Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries, #2)

by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition continues The Murderbot Diaries, a science fiction series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

It has a dark past-one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself "Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don't want to know what the "A" stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.

Reviewed by shannonmiz on

4 of 5 stars

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You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

This sequel started off a little slow for my liking, but then once it got going it really got going! I'm just going to say it: Murderbot is such a phenomenal character. Because okay, you don't think you'll be able to relate to robot designed to kill, but then... you definitely do. Murderbot likes to snark, and watch the future's equivalent of Netflix all day, and I mean, same. Sometimes Murderbot wants to be left the hell alone, and sometimes they feel a real responsibility to help others. Basically, this series is doing a really entertaining job of posing the whole "what makes us human?" question.
"I wish being a construct made me less irrational than the average human buy you may have noticed this is not the case."

I ended up loving the new characters introduced in this volume as well. At first I was a little worried about meeting a whole new group, but yeah, I shouldn't have been. They were shockingly well fleshed out for being introduced so recently, and ART the ship was like a cross between Honor Among Thieves and Illuminae and it was fabulous. Add in a lot of diversity, and it's just fabulous all around.

Will I Read the Next Book? Oh definitely! I need to know what shenanigans befall Murderbot next time.

Bottom Line: After a bit of a slow start, I was yet again entertained completely by Murderbot's adventures and companions!

*Quote taken from uncorrected proof, subject to change

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 10 May, 2018: Finished reading
  • 10 May, 2018: Reviewed