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.

Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love

Summary:

Hermione straddles the Muggle and Magical worlds as a medical researcher and Healer about to make a big discovery. Draco is an Auror assigned to protect her from forces unknown – to both of their displeasure.

Features hyper-competent, fiery Hermione and lazy, yet dangerous, Draco. Slow burn.

Love and Other Historical Accidents

Summary:

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy never intended to blow up their life's work, but that's rather what they've gone and done. Now they're trapped 200 years in the past, with a broken Time Turner, a missing snuff box, a handful of overly-eligible daughters, and a House-elf in a cable knit cardigan. It will require the combined power of their keen intellects to get them home, if they'd stop arguing long enough to use them.

As it turns out, history is just one damned accident after another.

For fans of Harry Potter, Jane Austen, and Connie Willis, a historical romantic comedy all about time, and getting the hell out of it.

The Trials and Tribulations of Draco Malfoy's Employment

Summary:

Draco Malfoy, for reasons that no one else fully understood, decided he required a job. A job that, in what he considered to be a horrifying state of affairs, left him partnered with a witch who was irritatingly attractive, frustratingly brilliant, unbearably interesting, and thoroughly Unimpressed by his existence.

Draco wished he could return to the time before he passed the curse-breaking exams with scores high enough to make him stuck with the swotty fuckable know-it-all, but now, with his unfortunate amount of competence and his unfortunate assignment, he finds himself sent out on alarmingly dangerous retrievals which are highly likely to result in his perfect face and perfect hair being marred.

Copious quantities of Arithmancy are engaged in, peacocks with fancy rich person names are tended to, and unreasonable amounts of unbearably expensive firewhisky are consumed.

A self-aware android that refers to itself as Murderbot openly admits its shortcomings as a heartless killing machine, preferring to watch TV shows over killing, captured my attention. The plot unfolds quickly, leaving almost no time for idling. Even when Murderbot is idle, watching episodes of Sanctuary Moon whenever it can, it is highly entertaining. The rise and fall of events consistently hold enough action and mystery to keep me anticipating what happens next.

As far as the plot twists go, none of my guesses were fully correct, but I liked that it kept me pausing and guessing. The worldbuilding is minimal but provides enough information for the reader to intuitively imagine the setting. I’m definitely reading the entire series. This book does NOT have enough chapters. Although I was able to guess the ending, I didn’t mind because the execution was solid.

Murderbot is a charming, unreliable narrator, and I was delighted to witness the evolution of its motivations. Initially, its goals are simple: to coast through the contract, doing the bare minimum while watching Sanctuary Moon, its favorite TV show, during its idle time in peace. However, as the plot unfolds, Murderbot embraces its autonomy, making its own decisions and developing its own opinions. What starts as a desire to avoid responsibility evolves into a relentless drive to protect the humans it initially claimed to despise.

As far as character development goes, Murderbot begins as an android who follows instructions selectively, but gradually shifts into someone who actively decides for itself and strives to find its own purpose. I like that by the end of the book, Murderbot has developed a newfound trust in the kindness of humans, becomes honest with its emotions, and even ends up having a favorite human. It’s a believable and satisfying character arc.

Murderbot’s internal conflict stems from its self-limiting belief that it hates humans and that the feeling is mutual. As a coping mechanism, it watches Sanctuary Moon, using the show as a way to avoid confronting its emotions. However, the overwhelming kindness of the PreservationAux team only makes Murderbot more uncomfortable. It also struggles with anxiety over hiding the fact that it has awareness, emotions, and opinions. This internal conflict is not only sufficient but also wholesome and at times, funny.

My favorite supporting character is Dr. Mensah, who imposes a strict rule for her team to respect Murderbot’s boundaries, which helps Murderbot to start trusting humans.

Eventually, a threat to PreservationAux’s safety forces Murderbot’s secrets into the open. I liked how the uncomfortable conversations between Murderbot and the team take place, building trust and allowing them to work as a cohesive team. This unity makes it possible for them to find out what happened with DeltFall and defend themselves against external forces trying to harm them.

Since Murderbot doesn’t naturally have the initiative to control its actions as it was built to follow commands, I appreciated how the plot drove both the internal and external conflicts toward resolution. Murderbot’s unreliable narration kept the tension high throughout, making sure it was almost always present from the start of the story.

Although Dr. Mensah's leadership plays a key role in resolving the conflict within PreservationAux, I really appreciated how she helped draw Murderbot out of its shell. The problems introduced in the story were more than enough to challenge Murderbot’s autonomy, testing its mental faculties and emotional limits, these challenges were crucial in reaching the resolution.

Navigating both the internal and external conflicts alongside Murderbot throughout the story was stressful at times, but it was that fun kind of stress, the kind that keeps you turning pages.

Additionally, the external threats to PreservationAux and Murderbot push the team to rely on each other’s skills and to trust in the power of friendship, of course. Ha!

The writing style is intriguing and held my undivided attention, serving as the key factor in maintaining my interest throughout the book. Despite being set in a futuristic world, there is no information overload. Martha Wells' effective worldbuilding relies on a logical flow and highly intuitive tech jargon.

Other than Dr. Mensah, none of the supporting characters stand out. I think this is by design and works well with the book, especially considering how short it is.

Also, despite being a half-robot, half-human construct, Murderbot proves to be a relatable protagonist, which makes you want to root for it.

