The Murderbot Diaries
I think it’s safe to say my favorite genre is Sci-Fi. Be it games, movies, tv or books. I like space and robots and future tech. Possibly this love comes from watching Star Trek at a very young age. Add comedy and a bit of irreverence, sign me up.
So, when I stumbled upon the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, it checked all the boxes. “I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on company satellites.” That was the first line of the book, and I had never fallen in love with a character so quickly. The series follows Murderbot (a self given name) who is a bot-human construct and a Security Unit who had gone rogue just before the opening of the book. Even though it has free will, it just continued to do its job as a SecUnit until it realized it actually cares for its clients. And it doesn’t like anyone … or anything … except Sanctuary Moon, its favorite soap opera.
There are five small novellas and a novel, but I would start with the first four novellas: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy. Each book had me laughing out loud throughout the entire thing, a few times I actually had to stop and catch my breath I was laughing so hard, and then it hits you right in the feels, and each book had me close to tears if not actually crying.
Every character, location and situation was interesting, and did what sci-fi does best, lets you examine your own world and existence without preaching or telling you how to feel. The Murderbot Diaries has surpassed Project: Hail Mary as my favorite book, and that was a feat, because I really loved Project: Hail Mary. And Martha Wells’ world-building is AMAZING from the locations to the goverments to the corporations. I absolutely love how she describes being and intereacting with sentient robots and computer programs.
Oh, and there’s another installment in the Diaries coming out in November. So excited!