Murderbot Diaries #2 and #3

 Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (2018), 158 pages

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (2018), 159 pages

I am loving this series. You really just need to read them. Both of these books (entries?) find our intrepid explorer continuing on his quest to figure out his murderous past while reluctantly trying to stop evil corporations from destroying the universe. Much to his dismay, he is becoming more and more human like and can't shake his need to protect them. I particularly like his snarky interactions with other Artificial Intelligences. Murderbot never fails to let you know exactly what he thinks and it is hilarious. 

The Murderbot Diaries - All Systems Red

 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells (2017), 160 pages

I am late to these books, but I am loving them so far. Admittedly, I watched the TV version first and was hooked. I know people always say the book is better, but I think the TV series did a pretty good job of capturing the first book. Murderbot (self-named) is a SecUnit who has managed to hack his programming so that he is no longer beholden to the company that controls him. He has gone rogue, but in a subtle way. He is still doing his security job, but with a bit more internal attitude. He is also addicted to watching Space telenovelas. He has ended-up on a security detail with free-thinking explorers who treat him more like a human than an android. This has him conflicted. The book follows the team’s planetary explorations and Murderbot's evolving relationship to himself and to the crew. Included in this is a good amount of snark. 

Automatic Noodle

 Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (2025), 163 pages

There is a lot to unpack in this short book. It is hard to even know where to begin, but I very much enjoyed the concept. A group of restaurant service robots in the not-so-distant future find themselves abandoned by their owners. They decide to take their future into their own hands and re-open the restaurant, but with better food. And they succeed! Except, as in real-life, there are those who want to spoil a good thing through their own xenophobia and biases. This is a thought-provoking look into the future of technology while also touching upon current day issues of immigration, economics, and resilience.

Exiles

Exiles by Mason Coile, 224 pages

While a few robots have gone ahead to prepare the space, the first three permanent human inhabitants of the new Mars colony are finally on their way. But when they arrive, they find half the base destroyed and one of the three robots missing. Following protocols, the three astronauts must interrogate the remaining two robots, who have developed identities and personalities in the absence of human input, and determine what happened, and if the humans are safe to stay — not that they have a way to get home, but at least if they solve the mystery, they can be reasonably assured that they're not going to have a rogue robot kill them in their sleep.

This is an odd mix of locked-room mystery and space horror, all tied up in a fairly short but insanely creepy book. I wish the author had taken a couple more pages to flesh out some of the backstory. The "logic" of the robots didn't always make sense, and I feel like the author may have used robotic logic only when it was convenient to the story. Still, if you'd like a good Mars-based scare, give this one a whirl. It's a quick read.

Fugitive Telemetry

 Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, 168 pages.

When a dead human shows up on Preservation, Murderbot has to make sure that it doesn't indicate a threat to Dr. Mensah. Even when it becomes clear that the Murder is unrelated, Murderbot is still pulled into the investigation with Station Security (who are SO unprepared to handle a murder). 

This was a fun little murder mystery. It was a pleasure to get to see Murderbot doing what it's good at, although I do wish there were slightly more clues to help the reader solve the case. I also had to check several times to make sure I hadn't accidentally read books out of order, because I think this story realistically makes more sense coming before book 5. This was a funny novella, and a worthy continuation to the series. 

Network Effect

 Network Effect by Martha Wells, 350 pages.

Murderbot is branching out, taking an escort job after a lot of convincing from its humans. A job that goes very wrong when it ends up kidnapped with one of the more vulnerable humans by forces much more incomprehensible than the average (very comprehensible) corporate nonsense. Then even more wrong when it finds out an old friend is in trouble, and it has to decide how much its willing to risk for a rescue.

I have mixed feeling about this book. On the one hand, it was very nice to see Murderbot being forced to confront emotional vulnerability and do some growing about it. On the other hand, this book has way more technobabble than most of the rest of the series, and a lot of it is plot relevant, which made this novel a little harder to follow for me. I did still enjoy it though, and will continue the series. 

Automatic Noodle

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, 176 pages

When former military robot Staybehind and his mechanical coworkers wake up in a ruined restaurant, they quickly realize that the corporation that was running the restaurant has abandoned them. Determined to remain free and choose their own path, the robots embark upon their own restaurant venture, Authentic Noodles, hoping that nobody will realize that they don't have a human running things. What starts out great (fantastic online ratings, rave reviews about the tasty noodles) turns sour when they start to get review-bombed by anti-robot online trolls. They'll have to learn to lean on one another and give it everything they've got to survive.

