{"id":7067,"date":"2023-09-18T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meshell.ca\/blog\/?p=7067"},"modified":"2023-09-17T21:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T01:01:12","slug":"murderbot-diaries-unexpected-comfort-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meshell.ca\/blog\/murderbot-diaries-unexpected-comfort-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Murderbot Diaries: Unexpected Comfort Read"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve read All Systems Red by Martha Wells<\/a> over a dozen times over the last few years. I could pretend I’m rereading the series again in preparation for the newest book coming out in November – System Collapse<\/a> – but I read the series a few times a year whether a new book is coming out or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite some of the less than lighthearted themes like murder, corporate owned space, generational indenture, and serious thoughts about what makes someone A Person, I find it is also quite optimistic and uplifting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s like a cozy blanket when I’m feeling sort of grumpy or even when I’m not feeling grumpy – it’s full of real kindness, sarcasm that’s actually funny (and not just mean,) and told from the point of view of a sentient human-bot construct, Murderbot (pronouns it\/its) that just wants to watch media serials (like the Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon) and the cute found family kind of thing that I’m a sucker for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Murderbot series also manages to be full of action and heroic battles that still manage to be somewhat self-effacing. The first book (novella) in the series is only 171 pages long – but there is expert level world building – and it sets the stage perfectly for future books. There is so much story going on, I’m simply impressed as a reader, but also from a craft perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the text based books, I’ve also enjoyed the audiobooks – they’re narrated by Keven R Free<\/a>, a prolific<\/a> narrator, who has a fabulous voice, and brings the characters fully to life in his performance of the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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