I don’t know what I can say about this one that y’all haven’t already said! I’m very late to the party, but am enjoying myself immensely anyway.
Murderbot is supposed to be a mindless security unit, doing whatever the company or the clients who rented it tell it to do. Murderbot hacked itself so it doesn’t have to follow anybody’s instructions, but cares just enough about its job protecting the humans that it half-heartedly does that job anyway, in between watching all its favorite TV shows.
The humans Murderbot has been assigned to protect are surveying a planet, doing general sciency stuff that wouldn’t seem likely to get you killed, but then another team on the other side of the planet gets brutally wiped out by a squad of rogue security units. Murderbot has to protect its team before the same thing happens to them. They all work together to solve the mystery of who’s trying to kill them and why, and Murderbot earns a spot on their team whether it likes it or not.
And it decidedly does not, which is delightful. Murderbot would rather keep its helmet on, or if that’s not allowed, turn and face the wall so it doesn’t have to speak to or make eye contact with the humans. It doesn’t want to be friends, it doesn’t want to deal with humans and their emotions, and it doesn’t want to do much of anything that anybody else tells it to.
This is a novella, so we don’t get a ton of detail about the bad guys or the planet or the company that seems to be in charge of everything, but I’m looking forward to finding out more! Here’s to slacking and not letting anybody boss us around!
Favorite lines: “I hate having emotions about reality; I’d much rather have them about Sanctuary Moon.” [Murderbot’s favorite TV show]
“I can’t even do the half-assed version of this stupid job if I have to talk to humans.”
