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bexi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Colonisation
Minor: Slavery, Xenophobia, and Grief
aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.75
I liked the proper story element of this one, I much prefer it over the shorter story. Unfortunately, it was still a slog to get through, and I think it's because of two things: 1) there is too much tech/science details included and 2) because murderbot can think quickly and think a lot of things at once, the writing reflects this but it is hard to follow and you just need a lot of concentration to read these books, and I don't have a lot to spare đ
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
chris_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Grief
Minor: Death, Slavery, Medical content, Trafficking, and Acephobia/Arophobia
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
slow-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
3.5
I am still thoroughly enjoying the Murderbot Diaries. However, this book seemed harder to get through, for me. It may have something to do with the fact that this volume is at least twice as long as the previous four books, which were all less than 200 pages (or at least close to that). There were parts of this one that seemed to drag a little bit for me.
Nevertheless, by the end, it was still a great book. My star rating kind of averages out my feelings on the book, as a whole. But the last hundred pages or so were pretty intense.
In this story, Murderbot (aka "SecUnit") and some of its friends are hijacked by a ship that attacks them. This ship turns out to be a familiar vessel, a transport ship piloted by a bot-pilot which Murderbot "affectionately" calls ART, who has appeared in a pervious book. But there is something wrong. ART does not appear to be present on the ship. There is some kind of alien remnant technology that has hijacked ART's ship and has possibly deleted ART altogether.
This sets a rather bizarre sequence of events into motion that involves Murderbot and, eventually, all of its friends.
The usual sardonic humor is fully present in this book. Hardly a page goes by where I didn't laugh out loud at something that the neurotic bot thinks or says. The book, as usual, is written in first person from the POV of Murderbot, and it continuously adds "asides" in parentheses, by way of explanation, or sometimes disclaimer, and sometimes even contradicting itself directly. Did I mention that Murderbot is neurotic? It experiences emotions and feelings and really hates that it does so. It also really doesn't like interactions with humans (except for Dr. Mensah, whom it really likes). It also has some pretty strong feelings toward ART, the bot-pilot who appears to have been deleted from its ship.
I highlighted a few quotes from the book that represent the way the bot thinks/feels.
"Overconfident humans who don't listen to anybody else scare the hell out of me." I think we might all be able to identify with that one.
At one point, one of the humans says, "Just remember you're not alone here." To which the bot thinks, "I never know what to say to that. I am actually alone in my head, and that's where 90 plus percent of my problems are." Now that I think about it, I might be able to identify with that, too.
And then one that doesn't directly involve Murderbot: "Iris: 'Peri, you can't bomb the colony.' Perihelion: 'You are incorrect, Iris, I can bomb the colony." Read that with emphasis on the word "can," for the real effect, there. By the way, Perihelion is the name of the transport ship piloted by ART.
As far as I know, there are two more Murderbot books, and a couple of short stories (which I purchased today from Amazon), and I will be reading all of them. I will also look into some of Ms. Wells's other books, as well.
I recommend this for fans of hard science fiction, as well as fans of Murderbot who have not yet gotten this far in the journey.
Nevertheless, by the end, it was still a great book. My star rating kind of averages out my feelings on the book, as a whole. But the last hundred pages or so were pretty intense.
In this story, Murderbot (aka "SecUnit") and some of its friends are hijacked by a ship that attacks them. This ship turns out to be a familiar vessel, a transport ship piloted by a bot-pilot which Murderbot "affectionately" calls ART, who has appeared in a pervious book. But there is something wrong. ART does not appear to be present on the ship. There is some kind of alien remnant technology that has hijacked ART's ship and has possibly deleted ART altogether.
This sets a rather bizarre sequence of events into motion that involves Murderbot and, eventually, all of its friends.
The usual sardonic humor is fully present in this book. Hardly a page goes by where I didn't laugh out loud at something that the neurotic bot thinks or says. The book, as usual, is written in first person from the POV of Murderbot, and it continuously adds "asides" in parentheses, by way of explanation, or sometimes disclaimer, and sometimes even contradicting itself directly. Did I mention that Murderbot is neurotic? It experiences emotions and feelings and really hates that it does so. It also really doesn't like interactions with humans (except for Dr. Mensah, whom it really likes). It also has some pretty strong feelings toward ART, the bot-pilot who appears to have been deleted from its ship.
I highlighted a few quotes from the book that represent the way the bot thinks/feels.
"Overconfident humans who don't listen to anybody else scare the hell out of me." I think we might all be able to identify with that one.
At one point, one of the humans says, "Just remember you're not alone here." To which the bot thinks, "I never know what to say to that. I am actually alone in my head, and that's where 90 plus percent of my problems are." Now that I think about it, I might be able to identify with that, too.
And then one that doesn't directly involve Murderbot: "Iris: 'Peri, you can't bomb the colony.' Perihelion: 'You are incorrect, Iris, I can bomb the colony." Read that with emphasis on the word "can," for the real effect, there. By the way, Perihelion is the name of the transport ship piloted by ART.
As far as I know, there are two more Murderbot books, and a couple of short stories (which I purchased today from Amazon), and I will be reading all of them. I will also look into some of Ms. Wells's other books, as well.
I recommend this for fans of hard science fiction, as well as fans of Murderbot who have not yet gotten this far in the journey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Kidnapping
rynaissanceenby's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The plot of this book is much more complicated than the other Murderbot books, but not in an unpleasant way at all. I think the fact that I listened to the audiobook instead was to my detriment because it made some of the details a lot harder to follow, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable book. It has been extremely satisfying to watch Murderbot's transition into and acceptance of personhood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
circe813's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Blood, and Colonisation
Minor: Grief
miguelito_juanito's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
chefboyavi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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
3.5
Rating this a bit lower because so far itâs my least favorite of the series. Still an enjoyable read but I found it harder to follow than the previous novellas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Kidnapping
arinheck's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
5.0
I love Murderbot. I laughed out loud reading this. I cringed. I gasped audibly. I cried. I laughed some more. Truly an epic story that had me on the edge of my seat. New cast of characters were a welcome addition to the Murderbot universe (although I forgot who was who very often). In many ways it was the same old Murderbot story, but also I felt more than ever we saw it grow in this book. TLDR: loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Colonisation
Minor: Xenophobia
mothiver's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Oh this was LOVELY. The little bits of horror that have always been in this series REALLY came to the forefront with this one, and I enjoyed it very much. I do so love Weird Alternative Relationships, and Iâve always been a fan of âwhat are they? (discussion)â over âwill they wonât theyâ. ART my favourite bitchy spaceship Iâm so glad youâre back <3
Man, ART really showed its crew picturesâŚ. they love eachother for real (no romo)âŚ. Iâm SUCH a sucker for the âfreaking out when the other is in danger/might be deadâ trope too, ESPECIALLY when it goes both ways.
My only nitpick would be occasional weirdness with past/present tense in the writing, but it wasnât all that distracting for me.
My only nitpick would be occasional weirdness with past/present tense in the writing, but it wasnât all that distracting for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and Slavery
Moderate: Violence and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Medical content
The adult/minor relationship is quickly averted, and is never romanticised or lingered on