This is not the type of book I usually pick up. For some inexplicable reason, the series title reeled me in. "Murderbot Diaries" had me wondering: "What is a murderbot? It sounds cute, like a robot vaccum cleaner. Is it as big as a robot vaccum cleaner? Why does it have a diary? Is the diary in a form of system monitoring logs?" Since I needed answers, I impulsively borrowed the eBook from our local library app, silently hoping it wasn’t a book filled with grotesque violence. I did not even bother reading the synopsis. As I am typing this, I realized that to expect "no violence" from a series that begins with "murder" is, without a doubt, unreasonable. Then again, I finished this entire book within a few hours. The delightful surprise is that the book has earned an slew of prestigious accolades, including the Alex, Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards—so my high expectations will likely be met. Murderbot's character voice compelled my attention. Here is the first paragraph sealed the deal:

5 stars! I recommend this to anyone looking for a fast-paced book that can be read in a day. Whether you're a science fiction aficionado or this is your first adult science fiction book, it is an easy read. I don’t usually read science fiction, but I’m adding the entire series to my to-read list.

I cannot recommend this enough! This is now my benchmark for all my future sci-fi reads. It’s earned a bunch of awards for a reason!

Why did I pick this book?

1. T. Kingfisher - I picked this book up because I enjoyed reading A Wizard's Defensive Guide to Baking and Kingfisher's whimsical writing style. Hence, I looked for books where the protagonists are adults. The most commonly recommended books are Swordheart and The Paladin's Grace. Both are on my to-read list.

2. Halla's Conflict - A 36 year-old widow who has to fend off her inheritance from her husband's relatives. The threat captured my interest and made me root for the character even before reading the book.

3. Cursed Immortal - I cannot help but be curious on immortals trapped into objects, Sarkis was not an exception. There's always a question of how did they end up there? Do they get out of that curse? What does he do to get out of that sword?

4. Romance - This was the cherry on top that I looked foward to.

Why did I DNF this book?

I reflected on what did not work for me on this book. I initially thought the glacial pacing threw me off. However, when I looked back at other cozy fantasy books that I finished, most of them were slow-paced and remained enjoyable to the end. It could not have been the writing style because I like Kingfisher's writing style. And so, I pinned it to these two points:

1. Sarkis thinks of Halla a lot. Sometimes, he complains too much about Halla's mindless chatter. It is understandable but it was overdone. Other times, he's lusting over her curvy body. I can't imagine this turning into a love story.

2. Halla prattled too much even at most inconvenient times. Her endless internal monologues and dialogues reminded me of Mona from A Wizard's Defensive Guide to Baking by the same author and she is fourteen. The further I read, the more annoyed I get at this character.

I really wanted to like this book. By the end of chapter 2, I was delightfully surprised and thought this would be a fantasy romantic comedy. However, as chapters went by, the attempts at comedy in topics such as forced marriage, suicide, drugging, rape did not work me. But in the end, the final straw were the main characters and I DNF @ 18%.

I was browsing for book blogs and I found this challenge. Thanks to Jana, who's hosting Top Ten Tuesdays at The Artsy Reader Girl. 

1. Read books without feeling like it's a chore

I have been on a reading slump since the pandemic restrictions loosened up. I am hoping to read at least two books per month. However, I know stressing myself out would just deter me from reading.

2. Read more books written by women from various ethnicity.

If you ask me who my favorite authors are, all three of them are old white men. Oh, the clutches of patriarchy! I have to expand my reading backlog criteria because it is not going to diversify itself.

3. Read more books with women as main characters

I’m the type to dissociate myself from the books I read because I read to escape. Most of the books I’ve read have had men as lead characters. This is harder than it sounds—old habits die hard. I’ve been in a BL rabbit hole since 2019.

4. Chill with the Catholic Guilt. LOL.

As a mood reader, I always feel like I don’t read fast enough whenever I see book content creators on social media who have already read more books than I could possibly finish in a lifetime. As of today, I have only completed 69 books. While I know guilting myself over such trivial matters is self-inflicted, that awareness alone isn’t always enough to ease my guilt. I have to remind myself that reading is a hobby, not a competition..

5. Declutter my Kindle

A few years ago, I experienced FOMO when people were downloading free books from Amazon. I did the same without even reading the first page to see if I liked them. Now, I have to declutter.

6. Review books objectively

In recent years, my book ratings have been based on various elements of the books I’ve read. However, my older Goodreads reviews focused more on how the books made me feel. Since my goal is to fully capture my reading experience, I’ve decided to change my approach. I restructured my reviews to align with the way I rate the manhuas / manhwas I’ve read. See my book rating system.

7. Utilize the local library

Borrowing physical books and e-books from the library has become easier, thanks to our local library app, which can be synced with Libby. Since I’ve contributed to it through my tax money and paid ten or twelve dollars for a lifetime membership, I might as well make the most of it. I can’t remember the exact amount—it was a long time ago, haha!

As I welcome 2025, I made a decision to start with a fresh book blog and a mindful backlog of books to read. Since the pandemic restrictions loosened, I have been in a reading slump. My energy was redirected to other fictional mediums, such as manhwas, donghuas, and anime, which I enjoyed immensely. I even had a field day creating dashboards to track what I was reading. However, I miss being thoroughly immersed in a world, an experience I only get whenever I read books. Looking back at my previous book reviews, I realized I needed a better way to organize my reviews. Hence, this blog. 

Cheers to a fresh start!