After being introduced to Murderbot in All Systems Red, it is impossible to not pick up the next book in the series, Artificial Condition. I have been listening to the audiobook of the series and the narrator of the series, Kevin R. Free is immersive to listen to. I think he does a great job in bringing Martha Well’s Murderbot and ART to life. Let’s take a look at the synopsis and then dive into my thoughts.
Artificial Condition
By Martha Wells | Goodreads
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.
Artificial Conditions – The Review
At the end of All Systems Red, Murderbot had left the protection of Captain Mensah and tried his hand at truly being a free agent without a contract and master. Artificial Condition is Murderbot’s journey to rediscover his past and find answers to questions that have been haunting him ever since the massacre of a crew he was assigned to. This would have been a very serious storyline to tell but Martha Well is so crafty that she presented me with ART, a research transport vessel that gives Murderbot a ride.
ART is originally sceptical and cautious of Murderbot. I loved this interaction of two intelligent machines and how ART embraces its purpose in the exact opposite way of how Murderbot is liberated from it. They make a great team and have a sense of humour together like no other friendships like this. I love this interaction where ART is watching a show called Worldhoppers on Murderbot’s feed and having a reaction to it:
“So we watched Worldhoppers. It didn’t complain about the lack of realism. After three episodes, it got agitated whenever a minor character was killed. When a major character died in the twentieth episode I had to pause seven minutes while it sat there in the feed doing the bot equivalent of staring at a wall, pretending that it had to run diagnostics. Then four episodes later the character came back to life and it was so relieved we had to watch that episode three times before it would go on.”
Martha Wells in Artificial Condition–The Murderbot Diaries
It takes ART some time to pry Murderbot’s reason for travelling and I quite enjoyed how it was able to support Murderbot on this leg of the journey. They discuss the situation and possibilities together. Through the shows that the two watched, there was commentary on how SecUnits are portrayed in media and how that affects Murderbot and its perception of itself. This line caught my attention:
“But there weren’t any depictions of SecUnits in books, either. I guess you can’t tell a story from the point of view of something that you don’t think has a point of view.”
Martha Wells in Artificial Condition–The Murderbot Diaries
Murderbot’s awareness and reflection are commendable and it gives me joy to see an android with such agency and wit. By becoming a free agent, is it gaining more human characteristics?
It is a learning experience for Murderbot to be free and have to pretend to be an augmented human to fit in better. It takes on a job as security of a group returning to GXX where the original incident had taken place. Murderbot finds itself in a complicated plot of stolen research and hidden secrets where its skills and advice are much needed to come out alive. It also encounters other bots that are trying to work against humans in whatever way possible. The kinds of characters really expanded in Artificial Condition and I am loving how the series is going.
Murderbot and ART’s friendship were the highlight of this book for me! I hope that the two of them cross each other’s paths again in the future.
Be First to Comment