Artificial Condition

Locations
Call Number: BOCD Science Fiction
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	BOCD Science Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Compact disc.
Narrated by Kevin R. Free.
Artificial Condition continues The Murderbot Diaries, a science fiction series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure." 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.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A stellar (ha) followup submitted by eknapp on August 24, 2020, 3:44pm Murderbot journeys to the mining site where he once massacred 53 people, purportedly due to a malfunction. Along the way he befriends a data-crunching research-vessel AI, which helps him modify his appearance to be less recognizably murderbot-ish. As a sidequest he takes a security contract for three young scientists who are trying to get murdered to death by a greedy mining magnate.

It's good. MD2 delves deeper into AI psychology, begins to explore the mystery of Murderbot's origins, and delivers an exciting high tech game of deadly cat-and-mouse. All of this in a tight, no-fat 160 pages.

One significant character is nonbinary. I really liked this element as a signal that society had changed over time, that the social had advanced with the technological. That the setting isn't "You know, just like today except robots and spaceships!" But the unfamiliar gender-neutral pronouns (te, ter, terself) did make for bumpy reading. I'm clumsy with changes to core vocabulary.

Complaint: once again, the human clients' only real characteristics are 'nice' and 'intelligent', and the human antagonists' only real feature is 'sinister'. This isn't as big a drag as it could have been because the series is so focused on Murderbot's inner life. But it would be nice to have actual characters fill these roles.

Adventerous submitted by ramaleone on July 19, 2021, 11:54am The perfect book for anyone looking for a fast paced, quick read sci fi adventure!

Absolutely recommend! submitted by Cherie on June 15, 2023, 10:03am I really enjoyed the first novella of this series, but I LOVED this volume. It was fantastic to get to see Murderbot develop more of his humanistic side, as well as make choices for himself. The introduction of A.R.T. was absolute gold! The humorous dialog between the two characters was exactly what was needed to balance the dramatic parts of the story.

This story compared to the last one has such a different feel, but in a good way. In the first book, Murderbot was VERY adamant that he was not human in any way, that he didn't have emotions, that he didn't like interacting with humans at all. He just wanted to be left alone to watch his shows. In this volume, now that he's a "free" bot, he begins to accept that he has emotions and realizes that he actually MISSES being around humans. All of this while trying to discover if he really murdered an entire mining crew, and coming to terms with his feelings after he learns the truth.