The lines between AI robot and human blur even more in this book with the steps Murderbot takes causing some anxiety and existential ponderings because they make it ‘ harder for me to pretend I was not a person.’ Which is a great moment that flips most freewill-AI sci fi stories on their head as MB finds being a person and having to talk about feelings and do all that people-y stuff to be…well, horrifying. Also how they look, which they’ll have to alter-much to their horror. In this second “episode” being human means looking the part as much as acting, and Murderbot does some rather insightful thinking about how our feelings and thoughts are reflected in our movements.
What is so immediately endearing about this series is the way Wells uses a rogue robot to explore what it means to be human. ‘ I didn’t care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn’t have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it.’ Set directly after All Systems Red, we find Murderbot struggling with finding a purpose and having some unanswered questions about their past which launches a new chapter of mayhem and murderin’! Okay, more like protecting, and begrudgingly so, because for as brutal of an asskicking Murderbot can deliver they mostly just want to ‘ sink into my media downloads for a while and pretend I didn't exist.’ With a new set of characters, and a research AI named ART (dubbed the Asshole Research Transport by MBot) that I absolutely adore, Artificial Condition is a smart, savvy sci-fi good time that expands Wells’ imaginative world and raises the stakes even higher. The snarky, social-anxiety ridden robot with a lot of heart is back in Artificial Condition, Martha Wells second installment in the Murderbot Diaries and if the first book opened the door to this fun and ferocious world, this one pulled me in and ensured I’d be here to stay a long time rooting for Murderbot. ‘ Sometimes people do things to you that you can't do anything about.
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