think it communicates the stakes and the setting pretty succinctly in a way that would make this make sense even in that scenario.

One thing that was uncomfortable to read was the disdain that Murderbot has for sexbots, it could be part of its character arc, especially given it behaved after a particular interaction, but it was frustrating to feel like the very human prejudice against sex workers was replicated again in a protagonist who keeps insisting it isn't human. I understand that's probably the entire point, I'll just be keeping an eye on it as the series continues because right now I can't tell if its examining a prejudice or replicating it.

I'm liking the series so far and I'll definitely continue to the next one.

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deedireads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Artificial Condition was such a good sequel to All Systems Red! I’m hooked into Murderbot’s story (and life). Can’t wait to read the next one.

For you if: You read All Systems Red, and you like relatable, funny, surprisingly human sentient robots.

FULL REVIEW:

“Fear was an artificial condition. It's imposed from the outside. So it's possible to fight it. You should do the things you're afraid of.”

Yay Murderbot! This second novella built nicely on the first, which I ended intrigued by Murderbot’s life but not irretrievably hooked. This one really deepened my love for its character, and I can’t wait to read the next one.

ICYMI, Murderbot is a SecUnit, a sentient robot built to provide security for humans. It hacked its governor module, though, so it’s not under external control, and it’s finding out who it really is — and how it’s much more like humans than it (and they) might have thought. In this installment, it ventures off on its own to try to investigate what really happened during a pivotal moment of its life — that it can’t remember. We also meet a new robot, ART, who is a truly hilarious, intensely lovable secondary character.

The strength of these novellas is not only in the fun, fast-paced plots, witty dialogue, and great characters, but also in the heart. I would take a figurative bullet for Murderbot (even though technically it would be its job to take a bullet for me, lol). As always, I marvel at the ability of sci-fi to hit at the center of what makes us all human.

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wear_sun_screen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

4.75

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wardenred's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? Yes

5.0

Yes, the giant transport bot is going to help the construct SecUnit pretend to be human. This will go well.

This book was literally unputdownable for me: I read it all in one gulp, and then I was upset there wasn't more to read. There were maybe a couple of places where I stumbled—when it came to unveiling the main mystery of what happened at Ganaka Pit. I pretty much always slow down and re-read some of the pages when investigative plots roll in, though, so this wasn't so much a stumble as my usual reading pattern. The mystery itself was compelling, and the answers weren't what I expected.

My favorite parts of the novella, though, were centered entirely around Murderbot's interactions with ART. I don't even know which of these bots is my favorite at this point. I especially loved the scene pretty early in the book when they were watching tv shows together. I always love seeing characters in the stories I read interact with stories in their own universe, and in this case, there was some wonderful subtle discussion on the way stories shape us and impact us.

Overall, I loved the story and can't wait to join Murderbot on its next adventure. I hope ART is involved, too!

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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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