Set in a post-war San Francisco — the war being that of California's successful fight for independence from the USA — this book is thought-provoking, heartwarming, and has the ability to make you crave noodles you've never tasted. Newitz created some amazing characters, and I would love to read more about Staybehind and his friends. Highly recommended.

*This book will be published Aug. 5, 2025.

A selection of April graphic novels

When to Pick a Pomegranate by Yasmeen Abedifard (2024) 80 pages

I'm not certain I understood everything the author/artist is trying to express. In the last couple years I've screened quite a few indie Iranian films, but as an Iranian-American there are symbols from Ms. Abedifard's Persian culture that I don't quite grasp. I do recognize a creation story. The woman and the pomegranate are reflections of each other, as stated in the synopsis. There are many themes expressed. Like Eve in the garden, the woman is naked throughout and there is sensuality portrayed at times. It is quite short without a ton of text, so like poetry it is open to many interpretations.

Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry by Julian Peters (2020) 168 pages

Quick read as all the poems are short. I like the different styles Peters is able to use to share his interpretations of each. Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" was especially impactful. The modern day take on William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us" is also cool.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein by Michael Walsh (2025) 112 pages

I love the art and new backstory. The character designs are still Karloff, Clive, and the rest of the cast from the 1931 feature. Many of the panels and pages are screen captures from the film, but there is enough that is original here, scenes that don't appear in the film, to make this worth your time. The new angle of the kid observing Dr. Frankenstein and Fritz works well for a different perspective. Walsh gives us background on where the body parts come from and how each affects the creature, which I like. The last issue is the weakest in this regard. I hope Frankenstein's Bride also gets this comic treatment and I would enjoy one focused on Igor from Son of Frankenstein after the rest of the classic Universal Monsters.

R.U.R.: The Karel Capek Classic adapted by Katerina Cupova (2020) 264 pages

Translated into English this year. I've read the stageplay from the 1920s a couple times. There is a great introduction about the history of the play and how it brought "Robot" to language. The copy I bought had a couple printing errors, two pages were duplicated. The art style looks a bit like Al Hirschfeld, it has that 1920s to 1950s modernism, which is perfect. The adapter was free to change the order of events a little and express things more clearly, especially early on. For instance, Helena from the Humanity League is more resistant to the sudden marriage proposal from CEO Domin than in the play. But it does follow the events pretty closely otherwise. It starts with such big ideas, but as the story moves along it doesn't pay off many of the concepts. Later sci-fi worlds with artificial life like Terminator and Westworld would do better.

Howl: A Graphic Novel poetry by Allen Ginsberg with art by Eric Drooker (2010) 223 pages

I saw the movie Howl back in 2010 and was fascinated by the animated portions. This graphic version is from the art work by Eric Drooker that led to the animation in the film. I don't read poetry that often, so, yet again, I doubt I understand all of its references and the meaning behind it. The poem, of course, overcame censorship trials and obscenity charges. The second section about Moloch is what I mainly remember from the film. Moloch always reminds me of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the gears and furnace in the factory. With the time to read page by page I enjoyed trying to unpack the first section, which is the longest.

The Murderbot Diaries #4-5

 

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (2018) 163 pages

Network Effect by Martha Wells (2020) 350 pages

As I mentioned, I'm continuing with the GraphicAudio editions on Hoopla narrated by David Cui Cui and a full cast. Book 4 Exit Strategy is my favorite so far. Instead of constantly introducing new episodic characters, characters from Book 1 return. Murderbot, the Sec Unit, has grown in his ability to maintain relationships somewhat. He's still anxious and cynical though. The book still has the same formula with action and futuristic corporate maneuvers. It feels good to check in with Dr. Mensah and her Preservation crew of non-corporate scientists. On audio the first four books are all under three hours. Book 5 Network Effect is over eight hours. The first full-length novel continues to have the Preservation crew working with MurderBot and developing deeper bonds together. Dr. Mensah's daughter is a major character. Plus ART, the AI of a spaceship, who might be "in love" with MurderBot, returns. More pages allow for more twists and turns in the plot with alien remnants and the constant threat of evil corp GrayCris. It is enjoyable, but doesn't quite reach the heights of Book 4.

