'Artificial Condition' by Martha Wells is the second installment in The Murderbot Diaries about a sentient security robot.

Murderbot's self-appointed name comes from a massacre that it only has vague memories of. In order to try to figure it out, Murderbot needs to go back to where it went rogue, and the best way to do that is undercover. With the help of a Research Transport named ART, Murderbot finds a job guarding some humans, but humans have a way of needing a helpful murderbot, even if they don't think they do.

This is my third Murderbot book, and it is a great series. There is humor and action. At the heart is a pretty interesting character.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley.

Murderbot has run away from the people who bought it. It does not want to be owned, even by humans it otherwise trusts and likes, and who can really blame it? The first thing it decides to do with its newfound freedom is investigate its past. Murderbot hacked its governor module (the computer that controls what its allowed to do) because it malfunctioned and killed a bunch of people. At least, Murderbot thinks that's what happened. Maybe it hacked itself and then killed people? When at least part of your brain can be erased at someone else's command, it can be hard to trust your own memories.

On the way to the mining installation where it killed people, Murderbot hitches a ride on an empty transport ship. Surprisingly, this isn't just a regular ship. It's piloted by an extremely advanced AI, that Murderbot names ART for Asshole Research Transport. Murderbot's interactions with ART are some of my favorites in the series. Murderbot starts out very wary of ART, since ART could easily delete it. But they bond over watching shows together, with ART using Murderbot to contextualize the scenarios and emotions on display. ART also helps Murderbot pass more convincingly as a human, and provides back-up when Murderbot takes a job as a bodyguard to get to the mining facility.

All of the interacting with humans that Murderbot has to do provides great opportunities for characterization. Murderbot learns that it likes helping humans, even when they are annoying and do foolish things. Murderbot is still grouchy and anxious, but its deadpan replies are hilarious, like when it threatens a person by saying "I'll break all the bones in your hand and arm. It will take about an hour."

Once again, I can't really recommend this series highly enough. If you haven't read it, you're missing out.

I want to write a song about how awesome Murderbot is... Although I'm not sure where to start. But it should be accompanied by a video that involves a lot of "BAM", "CRUNCH", "WHOOSH" like graphics like in the old school Batman TV show (with Adam West as Batman). And in said song there would be lines that quote Murderbot's funny quips and thoughts on ridiculous humans. But alas I am not a song writer so you'll have to settle for my review about how great this book (and series) are!

Murderbot is still a girl to me
I dunno what is, but just like in the first book Murderbot (our androgynous AI robot lead character) is still female to me. Maybe I just really like women who are strong, powerful and fight? Whatever it is I cannot get this image of 'her' out of my head. Maybe that's the real power of Murderbot overall is that you can make them anything you want. Whatever race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, etc. that you identify with.

Kicks a lot of butt
The best part of this series is when Murderbot turn it all on in a fight and takes people out. It's not super violent, and never a graphically described way; more fighting in that fun 'old Batman' style. In Artificial Condition we are taken to a sketchy out of the way mining area to see if we can learn about the 'incident' that resulted in Murderbot naming themselves Murderbot. Lots of action, new friends (and enemies) and hacking happen in Martha Wells follow-up to All Systems Red. Very much like the feel and attitude of the first one.

Read in any order!
It's really rare that I feel it's okay to read a book out of order in a series. But Wells does a fabulous job of recapping what we need to know, without boring the reader to death if they just read the first book. I loved how succinct Wells is with her moments where she reminds us that Murderbot did this or that happened in the past. While this book is less than 200 pages, a lot happens and very little is redundant.

Overall
This is the funnest series I've read in a long time. It's over the top at times without being outrageous, Murderbot is so relatable (considering they are a robot) and it's a nice easy read. I laughed, cringed and gasped during this novella; and at the end immediately ordered book 3. I hope The Murderbot Diaries keeps going for a long time as it's quickly becoming my go to for a need-a-quick-break book series. As always the best thing I can ever say about a book is that I bought a hard copy of this ARC for my personal library.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

It is not physically possible to not love a series featuring a character called "Murderbot." These novellas are brilliant and I need more.

Is a SecUnit a weapon, a tool or a person? Murderbot by Martha Wells is one of my favorite reads from 2017 and I was thrilled when Artificial Condition, the second novella in this series, was released. The character of Murderbot, recently removed from inventory and free through its own agency, is a being accustomed to existence as a weapon who is learning (in a trial-by-fire kind of way) how to exist as a person.

