Wrong Train, Right Time (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wrongtrainrighttime) wrote2018-06-24 11:17 pm
wrongtrainrighttime) wrote2018-06-24 11:17 pm
Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells
Like Ann Leckie, I love Murderbot.
I also love ART. They were an interesting to the world around Murderbot, the suggestion of what lay beyond Murderbot's own, somewhat limited experiences. I'm quite sure ART (and ART's mysterious university?) will return, and I will be very happy to see Murderbot reunited with its friend.
Aside from Murderbot's exploration of its own past, what I found interesting in this installment was how acting as a free agent recontextualized its approach to being a security consultant. On the one hand, it is the only marketable skillset that it really has, and while its governor module is inoperative, it seems like Murderbot's personality has definitely been shaped by its original programming. But it's still a very different thing, to enter into a contract of one's free will. Leaving Dr. Mensah (its favorite human) behind has forced Murderbot to confront its own emerging personhood even more than ever, and I look forward to seeing how Murderbot will continue to change in the next two novellas in this series.
I also love ART. They were an interesting to the world around Murderbot, the suggestion of what lay beyond Murderbot's own, somewhat limited experiences. I'm quite sure ART (and ART's mysterious university?) will return, and I will be very happy to see Murderbot reunited with its friend.
Aside from Murderbot's exploration of its own past, what I found interesting in this installment was how acting as a free agent recontextualized its approach to being a security consultant. On the one hand, it is the only marketable skillset that it really has, and while its governor module is inoperative, it seems like Murderbot's personality has definitely been shaped by its original programming. But it's still a very different thing, to enter into a contract of one's free will. Leaving Dr. Mensah (its favorite human) behind has forced Murderbot to confront its own emerging personhood even more than ever, and I look forward to seeing how Murderbot will continue to change in the next two novellas in this series.