User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
"Or Miki was a bot who had never been abused or lied to or treated with anything but indulgent kindness. It really thought its humans were its friends, because that's how they treated it.
I signaled Miki I would be withdrawing for one minute. I needed to have an emotion in private."
Murderbot returns for a third and autumnal installment. 'Bot is a little more experienced, but honestly is making some familiar mistakes. As we all do, really, but I guess I expect more from a heartless killing machine. In this installment, 'Bot is heading to a "terraforming" installation abandoned by the corporation GrayCris, hoping to find data for the fight between GrayCris and Dr. Mensah. Unfortunately, it means integrating itself into an exploration team that already includes an A.I.:
"When I called it a pet robot, I honestly thought I was exaggerating. This was going to be even more annoying than I had anticipated, and I had anticipated a pretty high level of annoyance, maybe as high as 85 percent. Now I was looking at 90 percent, possibly 95 percent."
I enjoyed it, but I don't know that it covered much new ground. The situation gave Murderbot insight into another kind of AI-human relationship, but plotting felt fairly familiar. I'm still not convinced of 'Bot's logic circuits (mild mid-plot spoiler: (view spoiler)
[didn't 'Bot ever watch serials were people double-crossed?? (hide spoiler)] even when limited to security concerns, but do think 'Bot is a much better A.I. than other characterizations (thinking of Sea of Rust here). I also felt questions raised about the amount of processing 'Bot was doing at certain points. All that said, I really enjoyed it, and it held up to a second read quite well.
Wells always manages to tap me in the feels along with engaging the brain-pan. She's good like that. I'm glad she's finally getting some long-overdue popular recognition (as opposed to her early Hugo-Neb nominated works), because I'd like to see her financially secure enough to keep dreaming up worlds.
If you like 'Bot and bots, you may also enjoy A Closed and Common Orbit (it really does stand alone), another A.I. book. If you think you enjoy Wells, I highly encourage you to give her other books a try, except she's a tricky one, and many of her books are very, very different from one another from the vaguely neo-Edwardian England The Death of the Necromancer to the matriarchal fantasy world of the Raksura. Find one that appeals and go with that.
Re-read July 2019: Still good. Reading the books more closely together, I get the emotional changes in Murderbot over time, and appreciate the Miki storyline better. I had to laugh out loud at 'Bot's response to it, a couple of times, though: "Fuck me." Bot's been watching too many trashy serials.
Rating: really liked it
Another adventure with my favorite antisocial A.I. aka Murderbot!
You'll love or hate the humor but it works for me. Quite frankly, Murderbot could do anything and I would enjoy it.
I hadn't loved book 2 but definitely enjoyed book 3. Will get my hands on book 4!
Rating: really liked it
I’m going to stop reviewing these books because I’m not going to lie: this entire volume could be about Murderbot laughing at a cat video and I would enjoy it. I love the questions this series brings up of what makes a human, and I’m increasingly feeling like the answers are coming and coming fast. I love the fast-paced plot, I love the sweet human side characters, I love the tidbits of wordbuilding we get here [i know I never say this but I want more!!] and I adore the humor. Reading about an AI making fun of how annoying humans are with comments like “not that I’m bitter or anything” [no, I’m not kidding] is really just the epitome of fun and I would like to continue doing it until the day I die.
I also reviewed book one and
book two.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Martha Wells’ endearingly grumpy cyborg Security Unit Murderbot returns with a vengeance in
Rogue Protocol, the third novella in the MURDERBOT DIARIES series. In
Rogue Protocol, Murderbot heads off to Milu, a deserted terraforming facility in space, to investigate the past of a murky group called GrayCris, which we originally met in the first book in this series, the Nebula award-winning All Systems Red. GrayCris appears to be intent on illegally collecting the extremely valuable remnants of alien civilizations. To all appearances Milu is an abandoned project of GrayCris, but Murderbot suspects, based on its online research, that GrayCris may have been secretly using Milu as a cover for its recovery operations for alien remnants. If Murderbot can find proof of these illegal operations on Milu, the legal case against GrayCris will become much more compelling … and perhaps people will forget about a certain SecUnit that has mysteriously gone astray.
As always with its plans, Murderbot thinks it’s going to do this thing all by itself; as usual, a group of humans that desperately needs its help causes a change of plans for our deeply introverted SecUnit. Masquerading as a technologically augmented human security consultant rather than a cyborg, Murderbot find that the bot-driven transport spaceship needs its intervention to mediate conflicts between its passengers (“If you bother her again I will break every bone in your hand and arm. It will take about an hour.”).