Artificial Condition is a novella that allows us to see and explore these moments of discovery with Murderbot as the rogue SecUnit searches for answers in the tragedy that led it to choose “Murderbot” as the name by which it self-identifies. There is a reason Murderbot was able to hack it’s controlling governor module and go rogue and Artifical Condition brings that triggering event into the light. I can’t say enough good things about this series or this author. Everyone should read it!

The Murderbot Diaries has thus far been an excellent introduction to the work of Martha Wells, a new-to-me author, and she is proving to be quite adept at serialized story-telling. Artificial Condition picks up shortly after the finale of All Systems Red, with the murderbot operating as an independent free-agent.

As a formerly-corporate owned SecUnit cyborg, Murderbot's memories were routinely purged, although a few still linger, particularly those surrounding the murder of 57 miners in the wake of a malfunction. Murderbot wants answers, and its journey back to the RaviHyral mining facility sees it taking passage aboard a bot-operated research vessel and getting hired on as a security consultant for a team of scientists.

As with All Systems Red, Artificial Condition presents a pretty basic story enlivened by the character of Murderbot itself. In the prior episode, it was Murderbot's interactions with its human employers that provided a lot of that book's high points. Here, much of the fun lies in seeing how Murderbot relates and responds to the shuttle bot operator, ART (yes, ART is an acronym, but to reveal what it stands for spoils the fun of discovery!).

Wells does a fantastic job bringing the construct of Murderbot to life, exploring the various facets of its artificial intelligence. While Murderbot is a machine first and foremost - and the brief action scenes illustrate quite well the proficiency in violence for which it was built - it still presents an intriguing amount of psychological depth and self-awareness, filtered through a pretty unique perspective.

Returning to narrate is Kevin R. Free, who manages a livelier performance after a fairly monotone reading in the previous go-round. As far as listening experiences go, I haven't found his narration thus far to be completely engrossing, and while I'm not familiar with his work outside of The Murderbot Diaries I do appreciate the growth exhibited by Free over the course of these two novellas. Artificial Condition presents a better narration than book #1, but it's still sadly easy to mentally disengage from and let your mind wander.

Although this audiobook wasn't entirely successful in holding my attention and consistently captivating me, I still found myself enjoying it, even if I did have to rewind a few sections to see what I had missed during moments of distraction. Murderbot is a great, and surprisingly relatable, character, and Artificial Condition helps push the overarching narrative a little bit further forward. Now, onto Rogue Protocol!

Review for publication elsewhere.
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[I posted a review of the first three books in the series.]

An amusing, thoughtful series of novellas

These are a lot of fun. In the first three books in Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries — All Systems Red, Artificial Condition and Rogue Protocol — we follow the adventures of a SecUnit who has hacked its governor module and, therefore, mostly autonomous. It’s a wonderful guide to this setting, and in each of these books we are given a little more detail on how the universe is set up and runs. All the while, the SecUnit (who does get a couple of personalized names in the books) struggles with its distaste and dislike of humans, and a stubborn urge to protect them. (They’re just so soft and feckless, after all…)

I don’t want to delve too deeply into the plots, as they are all quite short and it would likely throw out too many spoilers. Nevertheless, it may be helpful to provide at least one synopsis, so here’s the official one for All Systems Red:

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

These events kick off a journey of discovery for the Murderbot (a nickname it gave itself after a deadly event pre-All Systems Red), as it tries to carve out a space for itself in a universe that treats bots and SecUnits with disdain, as less-than-human, and yet has become almost completely dependent on them. This disdain is pretty much shared by the Murderbot, though, who oftentimes makes it clear that there is nothing more annoying in the universe than humans…

“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.)” [Rogue Protocol]

Murderbot must navigate a series of adventures in which is unwittingly finds itself embroiled — from the investigation in the first novella; to an accidental protection detail as it investigates the events that led itself to bestow that monicker (in Artificial Condition); and then yet another surprise stint protecting a group of sketchy humans while it hunts for evidence to take down a mega-corporation (in Rogue Protocol). All of this when, really, all it wants to do is watch its favourite soap operas.

