Also because the success of the series itself rests on her relatability. At the end of the story, Murderbot has had some new experiences with this but I don’t really see her changing yet. As a construct, she has some kind of artificially created autism and her struggles feel familiar to anyone who ever had trouble trying to fit in. I also liked the plot, which involves Murderbot pretending to be a human. I liked that it took another bot instead of a human to push Murderbot forwards over her hesitations. So that brings me back to the characters. There is lots of talk about companies, contracts, bonds, political entities and the logistics of hacking into corridors, transits, nodes, modules, feeds and supply shuttles, and it is all a bit abstract and bland. And the worldbuilding alone is not carrying the series not enough to hook me in. Does an anxiety disorder make a personality? There isn’t much else to her. I understood her and related up to a point, but also got annoyed a bit… and then we have a problem. The crux of whether this series works for you is whether you relate to Murderbot. ART helps her with a mission to find out more about her past. They watch human TV shows together and occasionally Murderbot shuts herself down in annoyance. Much of the humor comes from ART and Murderbot’s interactions. The ship bot has very much its own personality and before soon Murderbot nicknames it ART (Asshole Research Transport). Not having a clear plan for the future, and not wanting to be found out as a rogue bot, she/he hitches a ride on a bot-controlled cargo ship. It is funnier and more interesting, adding some meat to the bones of the first novella.

I liked this one more than the first novella, All Systems Red (although both novellas are quite strong).

The artificial condition