Once Murderbot reaches Milu, it finds the facility isn’t entirely abandoned: a team of humans, along with two suspicious security consultants and a chipper human-form robot assistant called Miki, are on an excursion to investigate Milu as well. Murderbot scrambles to convince Miki, and through Miki the rest of the team, that Murderbot is authorized to be on the site as additional security help. And then the team is attacked …
Murderbot’s system hacking, strategizing, and enemy ass-kicking talents continue to develop and amaze in
Rogue Protocol, and are just a complete joy to read about. Even Murderbot’s interpersonal relationship abilities develop, despite all of its intentions otherwise. Murderbot does a lot of internal grumping about the various shortcomings of humans, bots and other sentient beings, but when they need its help and protection, somehow Murderbot never fails to throw itself into the fray.
Murderbot is also taken aback by the rather childlike bot Miki’s claim of friendship with its human owner, Don Abene … and even more dumbfounded to find that Don Abene considers Miki a friend as well. Murderbot’s interactions with them prompt it to reevaluate its own relationships with humans, especially Dr. Mensah, Murderbot’s legal owner.
These introspective moments, combined with Wells’ deft hand at creating a believable universe filled with advanced technology, some compelling action, and Murderbot’s dryly humorous voice, make
Rogue Protocol a SF novella that’s both fascinating and enjoyable. This is DEFINITELY a series worth reading if you like science fiction … and very possibly even if you’re not generally a SF fan. The fourth novella in this series, Exit Strategy, will be published October 2, 2018.
Initial comments: 4.5 stars. Can’t stop to write a review right now; have to dive into the 4th book! ETA: So I had a major MURDERBOT DIARIES reading binge last night. My excuse is that I'm down with strep throat and can't do much of anything else ... but I probably would have binged on this third book and the next one anyway. :)
I received a free copy of this ebook from Tor for review. Thank you!!Content note: several F-bombs.
Rating: really liked it
“Who knew being a heartless killing machine would present so many moral dilemmas.
(Yes, that was sarcasm.)”
Our not-too-social, cynical, sulky and very snarky Murderbot,
“a rogue SecUnit with a record of past mass murder”, hates to admit that it cares, especially when its supposed not-caring was its equivalent of security blanket
(yes, pun intended) until now.
But care MBot does, and so, instead of choosing a life of watching space soap operas it is headed to Milu, a planet where it just may find some evidence against GrayCris company and help Dr. Mensah - the one who treated our MBot as a person regardless of it not being human.
“If there was one thing good about this situation, it was reinforcing how great my decisions to (a) hack my governor module and (b) escape were. Being a SecUnit sucked. I couldn’t wait to get back to my wild rogue rampage of hitching rides on bot-piloted transports and watching my serials.”
And what would a trip to a dangerous corner of space be without finding a bunch of human researchers who desperately need protection and face certain death without the expertise of a certain Security Consultant?
“A SecUnit’s job is to protect its clients from anything that wants to kill or hurt them, and to gently discourage them from killing, maiming, etc., each other. The reason why they were trying to kill, maim, etc., each other wasn’t the SecUnit’s problem, it was for the humans’ supervisor to deal with. (Or to willfully ignore until the whole project devolved into a giant clusterfuck and your SecUnit prayed for the sweet relief of a massive accidental explosive decompression, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.)”
This installment really made me think about what future holds for Murderbot. Yes, it is free from the governor module and does not have to obey command of humans who view MBot as nothing more than a dangerous tool, a deadly weapon, something to cautiously use and discard when not needed.
Murderbot is seen as property, not person. And that obviously does not sit well with it. “The only thing I knew for certain was that Preservation didn’t need SecUnits, and their idea of a SecUnit being considered a free agent meant I’d have a human “guardian.” (In other places they just call that your owner.)”
Murderbot does not want to be property, but he does not want to be a pet robot either. Along the way it meets one of those - sweet loyal Miki - but even though at times it almost envies the life of a bot who is loved and cherished, it refuses to even consider trading free will and its own agency for the comforts of pampered life as a “pet”. Slavery taught it the need for fierce independence - but it’s hard when society denies you that and when your disguise remains an obedient SecUnit.
“Or Miki was a bot who had never been abused or lied to or treated with anything but indulgent kindness. It really thought its humans were its friends, because that’s how they treated it.