This brings me nicely on to what makes this series stand out: Murderbot itself, and its interactions with not only the various humans it comes into contact with, but also other bots/artificial intelligences. Easily my favourite was ART, in Artificial Condition. (I really don’t want to spoil who that is, because part of the joy of that character comes from learning about it as you read.) And Miki… poor, dear Miki, in the third book.

Murderbot itself is an interesting character, and especially the interplay between its ambivalence towards humans, and its persistent, frustrating desire to protect them from themselves. All of this, and Murderbot also suffers from an anxiety disorder…

“So, I’m awkward with actual humans. It’s not paranoia about my hacked governor module, and it’s not them; it’s me. I know I’m a horrifying murderbot, and they know it, and it makes both of us nervous, which makes me even more nervous. Also, if I’m not in the armor then it’s because I’m wounded and one of my organic parts may fall off and plop on the floor at any moment and no one wants to see that.” [All Systems Red]

This anxiety, combined with Murderbot’s dislike of humans and their mores makes for plenty of awkward, oft-amusing moments, whether the humans in question are hostile towards our protagonist (at which point, it frequently ponders how stupid they are when bitching out an android specifically designed to put them down); or when they are are more progressive, and believe that androids deserve certain freedoms and shouldn’t be treated as non-humans (at which point, Murderbot attempts to avoid all instances in which it will be encouraged to talk about its feelings).

Wells’s writing is fantastic, and the author keeps the story moving along at a pleasant clip — i.e., not too rushed, but nor does she get bogged down with info-dumping, etc. The books are filled with amusing asides, observations and turns of phrase (“After a subjective half hour and an objective 3.4 seconds”). For example:

“Young humans can be impulsive. The trick is keeping them around long enough to become old humans. This is what my crew tells me and my own observations seem to confirm it.” [Artificial Condition]

There’s a strong temptation to quote liberally from these three novellas, but I will resist. Needless to say, if you’re looking for a lighter science fiction adventure series, one that you can read relatively quickly, then the Murderbot Diaries should suit perfectly. Each book is interesting in itself, and I like the way a bigger picture is being unveiled over the course of the series. The humour is just right, as is the action, and neither overwhelm the conversation the books seem to be having with the reader — the classic one about A.I.s and their sense of self. Only, this time, the perspective is from that of an android. With issues.

Very highly recommended. I really enjoyed these, and can’t wait to read the final book!

The good news is that I still love Murderbot and that I now also love ART.

The bad news is that I unfortunately don't like this book as much as the first one. I couldn't get into the story until half way through it.

I still very much look forward to reading the next awkward adventures of Murderbot!

The adventures of Murderbot continue in Artificial Condition! If you've not read All Systems Red, perhaps hop on that. The adventures of the sequel are in some ways a repeat of the formula from book one, with new variations, but suffice it to say that Murderbot's snarky personality will continue to put a smile on your face, and its unwitting heroism will continue to endear it to readers.

No longer property of the all-powerful company, the rogue security unit that calls itself Murderbot is on another adventure, surrounded by a new cast of supporting characters. In order to learn more about a bloody incident from its past, Murderbot must hitch a ride to the mining facility where the incident occurred and pose as an augmented human security consultant in order to gain a work permit that will allow it access. For Murderbot, who has always been more comfortable being perceived as an inconsequential machine by the humans around it, this is quite the change.

En route, our grumpy, anti-social SecUnit finds itself stuck with a meddling research transport ship that takes way more interest in its affairs than Murderbot is comfortable with. Some of the most introspective bits of this novella are front-loaded in the scenes with Murderbot and ART (so-named by Murderbot, and it stands for something just as facetious). Murderbot is slow to accept ART's interference, but for the first time, we see Murderbot share its favorite media shows with someone else... another AI who has different experiences and relates differently to representation of AI characters in the media and their relationships with humans. It all reflects back on how Murderbot's and ART's experiences of the world are both similar and different. Readers who identify with Murderbot's media obsession will rejoice!

But when Murderbot arrives at the mining facility with a new set of human clients to keep alive and a side mission of its own, we're back into action-packed territory more reminiscent of the first book. Murderbot's new clients are a group of vulnerable young scientists who seem determined to walk into an obvious trap in order to recover data that was stolen from them, and Murderbot continues to struggle with how it feels about... you know... helping people.

