Artificial Condition / Martha Wells

 

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

So many thoughts about such a short book! Wells has done it again, capturing magic in a bottle. The end of All Systems Red was sudden and unexplained until now. What seemed illogical then is an obvious course of action now.

Murderbot continues to be a very human construct emotionally, even as it continues to be very adept at hacking the systems all around it. But when it hitches a ride with a research transport, it runs into a potential ally/enemy. It makes sense that a research transport would be curious, but its questions are very uncomfortable for our dear Murderbot. I love the name that is bestowed upon this new character, ART (Asshole Research Transport).

All these various bots, constructs, transports, and drones remind me strongly of Iain Banks' Culture series, where humans and artificial intelligences co-exist. It's like the Murderbot universe is the beginning of the Culture. Banks' AIs are acknowledged as full members of society, so presumably there is an emancipation in the future for all of these creations of Wells.

I can hardly wait to pick up the next installment, but I want to ration them out. They are such a joy to read, I would hate to finish them too quickly. Anticipation is a big part of my enjoyment of some series and this is definitely one of those.

Thank you, Martha Wells, for such a fabulous world for readers to experience and enjoy!



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