Platform Decay by Martha Wells
At this point, the Murderbot books are basically comfort reads. If you’ve read enough of them, you have a general idea of what’s going to happen and how things will end up, always accompanied by a healthy dose of snark and sarcasm from Murderbot. In this one, we start off with Murderbot tagging along with Three, another “rogue” SecUnit, at the start of a rescue mission. Said rescue mission goes awry pretty quickly, because this is a Murderbot book.
At this point Murderbot excels at efficiently dealing with technological hiccups (e.g., needing to delete itself from cameras). Its learning curve, and what keeps this book from verging on things being too easy for it, is interacting with unpredictable humans. Not only can their behavior and emotions be unpredictable, but they also have needs that can get in the way, like that pesky need for food and going to the bathroom. Murderbot learns to connect with a different group of humans in Platform Decay. Without giving spoilers, I’ll say that they are connected to other characters we’ve met, and I appreciated that Murderbot had this opportunity, even though it meant we didn’t get to spend much time with characters we already know and love. This was another solid Murderbot entry.
Fair Play by Tove Jansson
Like The Summer Book, Fair Play is told in vignette form. It follows Jonna and Mari, women in their 70s who are old friends and, though this is never expressly stated, likely romantic partners. They are both artists, Jonna working in various mediums, and Mari a writer and illustrator.
Jansson’s writing is controlled and precise, with a lot going unsaid. It’s emotionally understated, sometimes verging on too subtle for me. I could tell there were times that something was going unsaid, that a character was having a realization or making a point, but I didn’t always understand what that was. I also didn’t connect with the characters as much as I’d have liked. I love that they are artists who can talk about art, support each other, offer tough love, and enjoy being entwined in each other’s lives. But I didn’t get a good handle on who they each were, other than Jonna seeming to have a bigger personality. While I did enjoy the book, it wasn’t as big a hit for me as The Summer Book.
