Book Review – Artificial Condition

Book Review

Artificial Condition

By Martha Wells

As always, I spoil when it pleases me.

About 4 months ago I read the first in this series, All Systems Red, which I bought for four bucks on Kindle, and was very pleased. It set up the character, as well as established a longer arc and mystery. The plot was tight, the story fun, the characters interesting. By the by, it won both the Nebula and the Hugo. Congrats to Martha Wells. Well deserved. I enjoyed well enough to buy the next in the series.

The second book is much like the first. It is like one of a 10 episode binge on Netflix. You get a fairly complete episode, where Murderbot, the main character, helps out some well-meaning folks who have been wronged by the evil corporation. The story in the second book was different from the first (of course), but the structure was similar. Murderbot wants to find out more about its past. It takes a job as a cover to do this. It finds allies and enemies (usually the evil corporation that seems to be entangled in the story arc). It outsmarts some, outfights others. And we get a tidbit of info into its mysterious past.

As a story, understanding that it is a novelette (about 160 pages), it was a fun read. But I paid full price for this one. Like a real book price. All you have to do is read that last statement and you know how I feel; it is not worth paying full price. This makes me sigh. For some reason, I thought that if I was paying that much then I’d get more content. But, alas, I didn’t. Maybe that’s my bad for not checking in advance.

I will certainly buy the next in the series, but I will wait till it’s four bucks on Kindle.