The Murderbot Diaries #6-7

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (2021) 168 pages 

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023) 245 pages

 
As of now, this is the conclusion of the series. I continued with the same GraphicAudio editions with a full cast. I really enjoyed book 6. It is the most straightforward murder mystery of the series. The Sec Unit uses his skills to be a detective on Preservation Station with help from many returning characters. The security staff on the station does not often have to solve murders, so his surveillance and analysis skills are very helpful. Book 7 has the return of the AI ship system ART, who I suddenly realized was missing from the murder mystery adventure previously. This is the first time we really get to see what the Preservation crew does as they go on a planet survey mission. There are colonists, who have faced a dangerous alien contamination incident. Then they learn of a separate colony that the first colony has lost contact with. A small Preservation party travels across the planet to investigate. It becomes a competition to convince the people there that Preservation's humanitarian goals in connection with a University are better for them than the corporation Barish-Estranza's aim to enslave them. The corporation does not present their deal in those terms. Preservation's crew puts together a documentary. It has the excitement of "let's put on a show," but, of course, is more how do we present the most compelling facts to unselfishly help these isolated survivors. A good message to close this series, but I could see this series continuing.

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.

Annihilation

Annihilation / Jeff Vandermeer 195 pgs.

This book is the scientific journal of a biologist who is a member of the 12th expedition into Area X.  No one really knows what has happened to the 11 previous expeditions.  This group of four, the biologist, a psychologist, a surveyor and an anthropologist are highly trained for the mission and sent with specific instructions.  Once they arrive, it becomes obvious very quickly that the mission instructions were incomplete and that they have been lied to by the authorities.  Things go south pretty quickly as they discover and investigate a tunnel that is really more like an underground tower.  The members of the mission quickly start disappearing, dying and turning on each other.

As we read, we discover that the biologist volunteered for the mission because her husband was on an earlier crew.  He returned to her in bodily form but was a changed man who remembered nothing of the mission and soon died of a rare cancer.  This mission is now their connection.

This book is kind of creepy and out of my normal zone. For that reason I enjoyed the exposure to it but doubt it will go far in the 2015 tournament of books.

check our catalog

Laika by Nick Abadzis

Laika by Nick Abadzis, 205 pages.

Laika was the first dog in space; sent up by the Soviets in Sputnik II in 1957. She was sort of a terrier, samoyed mix. In this richly imagined graphic novel by Nick Abadis, Laika was loved by some people in her life and abandoned by others, and then loved again before she was lost in space.  One of too many puppies born to a wealthy Muscovite, she is sent off with her siblings to a poorer Russian family, where she is loved by the little girl of the family who is eventually forced to give her up, Laika then begins a journey that sends her off into history. Abadis does a wonderful job telling the story of Kudryavka, as Laika is first named here, and of Sergei Korolev, head of the Sputnik program, and  of Yelena Alexandrovna Dubrovsky, Laika's handler, care-giver and last friend.

Check our catalog.

At the Mountains of Madness

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft, adapted by I.N.J. Culbard  124 pp.

This graphic novel is based on a Lovecraft story published shortly before his death. A group of scientists set out to explore Antarctica and take samples of plants, animals, and minerals. Upon finding ancient pieces of slate with apparently man-made markings, the group splits up with one group setting out to find the source of these markings while the others remain at base camp. They end up at an unknown mountain range where they discover the bodies of strange creatures in a cave. When base camp loses contact with the explorers a pair sets out to find them. What they discover is an ancient abandoned city built by incredibly advanced creatures. This book wasn't as creepy and gory as the previous Lovecraft adaptation I blogged on. The artwork was much simpler and less dramatic also.