Artificial Condition

The Murderbot Diaries The Murderbot Diaries, #2

by Martha Wells

eBook, 149 pages

English language

Published May 8, 2018 by Tordotcom.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-18693-5
Goodreads:: 35435962

(147 reviews)

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...

1 edition

QuinoaQueen reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

More Murderbot?? Sign me up.

3 stars

Another quick read in which we learn about Murderbot's backstory, get to see it defend new friends (and also call them idiots), and just be a general badass. ART is also lovely, it's quippy dialogue and reaction to Murderbot's downloaded media really solidified how much I like the character.

The plot in this book was a bit less strong than the last one, there's more talking and the action is towards the end. However, with the introduction of such interesting new characters and the evolution of the mystery of Ganaka Pit it's definitely worth the read.

3/5, I suggest this for readers who enjoy casual lgbtq rep, lots of sarcasm, and another book in what has quickly become my bite-size guilty pleasure sci-fi series.

CuriousLibrarian reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I really enjoy these books. I thought the murderbot's relationship with the ship computer was written so well. I'm pacing myself so I don't burn through this series too fast.

V171 reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Just as action packed, funny, and insightful as I expected. I never get over how innocently stupid the humans are written, but you just can't help but want to protect them from their own stupidity, which is undoubtedly how Murderbot feels. I felt like this book dialed up the technical jargon to 11, which was a bit hard to follow, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Michael P reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Much more world-building, and ART is a great character.

ceoln reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Light and fun hard SF

Like the one before, this is light and fun SF, requiring some suspension of disbelief on what our protagonist gets away with, and vast suspension of disbelief about how easy things are to "hack". A quick and enjoyable read.

Kathrin Passig reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Der Plot ist wie beim ersten Teil kaum vorhanden und es ist nicht besonders spannend, weil das Protagonistenkonstrukt auf die eine oder andere Art einfach alles bewerkstelligen kann, aber es ist ein angenehm kurzes Buch, das Setting macht mir weiterhin Spaß und stilistisch ist alles solide. (Erzähltechnisch finde ich es nur ein bisschen inkonsequent, dass jemand, der kein Mensch ist und Menschen seltsam findet, das Geschehen in menschlichen Metaphern beschreibt: "If a bot with a brain the size of a transport could roll its eyes, that was what ART was doing.")

Enno reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Felt much shorter than the first book, but was still fun!

ghostchaser reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Humans always get n the way.

Jason Molenda reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The first longer novella in the muderbot diaries. Murderbot hitches a ride on a ship at the beginning of the book and I loved the interactions between murderbot and ART. Murderbot is planning to investigate a traumatic incident in its past, and takes a job as security for a group of humans who are going to the planet it needs to get to, pretending to be an augmented human instead of a SecUnit.

It's a fun story, but the investigation that was the goal of this book, I don't remember any resolution of that? The whole point in this book is for muderbot to figure out what really happened - it gathers information and then the book loses interest in this entirely? I was so confused. Was it a mcguffin for the story to hang off of? How is murderbot going to develop as a character?

We still have the same basic character traits as the first book, I'm not seeing any development. Murderbot eschews human interaction. Murderbot would prefer to be alone watching tv shows. Murderbot is hyper competent against all the odds -- it can hack all the systems, outwit/defeat all the opponents. I guess that's entertaining a little, but I want more from a book. I guess I'll continue with the next in the series, they're short. I'm hoping to see murderbot progress.

Lord of Candy reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Why is it I lean our protagonist towards female even though we know it's not? Is it the soap opera detail reminding me of a bored housewife who does a job but doesn't care to? I find it interesting that I try and make it an it, but I keep hearing a slightly feminine voice in my head when it/she speaks.

Reeegardless, another fun little trope with our SecUnit. It doesn't know what it wants, but it does want to know why it did an atrocity in the past. Of course, we're going to run into some needy humans who require assistance and what's a Murderbot supposed to do but keep other humans from murdering its humans. I felt a little cyclical here with the trope since we just left one with a similar one but the arc is what we are following and it's conclusion while not what I …

anaulin reviewed Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Review of 'Artificial Condition' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoyed this book better than the first one. I feel like the Murderbot character is starting to be more interesting and developed here. The ART character in this book is great fun, too. Looking forward to the next books in the series.