Défaillances systèmes

I was surprised that it was only the length of a novella, but it's a fun read.

As I’m doing a reread of the Murderbot Diaries book 1-3 before starting on the rest, this was book 1. It’s fairly short, straightforward and fastpaced. Read it within the day. On to the next

Murderbot has hacked himself out of main control.

The idea of an android, part bot with lingering organics, gives rise to ideas of a machine that sometimes feels human, a very introverted and relatable human; with its increasing independency situations develop more unexpectedly than what I anticipated, and that kept me reading the whole book almost in one sitting.

The secondary characters add enough depth to the story and help the development of Murderbot throughout it, queer characters are also a welcomed presence.

It was a very fun and fast read 😁

It’s rare to find a compelling sci-fi book that also has a hefty helping of humor and sarcasm baked into its tone. I will definitely be reading more of this series. 

From the plot alone, this novella would be a bit of perhaps cliche science fiction. What makes it both unique and compelling is that the story being told from the perspective of the "Murderbot" (hence The Murderbot Diaries), a cyborg generally treated by society as a piece of equipment.

Martha Wells's writing does a good job of showing Murderbot's personality, its particular anxieties, its relationships towards humans, and general attitudes towards life. Even if the plot is cliche, Murderbot as a character is the opposite.

A socially awkward, traumatized by PTSD, has executive dysfunction, and just wants to be free and watch entertainment streams ... Murderbot is very relatable.