I signaled Miki I would be withdrawing for one minute. I needed to have an emotion in private.”
—————
“What did Miki have that I wanted? I had no idea. I didn’t know what I wanted.
And yes, I know that was probably a big part of the problem right there.”
“Somewhere there had to be a happy medium between being treated as a terrifying murder machine and being infantilized.”
It’s the sheer unfairness of the disparity between who you are and what society considers you to be that is infuriating. It’s the complacency of those treating you as property and the denial of any free will to the other SecUnits - any one of whom has the same potential of being a full-fledged person just like MBot but is denied that opportunity out of plain inconvenience it would present to those who are “owners” - that elicits real emotion from me, a cynical reader, let alone from Murderbot itself.
“Oh, Murderbot, what did you do?
(I don’t even know. I suspect it has to do with the fact that I went from being told what to do and having every action monitored to being able to do whatever I wanted, and somewhere along the way my impulse control went to hell.)”
Murderbot’s emotional development is also fascinating. It’s done slowly and subtly, but the benefit of binging all the novellas in one sitting is the ability to follow the inevitable change as it gets more comfortable with the idea of personhood. Some anxieties are lessened, some heightened, new emotions is processed
and a bit of frustrated anger surfaces more and more through the snark and the sarcasm. It’s done very well, a epitome of showing, not telling.
And just like the two novellas before, it’s fun, it’s a page-turner, it’s captivating, and I love it to bits.
5 stars. “Again, I know in the telling it sounds like I was on top of this situation but really, I was still just thinking, Oh shit oh shit oh shit.”
—————————
My review of the first novella, “All Systems Red” is here.
My review of the second novella, “Artificial Condition” is here.
My review of the fourth one, “Exit Strategy”, is here.
My review of the fifth story (and the first full-length novel), “Network Effect”, is here.
Rating: really liked it
first, some math:
i initially gave this book four stars, which is my go-to reflexive response whenever i like a book, because stars are only important in navigational contexts. HOWEVER, when i (finally) sat down to write a review, i realized i loved it too much, and have tossed it an extry star, mostly because the interactions between miki and murderbot are puh-riceless.
...I don't know, everything was annoying right now and I had no idea why.
Okay, Rin! Miki said. We're friends, and friends call each other by name.
Maybe I did know why.
as murderbot (occasionally a.k.a. 'rin') experiences more of the world as an independent person rather than a leashed gun-for-hire, their personality has been developing into the most reluctant of heroes <--- or whatever the gender-neutral version of that word is.
they're learning how to integrate, how to pass for (heavily augmented) human, and learning alllll about the burden of emotions, loyalty, and (murderbot-shudder)
teamwork.
they're also formulating their own moral compass, and it invariably points them in the direction of saving a bunch of dumb blundering humans who would be terrified if they knew what their rescuer actually was.
this time, it's not just dumb humans murderbot's gotta save, but a dumb robot as well.
and it makes murderbot feel so...beleaguered.
miki is a human-form robot assistant, as carefree as a tampon ad—cheery and open and completely trusting of her human companion. murderbot is suspicious of this genuinely mutually-respectful bot-human relationship, which rankles them in a way they cannot identify, but is hundo-percent jealousy.
“What did Miki have that I wanted? I had no idea. I didn’t know what I wanted.
And yes, I know that was probably a big part of the problem right there.”
but miki is not the ditz-bot she appears to be (or she's not
just a ditz-bot) she's also incredibly brave under all that squee, and me and murderbot both came to appreciate her eventually.
i'm so in love with this series. sure, sometimes i still get lost with all the futuristic wizardry describing how murderbot circumvents this or that tech since i can't even figure out basic earth-stuff like time zones or leap years, but the character work is sublime and very emotionally relatable.
and that ending? shhheeeeeeeit. please excuse me. like murderbot, i need to go have an emotion in private.
********************
BACK!!!
TO!!!!
MURDERBOT!!!!!!
come to my blog!
Rating: really liked it
Check out my new youtube channel where I show my instant reactions to reading fantasy books seconds after I finish the book. The weakest book in the series thus far didn't bring anything new to the table.Just the sheer premise and lighthearted style of writing from Martha Wells in
The Murderbot Dairies is enough to carry a book to be enjoyable, but this was certainly the weakest of the bunch. The story didn't bring anything fresh, and this felt like a rehash of the previous stories but without as much humor to carry it.