Each of these first two installments has left off on a faint note of uncertainty, with a feeling that the formulaic narratives on offer are insufficient in Murderbot's quest for self-realization. In the first book, Murderbot met people who were willing to offer it a type of freedom... but not the type it wanted. In the sequel, Murderbot may find the answers it seeks about "incident" in question, but not the clarity it hopes those answers will impart. I'm holding out to award a full five stars to one (0r both) of the forthcoming books in the series, where I presume Murderbot's adventures will culminate in some big revelations and emotional payoff. But until then, these are still some of the most entertaining and enjoyable books I've read in a long time.

I adore this uncompromisingly true-to-herself Murderbot and am thrilled to have more adventures (and fascinating character studies) to share and gush about with my customers.

Ohhhhh do I love Murderbot! I love Murderbot's snarky voice and desperate vulnerability. I love Murderbot's DEEPLY reluctant compassion.

And I love, love, love watching Murderbot FINALLY make a friend in this novella, when a powerful and scary transport figures out what Murderbot (who's pretending to be an augmented human, not a SecBot, in this adventure) really is. Their interactions are so fantastic! The transport is even smarter than Murderbot but also even worse at social interactions - and this part made me laugh out loud, as Murderbot introduces the transport to the joys of science fiction TV shows (after first ordering it to STOP criticizing any lack of plausibility):

"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." <3 <3 <3

Murderbot copes with its emotional pain by denying and ignoring it. ART (the transport) forces Murderbot to confront it, again and again - and, from the beginning, refuses to accept the terrible things Murderbot thinks about itself. Murderbot is angry and sarcastic in response - and together, they make a fantastic and often hilarious team as they set out to find out the truth of Murderbot's past AND pass it off as an augmented human despite its intense social anxiety.

"Yes the giant transport bot is going to help the construct SecUnit pretend to be human. This will go well."

Of course, because Murderbot has a deeply soft heart beneath its veneer of snarky cynicism, it ends up looking after more vulnerable humans and - of course - getting attached all over again, which gets it into even more trouble. And of course it takes on responsibility for so much more than it should have to.

And of course, I loved every single moment of it.

I can't wait to read novella #3!

4/5 Stars

Murderbot.... Murderbot.... does whatever a Murderbot does.

On a voyage of self-discovery, Murderbot goes back to its roots to find how and why it went rogue. Helping Murderbot along is a Research Transport vessel humorously coined 'ART' (you'll find out the meaning when you begin reading) and the two head off toward the mining facility where it all went down.

What keeps me coming back to these novels is the character study that is Murderbot. The personality that Wells has instilled in her main character shines through on each and every page, and the addition of ART adds another much needed element to the storyline. ART challenges each decision Murderbot makes, which creates multiple internal dilemmas and forces Murderbot to reveal details otherwise kept under wraps.

Compared to All Systems Red, Artificial Condition offers a little more world-building and a smidgen of character development for a couple of the humans, but you really don't read these novellas (hence the word NOVELLA) for fully fleshed out environments or characters. You read them because Murderbot is, oddly enough, a protagonist you can get behind; one you can Netflix & Chill with, and I don't mean sexy time. Murderbot loves soap operas and wants you to enjoy them just as much.

If you loved All Systems Red, of course you will read Artificial Condition. If you haven't given the series a chance, I implore you to do so.

Last time we left Murderbot trying to disguise itself when trying to leave the space station (in All system red), and now we meet it again while he travels on a research space ship.

This time it finds also a friend to share the tv series and that will help it during its adventures, and it's impossible not to love them.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.

In ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, it's hard out there for a Murderbot who just wants to catch up on tv shows and be left alone. Murderbot keeps making friends and allies no matter how much it tries to go solo. When we last left Murderbot, it ditched an opportunity to be contracted to the PreservationAux crew befriended in the previous novella. Murderbot wanted freedom and it's hard to be considered free if you're still legally owned by another person. Murderbot ends up working with a transport ship that's just as curious about television and humanity. The strange friendship that blossoms between Murderbot and the ship, ART (or 'Asshole Research Transport' if you're nasty), is absolutely endearing and carries ARTIFICIAL CONDITION. As much as Murderbot complains about the noisiness of the ship, it's clear that they rely on each other.

