Artificial Condition

This is the second book of The Murderbot Diaries. Again, it’s a novella – only 149 pages.

This picks up right after the first book. In this installment, she (1) helps a group of scientists get some research back, and (2) investigates a very bad episode from her past.

In this sense, it’s like a primetime action drama. Every episode of, say, Alias or Chuck had a specific plot contained in that episode, but every episode also furthered the larger story arc. I’m curious if this is how all the installments will go (there are eight, I believe).

I actually enjoyed this story more than the first one. It’s tense, there’s some good drama, and like the first book, Murderbot gets drawn into the human world a little more.

(Again, I don’t believe her gender is ever revealed, and I have no idea why I envision her as female. I’m curious how Wells will be able to keep this ambiguity up through every novel. Surely it has to get mentioned at some point?)

Another fun, short read.