REVIEW: ARTIFICIAL CONDITION BY MARTHA WELLS

The plot picks up its pace from All Systems Red. To ensure the safety of the humans who placed their trust in Murderbot, it embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind the massacred humans it was supposed to protect before being assigned to Dr. Mensah's team.

Although the plot is interesting, I have to remove two stars because of the pacing. I struggled to continue reading and was on the brink of abandoning the book, particularly during chapters two to four. Granted, the interactions between Murderbot and ART were cute, but three full chapters of this felt sluggish. My interest kept dwindling until about halfway through. After stalling for a little over a week, I decided that Murderbot's motivation was too intriguing to ignore. I really wanted to learn more about its past, what happens next and if it goes back again to meet Dr. Mensah, its favourite human. So, I decided to continue. The book did not compel my attention as I expected it to, but after it picked up the pace sometime around middle of chapter five, I was locked in.

As for the plot twist, I really liked how the story unfolded. It was well-executed, and although I probably should have seen it coming, I didn’t. Yes, I will be back for the third book: Rogue Protocol.

Murderbot's character development keeps getting better with each passing chapter. First, it shows autonomy by going on a mission to uncover the truth behind its purged memory. Then, Murderbot forms a bond with a self-aware transport, naming it ART (Asshole Research Transport), and they even watch soap operas together! Next, Murderbot learns the concept of trust and allows a stranger to perform surgery on it so it can appear more like an augmented human. Finally, Murderbot willingly interacts and cooperates with humans despite its reluctance and anti-social tendencies. This, in particular, is the reason I couldn’t put the book down. Murderbot's gradual humanisation of its emotions becomes more compelling with every page.

To reiterate what I said in my All Systems Red review, despite being a half-robot, half-human construct, Murderbot proves to be a relatable protagonist, which makes you want to root for it. I repeat, I am rooting for that Sanctuary Moon-loving, human-averse, self-aware bot to find itself and its happiness.

The purpose of this part is to evaluate the flow of conflicts throughout the book.

As far as Murderbot's conflict goes, this was the only one that kept me going even when I was getting bored. I was curious as to what secrets lay behind RaviHyral. I also liked the fact that, in order to find out the truth, there were very interesting obstacles that Murderbot had to overcome. As far as the conflict arc was concerned, the flow was a bit bumpy in the beginning, but the momentum picked up somewhere in chapter five, and it got better.

This part of the review evaluates whether the conflict or series of conflicts was sufficient to challenge Murderbot. As for the second book, this went one level further than the last book. Murderbot's internal conflict started in the last book, wherein it wanted to find out its past. In order to do so, it had to push its boundaries and adjust accordingly to its surroundings.

I would say not only were the series of conflicts Murderbot had to face in this book sufficient, but Murderbot surpassed these challenges with flying colors. Tackling a problem is one thing, but each of the obstacles Murderbot had to face forced growth and forged relationships that went beyond contracts.

The writing style remains stellar as the first book. Despite being set in a futuristic world, there is little information overload. Even as someone who is new to science fiction books, Martha Wells' effective worldbuilding continues to rely on a logical flow and highly intuitive tech jargon. It was easy to navigate. I like that the world extended to RaviHyral

The writing style when it came to side characters, no one really stands out. I am not sure if this is by design. One thing's for sure, I keep confusing one character over the other. When I was able to get to the point of not caring about who's who, it got easier to read. PreservationAux was not this confusing.

Although the ease of reading about Murderbot did not come easy to me on this book and it was not love at first paragraph, I still like this book. In fact, I was at the brink of abandoning this book but after a week or so of stalling, I was able to push through and finish this book. Murderbot's character growth and conflict was too good to DNF.

P.S.: Murderbot still sounds like Sheldon Cooper a.k.a Jim Parsons in my head.

I am giving this book 4 stars. I am taking away one star because I almost quit this book. However, if you're like me, who has added the entire Murderbot Series to your list and are invested in Murderbot as a character, you might want to give this book a chance. There is a new set of random people alongside Murderbot here. So, if you're looking for Dr. Mensah's team in the story, look elsewhere.

It's a short book. This book can be read in a day, as it is a fast-paced book. The first book is my benchmark for all my future sci-fi reads. It may not be as good as the first one but I still recommend this.