To get access to a mining facility and to determine whether it was responsible for a massacre there, Murderbot has to work as a security consultant for three scientists looking to reclaim stolen data from a corporation. Obviously, everything is a trap and humans have far too much disregard for their personal safety. As a security consultant, Murderbot slips a little more toward humanity. It names itself. It wears civilian clothing rather than the power armour. It has to talk out it's plans rather than staring someone into submission. The three researchers were fairly nondescript and forgettable, only one of them plays a vital role in the end of the novella. I would have been happier if the novella just ditched the human characters once Murderbot got to the mining facility.

ARTIFICIAL CONDITION wraps up storylines nicely but always seems to be missing the character work in its humans. The robots are so interesting and personable, while all the human characters feel like interchangeable scientists. I'm not sure it would have made any difference to the plot at all if the human sidekicks ended up being the same characters from the first novella. It also feels like Murderbot is just coasting through the whole novella, it doesn't need to try too hard to protect the scientists. The only time it gets into trouble is when the scientists completely ignore orders.

Murderbot seems to hold different levels of respect for different types of robots, especially for ComfortUnits (or Sexbots as Murderbot calls them). By the end of the novella Murderbot has a little more empathy for ComfortUnits, but it doesn't feel like enough. The novella would have benefited from turning the ComfortUnit into a full side character. There's a lot of drama that can be mined from robots dealing with whether to prioritize their human owners or other robots. ARTIFICIAL CONDITION is a fun follow up to All Systems Red. Like any fun tv show, it's easily consumable if you don't go looking for too much depth.

The second in the Murderbot Diaries finds the protagonist--a rogue Security cyborg--heading to the remote mining station where it once killed a lot of people, for a reason that it doesn't remember. It wants to know if the killing was before or after it hacked its governor, making it free to act on its own. It convinces a bot-piloted cargo vessel, a research transport, to take it as a passenger. ART, as Murderbot dubs it, is kind of a jerk, but the two form an uneasy alliance.

Murderbot is an appealing character, still figuring out who it is and how to act on its own. Slow to trust, it nevertheless needs company--even though it doesn't think it does.

A fine continuation in a compelling series of novellas.

For a second book, Artificial Condition stays strong and moves the plot along. I loved the interactions between Murderbot and ART as well as seeing how Murderbot acts around humans when not having to pretend to still having a working governor module. There's a perfect balance between humor and action and the short page count is perfectly used. I'm extremely excited to continue this series.

If I had my way it would be a definite purchase for the library as would All Systems Red but our budget for sff books is pitiful. I enjoyed this installment even more than the first one. The murderbot is lrarning both about itself and about the supposed massacre it doesn't entirely remember. Dark, caustic and a whole lot of fun.

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 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!

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

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…

This is the second novella in the Murderbot series. Definitely don't have to read the first book to know what's happening.

One of the things I didn't like about the first novella was the vague reference to what happened "before" when a bunch of people died and Murderbot seemed to think they were responsible for it. In this book, we get to go and discover what happened. So that was a blessing.

Another thing I didn't like was the endless (and I do mean endless) snark from the bot. That was reduced her a little bit as the bot tries to deal with what happened before and how to reconcile that with itself.

Also, we got a new story about the bot acting as a security consultant for a group of humans so it can get to the mining colony where the incident happened years ago. And, of course, the humans act stupidly and Rin (the murderbot's name here) has to rescue them as well.

That sounds promising, doesn't it? Why on earth would he only give it two stars???

Because it was boring. It was another of those stories where things ALMOST happen all the way until the end when tradition dictates there must be some sort of final conflict. For example, about 50% of this story is Rin talking to a ship nicknamed ART. On and on and on and on...then, thankfully, when the action starts to ALMOST happen, ART helps Rin and at least made sense for spending so much time talking.
Again, still no real clue why it is called a murderbot - the look into its past gave no indication and, without spoilers, was a pretty big letdown.
Also, everything is so easily resolved - each and every incident that comes along Rin can solve with a wave of its metaphorical technology-wand. And that gets annoying. Need to get past security? Just hack the system. Need to not be seen? Just hack the cameras. Need to make sure no one knows you were there? Just hack the hard drive and wipe it. So easy, there was no real conflict in this at all.

Going to give the third book a go. Just out of purely wanting something good to come from this series...


Paul
ARH