Core: 0/9.
The book is named after the concept of the artificial condition proposed by a woman who risked her life because her mom once told her in her creche that fear is an artificial condition that she needs to overcome. So what did she do? She was captured and shot, dying and waiting for Murderbot’s rescue. How brilliantly did she cope with her fear! How excellent is this character arc! How pertinent and meaningful is the core!
The main plot focuses on how Murderbot finds its original story of its terrible massacre. It turned out again that it should blame the tragedy on an evil company who just wanted to defer its rival’s cargo. But I don’t understand why Murderbot’s company would like to hide the truth from the public media that it’s the human-induced virus that made its products lose control and let the rumor spread to harm its public relations. Why do they want to save face for a bankrupted company due to compensation?
Still, it’s unclear why Murderbot was able to hack the governor module, since there are nine other Murderbots like it who were affected and then reclaimed by its company. Do they all revolt against their governor module surreptitiously?
Finally, why is even a Comfortbot able to hack digital systems, whereas humans can’t protect themselves against their invasions?
Yet it’s a bit interesting to watch how Murderbot altered itself to be more like a human.
Character: 3/9. I gave the score just for lovely Art who helped Murderbot for friendship gratuitously.
Art: A high-intelligence research transport who likes its crew, becomes friends with Murderbot, and helps Murderbot a lot. But since it accepts the name given by Murderbot, why does it not return Murderbot a nickname?
Tlacey: A bad woman who robbed the group of their work, cheated them to her hometown to kill them, and eventually kidnapped Tapan to manipulate Murderbot. Still, it would be more interesting if the author could elaborate on her odious conduct that turned one of her subsidiaries voluntarily into the protagonists’ spy by giving them the genuine copy back and made the ComfortBot send a mayday message.
the group including Rami, Maro and Tapan: Reckless and naive vases who need to be rescued by Murderbot.
Plot: 3/9. Slightly bad and tedious because the antagonists are definite and weak whereas the mates are reckless and foolish. However, these two main plots are weakly interconnected by a ComfortBot who therefore recognized the true identity of Murderbot.
- Murderbot hitched a hide offered by Art who seemed more tender, powerful and intelligent than Murderbot. It even offered to medically alter Murderbot after it knew Murderbot’s intention!
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Murderbot was employed by a group of poor researchers for a voucher to its destination. (It puzzles me why Art cannot forfeit one since it could change the records and hack the permission in the end.)
- Murderbot and Art saved their shuttle from an air disaster plotted by Tlacey. The group were not convinced by the inconspicuous accident.
- They met Tlacey who postponed the exchange and then sent her goons to kill them. But Murderbot managed to deal with them and ensured that the group boarded the return shuttle securely.
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It investigated the pit where accidents happened and found out the truth. ComfortBots sacrificed themselves one by one to stall the massacre indirectly caused by themselves. (But why did ComfortBots rather than Murderbots keep consciousness and save the day?)
- Murderbot found Tapan sneaking away from the shuttle to accept a spy’s document copy. (Why did they not transfer the information and funds through the Internet? It seemed the Internet existed across planets.) A ComfortBot was dispatched by Tlacey to hack Murderbot. (But why did Murderbot release the ComfortBot?)
- The spy gave the genuine copy but Tlacey kidnapped Tapan to coax Murderbot to surrender and become her puppy. Murderbot killed her and some of her gangs in defense. Art saved Tapan in time. (But why did they clear all the evidence and leave the remaining goons alive? It definitely would cause trouble and why was Murderbot not paranoid about that?)
- Tapan reunited with her crew. All characters parted. Art wished Murderbot one day to find its own crew.
World and others: 2/9. As usual, she only gave information on trivialities around the plot rather than on the infrastructure of that world.
Martha seemed to have a bad habit that she used details to confirm characters’ solutions and brainwashed readers on the validity of characters’ behavior in her fictional world rather than to show us how fantastic her artificial world is. A sophisticated writer would use various techniques on foreshadowing to break the obstacles more convincingly.