For those of us who have been following the exploits of Murderbot from that first diary, every new book proves more and more that Dr. Ratthi is correct, "It is a person!" This time we find our favorite bot/human construct still on the planet it first visited with A.R.T. (Perihelion) and its crew. They have all remained there in an effort to assist the colonists against Barish-Estranza's efforts to seize them as an unpaid labor force. Dr. Mensah and Murderbot's friends from the Preservation Alliance are working with A.R.T.'s crew to prevent the colonists from being forcibly conscripted by the corporation.
Research into the colony's original charter, negotiations with various factions among the colonists, and repairs on A.R.T.'s wormhole drive, are just some of the urgent work being done by the various humans. Despite the fact that it hates planets ("There's dust and weather, and something always wants to eat the humans."), Murderbot is on the surface assisting a crew that are repairing communication routers. And everything goes wrong, as it generally does. Can Murderbot protect its group of humans as they encounter homicidal ag-bots, suspicious enclaves of colonists, and hostile corporate employees?
What makes Murderbot so enjoyable to read about? So many things. There are the science fiction elements of robots, cyborgs, AI, and space travel. There are also fights for survival against carnivorous fauna, pirates, mutants, and other deadly threats. There are Murderbot's observations of human social conventions and other interactions and the oftentimes deadpan humor of its opinions. For example, "Granted, I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other." But I think what really draws us in is how much we can all relate to its struggle to figure out what it wants from life - not what is is told it is supposed to want, but what it truly desires for itself.
If you enjoy sci-fi, cyberpunk, and similar genres, you must surely have heard of Murderbot by now. If you have somehow managed to resist giving the series a try, give in to temptation and binge on it. I must confess...I have read the previous titles so often that I have reached the cap set by Goodreads on listing read dates for each of them. And I will. not. stop.
Just released on November 14 - and also available on Audible. Get a copy now and enjoy it during long winter nights. (I read an advance copy provided by the publisher for review purposes, but then purchased the audio book, too.)
