The second book in Martha Well's 'Murderbot Diaries' is wonderful

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/23/the-second-book-in-martha-well.html

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The first book is amazing! It was a very fast, exciting read, yet the characters have great development (for such a short read) and are extremely relatable. Highly recommended, and I can’t wait to read the second book.

Thanks for the review!

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Darn, for a moment there I thought this was a new book in the series.

I can second the recommendation for some light, fun reading. I gotta admit that the fun lies in fair part on some power-/competence-porn.

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These were some of my favorite stories this year, along with Autonomous. Thanks for the post, just realized there’s a 4th book already out there, and a fifth available for pre-order.

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I’ve read 4 and they’ve all been fabulous!

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All the Murderbot books are great. My only disappointment is that they are relatively short. But better to be short and good than long and boring.

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I too really enjoyed these. They’re a quick read. I think part of the appeal is that the narrator, despite all of his protestations of laziness and disinterest is actually good at his job and is fulfilled by protecting people and solving the mystery.

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Saved to my goodreads list!

There are four novella-length books out now (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy). Martha Wells has finished a novel-length followup (Network Effect) to the four novellas that will be released in May. All highly recommended!

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I had missed this series. Purchased. Thanks!

edit: Also, I love the return of the novella!

Interesting that you say “his”, I’ve always thought of Murderbot as a “she” though of course we are both wrong.

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Imagine the Terminator or Roy Batty with extreme social anxiety. Brilliant, and such fun reads.

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They are up to four in this series. They are all great reads.

I thought of Murderbot as a she too, even though the self-description is that of a genderless cyborg lacking sex organs who perceives sex and emotions as uncomfortably icky.

I was happy to find the series available at my local library the last time these were blogged on BB.

Highly entertaining.

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I’m confident that Murderbot would prefer you to use it/its.

I wish to put in a plug for other Martha Wells, particularly The Death of the Necromancer (steampunk fantasy in, essentially, fin de siecle Vienna). I didn’t like her Raksura books as much but those are the only misses in a really solid body of work. She is incredibly good at sneaking in backstory so subtly that you don’t notice it until oops, you’ve learned some backstory.

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Indeed, all four are fantastic, and I’ll definitely be getting the upcoming, full-length novel.

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Also one short story in Wired:

The Future of Work: Compulsory

Thanks for that nice little appetizer!

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