The Murderbot Diaries #1-3

All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017) 152 pages

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (2018) 159 pages

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (2018) 150 pages

I really like the GraphicAudio dramatized adaptations available on Hoopla. They are narrated by David Cui Cui with a full cast of actors providing the other character voices. I'm going to make my way through the whole series because they are each short and that works for my commutes. Murderbot is an unnamed construct (part robot, part organic) Security Unit. Corporations are still very much in charge in this future. He was contracted for Security on a certain planet and under mysterious circumstances he murdered many people. After an attempted memory-wipe and going rogue, he is a free-agent Sec Unit with a lot of guilt. Murderbot is what he calls himself. No one else does. As a character, he is coded as being neurodivergent. He is always anxious and prefers watching media, particularly sci-fi serials, to in-person interactions. Each of these three novels contain some futuristic corporate intrigue and a couple scenes of laser gun action. Murderbot has a quirky way of looking at the world. He is the only recurring character. These three all feel a bit expositional. There is a larger hinted corporate conspiracy that may have major reveals in the fourth book, and characters from book one may return.
 

In the Lives of Puppets

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, 420 pages

Rather than summarize again, I'm going to make you click this link to my previous post about In the Lives of Puppets. Generally speaking, I agree with what I said back in 2023 when I first read it, though I'll admit that chatting about this with the Orcs & Aliens last night made me consider it more critically. That's why I love discussing stuff with this group! If you read and like this one, I highly recommend Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which I'll be posting about one of these days.

All Systems Red

 All Systems Red by Martha Wells, 144 pages.

Murderbot (formally known as a SecUnit) has hacked its regulator and is now outside of anyone's control. Luckily it isn't interested in doing any actual murder, preferring to watch trashy TV and do enough of it's job that nobody realizes it's not under any real obligation to take orders anymore. Unfortunately for its commitment to do as little as possible, a series of dangerous and unpleasant coincidences seem to be increasingly pointing to someone trying to kill the research team it has been assigned to protect, and it is now obligated to get involved. Especially since it is getting troublingly attached to this team.

This was a really fun little novella! Murderbot is a really funny character, and its perspective is a unique twist on the story. I'm excited to see where Wells is going with this, and luckily for me I'm coming to this series pretty late, so there are plenty of books to catch up on.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop

 The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz, 118 pages. 

Clara Gutierrez repairs Raises, limited AI companions that are thriving since the creation of true-AI "robots" was banned decades ago for ethical reasons. Technicians like her are needed everywhere, which really enables her nomadic lifestyle. When she rolls into Seattle she expects it to be just another stop. What she doesn't expect is to find is a real robot running a tea shop, and what she expects even less is that her feelings for that robot would leave her not wanting to keep moving. 

Sal has been running the tea shop of her original owner for well over 250 years, and is desperately trying to help the cafe reach it's 300th anniversary, a task that keeps feeling harder and harder with her own failing body and the anti-robot vandalism that keeps striking the cafe. When she and Clara start spending more time things start changing for the first time in centuries, which is a lot to handle.

This was a really cute little novella. I was impressed by how well the author was able to flesh out the world in so few pages. I also found the romance pretty cute, which is also less common for me in short fiction. This is a nice, warm little story. It almost feels like a cup of warm tea itself.

Exhalation

 Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang, 350 pages.

Kara just beat me to writing about this month's Orcs & Aliens book, so I'm going to go ahead and link her review here.

I thought this was a really neat collection! It does what I tend to like short story collections to do and is filled with stories that are more about keeping you thinking rather than being focused on narrative. What I also found really cool about it's collection was that by focusing pretty hard on a couple of themes (I found themes of personhood and free will to be particularly prominent) it managed to give a very nuanced examination of them. It felt at times like the collection was in conversation with itself, which was very interesting. This was a great book club discussion, and I definitely think the stories contained within deserve the many awards they've won.
 

Hard Reboot

Hard Reboot by Django Wexler, 149 pages

For a novella about giant fighting robots, this book packs a heck of a punch, covering everything from generational class-based prejudice to academic integrity to our increasing reliance on technology. Regan wrote an excellent review here, so I'll not try to reinvent the wheel, except to say that I too am excited to talk to the Orcs & Aliens book group about this on Monday!

Fault Tolerance

Fault Tolerance by Valerie Valdes, 406 pages

After dealing with an interstellar mafia and a devious plot involving mind-controlling Pokemon-esque creatures (just go with it), the crew of La Sirena Negra is ready for a bit of downtime. But then some ominous monoliths (is there such a thing as non-ominous monoliths?) have to go and appear at every intergalactic gate, blocking traffic between star systems and threatening to destroy everyone who doesn't bend to the will of those who control the monoliths (who this is isn't exactly clear at the start). And OF COURSE La Sirena Negra's co-captain, Eva Innocente, is the being chosen to hunt down some super-powerful, super-huge mechs to fight the monoliths' creators. Cue a dangerous universe-wide scavenger hunt, complete with plenty of fighting, running, and off-the-cuff decisions that are equal parts stupid and brave.

