Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

 

When we last left Murderbot, it had left its human guardian without asking for permission. Artificial Condition picks up right then, as Murderbot tries to get transport to a place where it had previously been assigned and had been accused of some horrific crimes.  Along the way, it meets ART (Annoying Research Transport), saves the lives of some humans, kills some bad guys, and finds out that it is not responsible for a mass murder.  

As was the case in All Systems Red, Murderbot is prickly, but it really does develop feelings for those around it. It wants to find its own crew, AIs it can trust and rely on, but just doesn't know how to do so. And since Murderbot is just out there on its own for the first time, it's making some mistakes, but didn't we all when we were young?

Here's what great about Martha Wells and Becky Chambers, two women who write sci-fi and that I discovered in 2020.  They're subverting the tropes. Chambers doesn't just have heroic white men saving the day - she has an assortment of races and genders living in futuristic settings, doing ordinary things in extraordinary environments. Wells has created a world in which drones, bots, AIs, and augmented humans are ordinary, but the treatment of an AI system that's developing feelings is utterly unique.  There's action, of course, but the real beauty of Murderbot is the actual character developing along.  

These are more like novellas than novels. This one was only a breezy 158 pages and I finished it in a couple of hours.  I ordered the next two from the library, hoping they'll come at roughly the same time and I can spend an inordinate amount of time on the couch wrapped up in the comic stylings of Murderbot.