Plot isn't the strong point of these books, which admittedly would be hard with each book being so short, but this plot was quite bland. It felt eerily similar to the plot of the first book (but not as good), and the addition of a one-off robot friend being introduced felt eerily similar to the plot of the second book (but not as funny).
I did enjoy this, and I'm sure I will enjoy every book in this series, but I'm desperate for the plot to take a new direction so it can really reach it's potential.
Rating: really liked it
I enjoyed this book a great deal. But not quite as much as the previous two. This one started slow. I think it was the lack of setting the conflict quick enough. Right after the conflict was set, the book hit a wallow and I almost put the book down. I was glad I didn't, the end of the book grabbed me by the throat and drug me through. I'm not sure why book two and book three are broken into two books. Combined they make an average length book. They also deal with the same topic the investigation that got the murderbot in trouble. I'd hate to think the publisher made it two books in order make more money.
David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series.
Rating: really liked it
Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3)
by Martha Wells (Goodreads Author), Kevin R. Free (Narrator)
The hunt is on for Dr. Mensah's missing SecUnit (our grumpy, surly, series addicted Murderbot). Also, Dr. Mensah is being blamed for some of GrayCris Corporation's crimes. Murderbot now realizes GrayCris is behind the deaths of countless humans and they have no intention of stopping their murderous evil deeds. This time MB infiltrates a group of scientists on a planet where the terraforming was mysteriously shut down.
Accompanying one of the scientists is a pet robot named Miki. It's all MB can do not to make snarky faces at Miki but then once they are communicating through their internal feeds, MB has to even hide its thoughts from Miki, the thoughts about how disgusting it is to think a bot can have friends. Roll eyes right now. If MB had vomiting parts, it would vomit over all the gushing things Miki says about its human. Ick!
Anyway, MB is on the planet to determine just what GC is doing or not doing but its niggling developing sense of duty means it needs to make sure these humans get off the planet safely. Oh, and Miki thinks MB is its friend. It's also obvious that Miki's human really does think of Miki as her friend and treats Miki with the same kindness and respect that she would treat a human friend. MB actually feels such emotion that it has to go sit alone for a while. It feels anger for how badly it's always been treated in the past and jealousy for not being able to enjoy the treatment that Miki has gotten.
A lot of action happens in this story and it was hard for me to keep up with it at times. But I love being in the head (or stomach...the torso is the best place to store the brains of a SecUnit since enemies will usually shoot for the head) of MB. More and more it is becoming less immune to caring about others. If only it could go back to its binge watching, not caring self. Vomit emoticon (because Miki uses them, so why not).
Published August 7th 2018 by Recorded Books
Rating: really liked it
This is novella three in the Murderbot Series. For me, the series is beginning to feel a bit formulaic and has lost some of its charm. Part of the issue for me, is that 1&2 in the series are so good, it’s tough for author Wells to keep up with my expectations. It’s still a great series and I’ll quickly move on to #4 but it felt like a little speed bump in the road.
We start this installment with Murderbot on a transport filled with annoying humans. In the Murderbot Series most of the human’s are either weak, annoying, or evil. On the transport, antisocial Murderbot somehow ends up having to play referee in a series of petty squabbles and fights amongst the worried, irritable, and bored humans. Wells also sneaks in some background information to assist in recapping a bit of Murderbot’s personality and situation for new and returning readers. I found it be a rough start with a great deal of telling and passive-tense writing that is out of place with the rest of the series. However, Wells eventually gets her feet back under her, when Murderbot arrives at a nearly abandoned Milu Station.
Milu Station is a cool setting as it’s nearly abandoned, and Wells creates much dread with this eerily empty location. Here we get introduced to several humans and Miki, a childlike and naïve robot. We seem to be getting one non-human character a novella, each with an exaggerated human trait. Still, it’s what makes the Murderbot Series great, and while Miki isn’t my favorite of these characters, the interaction of Mike and Murderbot is one of the best things about this novella. The other ‘best thing’ is action and once it finally gears up around the 40% mark, it continues pretty much non-stop until the end. Once again, Martha Wells does a great job of telling a complete story but adding a little more to overall series plotline. There are a few twists and a real gut punch that help this novella stay interesting.
Four stars for this slowly starting, but eventual action-packed story in the Muderbot Series that continues to entertain with unique and amusing non-human characters.
