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ladybusinessDoes anyone need to talk in depth about Murderbot drops anymore? It feels like everyone in the SFF community who is interested is in love with Murderbot. However, there may be a few people out there who I haven't cornered to rec this series, so this post is for you.
I remember my first Murderbot novella. My love has only spiralled deeper. All Systems Red was a cultural reset.
Fugitive Telemetry is the latest novella entry in the series by Martha Wells. It falls before Network Effect in the canon timeline, so you don't need the novel to enjoy the story. This time Murderbot must solve a murder mystery in its new home station, even though it's: tired of the Station Security team; cut off from Station Security data due to trust issues with aforementioned team; and working with new people it doesn't know. Bright side: it still has drones most of the time, so it doesn't have to look any humans in the eye.
The thing I love best about these novellas—or one of the things, who can only have one favorite thing when it comes to this series?!—is that Murderbot isn't a static character who is an AI and therefore Knows All. Murderbot learns and grows and, most importantly, admits when it has made a mistake or failed to account for something that forces it to adjust its strategy. It could be that I'm spoiled by AI characters who do this because I'm surrounded by humans offline who don't value this skill, and if so, fine! I stan one (1) Murderbot who is good at Personal Growth.
Every new entry in the series is Murderbot navigating the world and being surly about having to do it because the world is a) annoying, b) not secure enough to protect its humans, and c) taking up valuable media-watching time. But along the way we're treated to this wonderful world where Martha Wells drags capitalism and associated horrors straight to hell through deadpan commentary. Plus, there's Murderbot's continued bemusement about why certain humans chose to shape their world the way they did, delivering slick social critique about our present world every time. I love a good anti-capitalist romp that deals with emotions and also depicts gross, abusive entities getting screwed. If I can't watch real ones get screwed (will Congress ever hold Amazon accountable? Unlikely!), I will accept fictional ones.
Fugitive Telemetry is a fun Murderbot adventure where the tension comes not from Murderbot's specific humans being in peril, but from Murderbot trying to work with other humans to save refugees with less resources than normal at its disposal. Even though it deals with heavy topics (murder, slavery, the horror and abuses of capitalism) it's a neatly packaged mystery that comes with a heavy dose of Murderbot's astute observations about humanity. I give it 19/10 drones.
I remember my first Murderbot novella. My love has only spiralled deeper. All Systems Red was a cultural reset.
Fugitive Telemetry is the latest novella entry in the series by Martha Wells. It falls before Network Effect in the canon timeline, so you don't need the novel to enjoy the story. This time Murderbot must solve a murder mystery in its new home station, even though it's: tired of the Station Security team; cut off from Station Security data due to trust issues with aforementioned team; and working with new people it doesn't know. Bright side: it still has drones most of the time, so it doesn't have to look any humans in the eye.
The thing I love best about these novellas—or one of the things, who can only have one favorite thing when it comes to this series?!—is that Murderbot isn't a static character who is an AI and therefore Knows All. Murderbot learns and grows and, most importantly, admits when it has made a mistake or failed to account for something that forces it to adjust its strategy. It could be that I'm spoiled by AI characters who do this because I'm surrounded by humans offline who don't value this skill, and if so, fine! I stan one (1) Murderbot who is good at Personal Growth.
Every new entry in the series is Murderbot navigating the world and being surly about having to do it because the world is a) annoying, b) not secure enough to protect its humans, and c) taking up valuable media-watching time. But along the way we're treated to this wonderful world where Martha Wells drags capitalism and associated horrors straight to hell through deadpan commentary. Plus, there's Murderbot's continued bemusement about why certain humans chose to shape their world the way they did, delivering slick social critique about our present world every time. I love a good anti-capitalist romp that deals with emotions and also depicts gross, abusive entities getting screwed. If I can't watch real ones get screwed (will Congress ever hold Amazon accountable? Unlikely!), I will accept fictional ones.
Fugitive Telemetry is a fun Murderbot adventure where the tension comes not from Murderbot's specific humans being in peril, but from Murderbot trying to work with other humans to save refugees with less resources than normal at its disposal. Even though it deals with heavy topics (murder, slavery, the horror and abuses of capitalism) it's a neatly packaged mystery that comes with a heavy dose of Murderbot's astute observations about humanity. I give it 19/10 drones.
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Date: 2021-05-31 06:13 pm (UTC)They're just so great.