I really love this series (start with Chilling Effect), which is equal parts space adventure, found family wonderfulness, and cat jokes. My only complaints about it are completely my fault: it's been two years since I read the last installment in this series, so I'd forgotten what was going on when the story picked up; and I recently read a different book with giant space robots, which certainly colored my mental image of the mechs in this book. (Thankfully, the other book had a different enough plot and characters and relationship between robot and human that I was able to keep the stories straight.) Anyway, this was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to read what Valdes comes up with next!

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White, 451 pages

Jazz pianist August Kitko is prepared to die. Giant space robots are heading toward Earth with destruction on their minds, Gus just screwed up a fledgling relationship with pop star Ardent Violet, and they're both performing at a rich guy's apocalypse party, so being ready to die is kind of OK in that situation, right? But then one of the robots, Greymalkin, hears Gus riffing on the piano during Greymalkin's inexplicable fight with another robot. Suddenly, Gus is kidnapped by Greymalkin, who turns out to be one of a handful of rebel robots who are NOT bent on wiping out humanity, and Gus's musical stylings fit so well with the robots' method of communication, so why not co-opt him as an unwitting translator?

I realize that's a LOT to process in one paragraph, and considering all of that happens in the first two chapters, it's also a rough way to start the book. However, once I got past those first two chapters, things settled down and the story became a lot more about sacrifice, love, music, mental health, and humanity and less about space robot fights (though there's still plenty of that too). I love White's Salvagers trilogy (starting with A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe), and while this one isn't quite up to that standard yet, I'm definitely curious to see where Gus and Ardent's story goes.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, 152 pages

This sequel to A Psalm for the Wild-Built picks up directly where the first one left off: monk Dex and robot Mosscap are traveling together, heading ultimately toward the City and lots of meetings with academic and political leaders. But along they way, the pair stops at plenty of small villages, giving Mosscap a chance to meet humans and ask its question, "What do humans need?"

Just like the first Monk and Robot book (which you really must read full stop, and definitely before picking up this one), this quiet and contained science fiction story explores humanity, meeting "the other," and what we really need to survive. And what's particularly great is that Chambers never gives us an answer, leaving her readers to figure that out themselves. This is something that Chambers is absolutely masterful at, and it's why I have yet to read one of her books that I haven't completely loved. Highly recommend her as an author, and these books in particular.

Hard Reboot

Hard Reboot by Django Wexler, 149 pages

An apprentice archaeologist has managed to snag a once-in-a-lifetime research trip back to Earth so she can study ancient technology (you'd recognize it as stuff that's slightly more advanced than what we have now). But as soon as she arrives, she falls victim to a young con artist, who convinces her to place a bet on a robot fight. When things go wrong for both the scholar and the con, the two must band together to save themselves.

OK, there's definitely some good stuff in here about prejudice and class and collective history, but let's focus on the real reason to read this: it has giant robots fighting. And that's awesome. It's a short book and it's fun, so give it a whirl.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

 A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, 160 pages.

(Opening Note: I love this cover)

This novella follows Sibling Dex, a devotee of the goddess of small comforts and tea monk who goes from village to village giving a listening ear, a place to rest, and a specially brewed cup of tea to anyone who needs it. However, Dex is feeling trapped and unhappy with their life, even as they believe they are doing good and worthwhile work. The same feeling that drove them from being a garden monk in the city to a tea monk in the first place.

On a whim they decide to go off the map into part of the 50% of the planet that is nature reserve, hoping to find crickets. What they find instead is Mosscap, a wild-built robot who was sent to be the first contact between robots and humans in centuries. They have been sent to check in on the world they left behind so long ago and ask the new question "what do people need?" 

The rest of the novella essentially sets out to explore that question. Strangely, this book and the last book I reviewed (Project Hail Mary, here) pretty much reversed my expectation of them. I expected Project Hail Mary to be interesting mostly for its world building and found instead that it was driven by emotionally rich explorations of personhood and interspecies contact. A Psalm for the Wild-Built which (with the presence of a tea monk as a concept) I expected to be carried by emotionally rich explorations of personhood and interspecies contact was instead primarily carried by the really phenomenal Solarpunk world building. The setting Chambers builds is extremely beautiful in a very hopeful way. It provides a really interesting meditation on the ways that people could live, if we all chose to, in a thousand little details. Definitely an interesting little book. If you want to here more about it, see Kara's post here.