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A review by bluejayreads
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
4.5
Like the first book in the series, this one was entertaining but way too short. Murderbot spent most of this one passing as human, which was fantastic. I found its attempts to figure out how to interact with people and act like a human amusing and remarkably relatable. (Also, watching Murderbot attempt to do an actual job interview was hilarious.) The human side characters were pretty good too. Murderbot's goal this book is to get answers about its past - and it did, but the answers felt anticlimactic. Either there's going to be more to it or the answers aren't a huge part of whatever Murderbot is looking for. It's on a journey looking for something, but it's not really sure what yet. (and honestly that's pretty relatable too), and that made this whole book feel less like a self-contained story and more like one section of a larger book. It's not like *All Systems Red* where it definitely could have been expanded - it was exactly as long as it needed to be, it just felt incomplete. Perhaps I should be reading this like a novel released in parts than as individual novellas? Regardless, I enjoyed it and I'm excited to keep reading this series.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, and Kidnapping
Mind control