Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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I was having an emotion, and I hate that

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

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I probably don’t love these as much as a lot of people do, but I do like them. And I think the treatment of AI and non-human emotions, non-human relationships are very interesting. I think that my biggest complaint is simply that the world in which we inhabit is not spelled out enough for me to really connect with the story. I like the character of SecUnit, Rin, Murderbot or whatever you want to call our narrator. I think the voice here is really funny […]

Fresh Perspective

All Systems Red: The Muderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

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A big thank you to Faintingviolet for suggesting the Muderbot diaries to me. I’m not a huge Sci-Fi fan, but this book was perfect. Martha Wells masterfully creates an enormous world full of technological advancement and space travel but stays close enough to character to let us non-SciFi loving people into her world. ‘Murderbot’ is a robot with more human qualities than some of the humans we meet, and every introvert’s best friend. When not doing its job as armed security, it prefers to sit […]

Murderbot brings me so much joy

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

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The last half of 2018 was such a hellhole for me personally that I kind of just stopped posting reviews and one that I missed out on getting to review was the excellent first book in the Murderbot series. I’m not surprised at how popular the series is here as they seems like the perfect Cannonball Read kind of books. Plus, they’re novellas so it’s really easy to tear through them quickly. —> Spoilers below for previous books! <— Artificial Condition (Murderbot #2) – 5 […]

Muderbot and I Share So Much

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

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Late last year I read Martha Wells’ All Systems Red the first book in her Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, and bestselling series, The Murderbot Diaries. The series features a human-like android who keeps getting sucked back into one adventure after another, even though it just wants to be left alone, away from humanity and small talk. Its perfect day is holed up somewhere dark and quiet with its entertainment feed. I can relate. I travel the last two weeks of the year to […]

This series is so great, I can’t recommend it enough.

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And the final Murderbot adventure is over. Well, not final, I guess, since there is going to be a Murderbot novel in 2020 (hooray!), but final FOR NOW. The initial arc of Murderbot becoming a person has concluded. We come full circle in Exit Strategy, with Murderbot traveling back to rescue Dr. Mensah, and teaming up with the initial group of humans from All Systems Red. Murderbot’s irrational grudge against Gurathin continues to give me life: “I don’t want to be a pet robot.” “I […]

Murderbot is the depressed and anxious android you’ve always needed. (CBR10 Bingo 10 & 11)

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Bless Cannonball Read, praise be for friends who you know share a similar taste in books, and let the world rejoice for Murderbot. Because November is a busy time here at Cannonball Read (I still have half the assignment emails for Book Exchange to send out) I’ll be using a slightly modified plot summary from Goodreads: In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are (required to be) accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own […]



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