Rating: really liked it
The good news is that when the robots rebel and decide to kill us all - because let's face it, it's gonna happen - we may have a surprising super-hero in Murderbot. Our favorite snarky, tv-addicted, misanthrope robot can't seem to help him-or-her self when it comes to saving humans. Every time he/she tries to get away from us, he/she ends up needing to save human lives. A very unlikely and begrudging hero.
Heroes come in a lot of different ways.
This book is the continuing story of Murderbot, so if you haven't started the series, you need to because this will make no sense to anyone who hasn't read the first two books.
This will make more sense:
Enough said.
In this episode, Murderbot ends up helping some humans (begrudgingly) who have a "pet robot" named Miki. Miki is the equivalent of a person with a wide-eyed, optimistic view of the world - you know, annoying. Murderbot is looking at Miki in the same way that I would imagine a wolf looking at my dogs. Like, "What the hell, man? Have a little dignity for fuck's sake!"
He loves it!
Miki decides to be Murderbot's friend and it changes Murderbot in a lot of ways.
I love how Martha Wells is developing Murderbot's personality. Eventually, she may even need to give it a gender because it's becoming more and more "human" as the books go on. I don't really want to call Murderbot an "it" anymore.
I'm so excited for the rest of the series. Now, I just have to wait.
Rating: really liked it
4.5
I loved you, Miki!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Rating: really liked it
4.50 Stars. I’m in love! I needed a palate cleanser since I have been reading a lot of slower paced romances, so I thought I might as well shake things up with my favorite SecUnit, Murderbot. After 4 stories, three novellas and one short, I am 100% hooked. This series is so good and it just keeps getting better and better every story. My only complaint is that the stories just end too quickly. Not in content, these are meaty novellas that feel like a good weight, but just in the fact that I want to keep reading about Murderbot. I’ve been trying to pace myself so I don’t just burn through all of these stories. Book 7, does not come out until fall 22’ so I’m not letting myself read them all back-to-back like I dearly want to. I think I’m going to let myself read book 4 and 4.5, but then we will see how long I can go into 2022 before I break and just have to read more Murderbot. If you love sci-fi, like sci-fi, or even just think it is okay, this series really is a must read. It’s too good to miss. If you would like to try the series the prequel is free online. The book page to the free prequel is hard to find, but it’s here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... which does have the link to where it is posted for free on Tor.
Rating: really liked it
Urban fantasy has made it to the broken assassinbot AI stage in a big way. Just as much internal monologues as the other field, but this is entirely a corporate/spaceships/planetary colonies kind of popcorn fiction.
Is this is as good as the other two delicious entries? I think so. Maybe not quite as interesting as the last, but introducing the near-skinjob Miki who is treated at worst as a pet and at best as a valued member of the team was a real treat for us, if not for our favorite broken assassinbot just trying to make ends meet long enough to watch her favorite SF soap operas.
And trying not to care whether her clients kick it, of course. :)
Frankly, these novellas are smooth as silk and enjoyable no matter what goes on in them. I blame it on our MC robot. Her ruminations into her nature and her abilities and her interpersonal growth when it comes to the other robots she meets could make even watching paint dry rather interesting. Even so, it's a good thing we're ripping heads off bad guys and dealing with the intrigue of pretending to be someone's chattel or pretending to be human... sometimes successfully... while always running the risk of becoming a major scary target because she is what she is.
Ongoing goodness? Yes. Very enjoyable.
Rating: really liked it
Murderbot is back. This time it decides to take an active approach to bringing down the corporation who sabotaged its... it hates to call them friends, but what other word is there? The other participants of the first book's plot. Yes, participants, that will do. Going to a planet that had its teraforming shut down, Murderbot investigates why the project was abounded. Along with a new group of scientists and and extremely friendly robot named Miki, Murderbot discovers another plot and *sigh* has to keep more people alive. Damn those humans making it work.
Murderbot is without a doubt my favorite AI character in any medium. Nothing in film, television, video games or books even competes. This time though, I confess I was less enthused than the previous. Murderbot is as charming as ever and its interactions are a delight, but the plot here wasn't as polished. This little mini-adventure kind of felt like filler. Entertaining filler, but more like we needed to pad some time before the final. We do see some (begrudging) growth from Murderbot as a character, but thus far this book feels like the weak link to me.
So why the fairly high rating? Because it's MURDERBOT. Seriously, I may have issues with this one, but not enough to knock it down from four. These stories are a blast, the characters consistently likeable and all around a fun read. Complaints aside, I would read 600 pages of Murderbot just complaining about what it was watching on its programs, and I would still be content. 4/5
