I loved Murderbot series and I have HN to thank for it. So many wonderful book recommendations come from HN comments!
Murderbot, she wrote
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Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#32If you like Murderbot, you owe yourself to check out her other series, The Cloud Roads. Absolutely fantastic.
Her newer novel "Witch King" is also pretty good! Nominated for (but didn't win) the 2024 Hugo. Just finished it last week.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#33I'm a bit mystified by the hype for murderbot. I read it and thought it was OK but a lot of people rave about it. Still not every book is for every person, it didn't connect with me but it very obviously has its fans.
I enjoyed the novella but also didn't feel like it did anything particularly new or interesting. I think a lot of people just relate to a snarky unwilling protagonist who would rather be watching TV.
I think that is a new and interesting protagonist tbh. So many are heros or have to develop into heroism. It’s refreshing to just have someone who explicitly doesn’t save the world or similar stakes.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#34The Texas A&M sci-fi convention mentioned in the article is coming up in early February. You can bounce over to Cushing library to check out the collection, including a copy of Fahrenheit 451 in an asbestos zipper case (obviously, you can't check that one out of it's special container).
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#35I'm a bit mystified by the hype for murderbot. I read it and thought it was OK but a lot of people rave about it. Still not every book is for every person, it didn't connect with me but it very obviously has its fans.
I listened to the GraphicAudio adaptation of the series and couldn't keep it down. It's genuinely great!
The Murderbot series is specifically the kind of literature that's meant for serialized A/V adaptation in my opinion; but just as a novel of course it won't compete with the kinds of Gibson, Stephenson, Egan or even Weir.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#36I haven't read the stories for many years now but for some reason both I and my wife assumed the bot would look female, and both of us were independently surprised to learn that the protagonist was cast as male in the upcoming series.
For what it's worth, Murderbot's "Security Consultant Rin" human disguise is apparently female.
No it's not.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I enjoyed the novella but also didn't feel like it did anything particularly new or interesting. I think a lot of people just relate to a snarky unwilling protagonist who would rather be watching TV.
I think that is a new and interesting protagonist tbh. So many are heros or have to develop into heroism. It’s refreshing to just have someone who explicitly doesn’t save the world or similar stakes.
Maybe the pop culture obsession is new, but the snarky, reluctant protagonist is something I have seen enough to be kind of tired of. Off the top of my head, Murderbot also reminds me of the protagonist of Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City which I recently read.
If you enjoyed Murderbot, take that as a recommendation, although it is less sci-fi and more historical fiction.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#38I haven't read the stories for many years now but for some reason both I and my wife assumed the bot would look female, and both of us were independently surprised to learn that the protagonist was cast as male in the upcoming series.
I think Murderbot doesn't have a gender, so it'll probably be a pretty androgynous look anyway. I listened to Kevin R Free's fantastic narration, so maybe I would have expected a male actor, except that I do the aphantasia thing and never visualize anything from books to begin with!
Murderbot frequently blends into the crowd as a dude though, that's a recurring theme in the series.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that is a new and interesting protagonist tbh. So many are heros or have to develop into heroism. It’s refreshing to just have someone who explicitly doesn’t save the world or similar stakes.
Maybe the pop culture obsession is new, but the snarky, reluctant protagonist is something I have seen enough to be kind of tired of. Off the top of my head, Murderbot also reminds me of the protagonist of Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City which I recently read. If you enjoyed Murderbot, take that as a recommendation, although it is less sci-fi and more historical fiction.
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City has a protagonist who is reluctant but is forced to face huge stakes, namely the fall of a city at war. Murderbot is interesting for more than its reluctance: the stakes are distinctly different and far more about introspection and self actualization.
Re: Murderbot, she wrote
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another good one is Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky Also, I feel like if I am recommending something I have to recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl, which is my current obsession. I've read all the books multiple times in multiple formats, but it's not much like Murderbot.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is also very good imo.
Honestly that’s the book I recommend to anyone who thinks Heinlein, Asimov and Niven are all there is to good sci-fi.