soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2019-10-08 09:22 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2019-10-08 09:22 pm
The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells
Ahh, the quartet-long arc of Murderbot's complicated feelings about its relationships with other beings and about what it wants to do with itself is so good!
I've been hearing about the Murderbot novellas for a while, but kept on going back and forth on whether to pick them up based on different things I was hearing about them. But finally I decided to give them a try and I'm SO GLAD I DID! And also, actually, super glad I waited till now because it meant I could read all four of them together in one go. I feel like the series arc really benefits from treating it as a four-volume novel rather than as four separate books. Each book has its own story but they build together beautifully. And I think if I'd read the first one on its own I would have been a bit disappointed by it despite all the things that book does well, but because the end of the first book is not even close to the end of Murderbot's arc, I am instead delighted.
Because the thing is. The THING IS. The first book ends with Murderbot deciding that what it really truly wants in life is to be alone, which like, super duper understandable given Murderbot's life so far, but also not actually the kind of emotional story I prefer to read about?
But that is not the end! Throughout each book in the quartet, Murderbot keeps on making the choice to be engaged with other beings, to try to help others, to get to know others. It might also keep saying things about how much it wants to just be left alone to watch its media, but its choices over and over again make it clear that that's not actually the only thing Murderbot wants.
Murderbot finds interrelationships with others to be difficult and emotionally challenging, and deals with its feelings by consuming its favourite media to calm down, which is, uh, very relatable -- and then goes on to continue making efforts at connections.
Murderbot doesn't fall easily into friendship or teamfeels (or crewfeels as the case may be) but it.....wants to be able to. It keeps on throwing itself into actions based on feelings for others, despite how much easier things would be if it just secluded itself with all its media shows. And it can't quite trust enough to be there for potential relationships, for some extremely good reasons. But things are promising friendship-wise between it and Dr Mensah by the end!!
Anyway. I love Murderbot and I love the various humans Murderbot works with/for over the course of the series and I love all the various bots too. ART is incredible and I love it very much and I really want to know more about what sort of university needs a transport ship with that level of capabilities....? And the ComfortUnits from Murderbot's tragic backstory were so good! And Miki!! I was so sad about Miki :(
(Also, as a side-note, group marriages seem to be the normative relationship style in this universe, for people interested in romance etc! Love it. And can't help thinking of them as traditional Marymarch marriages, thanks James Alan Gardner's League of Peoples books for being a formative influence in my youth.)
I've been hearing about the Murderbot novellas for a while, but kept on going back and forth on whether to pick them up based on different things I was hearing about them. But finally I decided to give them a try and I'm SO GLAD I DID! And also, actually, super glad I waited till now because it meant I could read all four of them together in one go. I feel like the series arc really benefits from treating it as a four-volume novel rather than as four separate books. Each book has its own story but they build together beautifully. And I think if I'd read the first one on its own I would have been a bit disappointed by it despite all the things that book does well, but because the end of the first book is not even close to the end of Murderbot's arc, I am instead delighted.
Because the thing is. The THING IS. The first book ends with Murderbot deciding that what it really truly wants in life is to be alone, which like, super duper understandable given Murderbot's life so far, but also not actually the kind of emotional story I prefer to read about?
But that is not the end! Throughout each book in the quartet, Murderbot keeps on making the choice to be engaged with other beings, to try to help others, to get to know others. It might also keep saying things about how much it wants to just be left alone to watch its media, but its choices over and over again make it clear that that's not actually the only thing Murderbot wants.
Murderbot finds interrelationships with others to be difficult and emotionally challenging, and deals with its feelings by consuming its favourite media to calm down, which is, uh, very relatable -- and then goes on to continue making efforts at connections.
Murderbot doesn't fall easily into friendship or teamfeels (or crewfeels as the case may be) but it.....wants to be able to. It keeps on throwing itself into actions based on feelings for others, despite how much easier things would be if it just secluded itself with all its media shows. And it can't quite trust enough to be there for potential relationships, for some extremely good reasons. But things are promising friendship-wise between it and Dr Mensah by the end!!
Anyway. I love Murderbot and I love the various humans Murderbot works with/for over the course of the series and I love all the various bots too. ART is incredible and I love it very much and I really want to know more about what sort of university needs a transport ship with that level of capabilities....? And the ComfortUnits from Murderbot's tragic backstory were so good! And Miki!! I was so sad about Miki :(
(Also, as a side-note, group marriages seem to be the normative relationship style in this universe, for people interested in romance etc! Love it. And can't help thinking of them as traditional Marymarch marriages, thanks James Alan Gardner's League of Peoples books for being a formative influence in my youth.)