Become ungovernable, watch TV

[bloodygranuaile]

I downloaded the first four ebooks in Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series last year when they were being given away by the publisher as a promotion for the fifth book. I had intended to read them last year as they fit my “no male romantic leads” stricture for 2020, as the viewpoint character is aroace. This is partly because they’re an android--specifically, a mass-produced security android owned by a company known only as “the company”--but given how many AI stories use “falling in love” as an indicator of emerging humanity on the part of the AIs, it was nice to be pre-assured that this was not going to happen. 

Though it took longer than I had intended, I finally got around to reading the first book, All Systems Red, and got to meet Murderbot. And I gotta say, I like him; I find him very relatable. He is sarcastic and pretty awkward when it comes to dealing with humans, task-oriented but not necessarily invested in his job the way the company intends him to be, has a low tolerance for corporate bullshit and would rather watch melodramatic TV all day, and does security work. Honestly he reminds me of a lot of people I’ve met doing community safety work, sometimes. 

Subversive people’s hero anarcho-android Murderbot has a tragic past, which is obviously related to why he calls himself Murderbot, but instead of wallowing, he has taken safety matters into his own hands and disabled his governor’s module, which is the bit of programming that makes him obey the company. Having thus made himself ungovernable, he mostly just does his job with the minimum of effort and engages in time theft to watch TV, which, despite media depictions, is in fact standard operating procedure for anti-state leftists of all theoretical stripes. 

Anyway, the book is novella-length, so that plot is short and action-packed: Murderbot is on a contract with a surveying team on a planet; the surveying team is being sabotaged or otherwise mysteriously under attack; there is some intrigue and mystery and Cunning Plans and running around shooting at each other, and Murderbot becomes actually somewhat emotionally invested in the humans he’s protecting, because they’re all basically low-key and nice and competent at their jobs. It’s a short, fun read, and I’m glad there are a bunch more of them.