Welcome and come in, traveler of the vast universe! Luckily, you have found my pocket dimension - my very own refugium, stuffed with books, the smell of tea everywhere and the noise of rain quietly pattering on the windows. Find a nice and cozy place to sit and listen to my endless ramblings about books while I make you a warm tea and something hearty to eat. Stay for as long as you want before moving on and do not hesitate to come back every now and again - there are new stories to be told every single day.
Review: The Murderbot Diaries (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy)
read from 18 June to 2 July
read for bingo square " Featuring Robots"
These novellas were the first Science Fiction books I have ever read (excluding Gideon, Harrow and Nona the Ninth). I did not know what to expect but I was not disappointed. I have devoured these books in such short time and I have loved each one of them.
They were so short that I have decided to treat the 4 novellas as one book and to not rate each novella separately.
Basic Facts
Title: The Murderbot Diaries (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy)
Author: Martha Wells
Pages: 534
Synopsis:
The Murderbot Diaries is a series concerning a violent, self-hacking cyborg searching for the meaning of life.
In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth. (Synopsis of the first book: All Systems Red)
Review / Rambling (Beware of spoilers)
I am going to be honest, it took me a while to get used to the setting of these novellas. Since I am not very well-versed in Science-Fiction literature, I needed some time to arrive in the setting and understand the worldbuilding. Especially the concept of the "feed" took me a bit to understand (I am not sure if I even understand it correctly). I cannot say if it was "typical", "tropey" SciFi worldbuilding but it was everything you would expect from such a story. There are spaceships, planets, space stations, etc. in a very futuristic setting. I liked the setting but I did not like the getting used to it (it really took me some time to understand the bulk of concepts / new things).
3 stars for worldbuilding/setting.
All 4 novellas have on overarching arc that begins in Book 1 and ends in Book 4. They are loosely connected but every book tells a different story and has an own arc. Being novellas, the plot begins suddenly and in action. It feels quite rushed and there is no fluff. Everything happens fast and the conflict is over before you even know it. The topics that are explored are overall interesting and important (cyborgs that develop feelings and relationships, slavery, capitalism etc.) but since the space is limited, they do not get explored as much as they should. There is not time for mysteries - they are solved almost instantly. All these things are typical characteristics of novellas, but if you want a really long and rewarding read, these are not the books for you.
3 stars for plot.
Martha Wells really shines when it comes to her characters. Murderbot is such a great protagonist. It is not very relatable in its struggles but it still captures such a beautiful look on humanity. Murderbot is also quite funny, esp. its internal monologues. The other characters were well-written too, I esp. enjoyed the relationship between Murderbot and ART and between Murderbot and Miki.
In books 2 and 3 however, the characters seemed to not be as distinct from each other as the characters from the first and fourth book.
4 stars for characters.
The writing style of Martha Wells is also quite easy to read and understand. She likes to describe a lot of things but sometimes these descriptions were a bit too lengthy and too science-y. Also, at some points, I had the feeling that she described too little of the actual important stuff. Apart from that, her writing style was pretty straight-forward and I enjoyed it a lot.
4 stars for writing style.
Okay, so first, damn me for reading an unfinished series. Alecto the Ninth will (hopefully) come out this October and I can barely wait for that.
Second: what the actual hell was that fever dream of a book? Did I love Nona? Of course. Did I know what was going on 99% of the time? No. Did I still enjoy this book? Absolutely!
Basic facts
Title: Nona the Ninth (#3 of the Locked Tomb series)
Author: Tamsyn Muir
Pages: 496
Synopsis:
Her city is under siege.
The zombies are coming back.
And all Nona wants is a birthday party.
In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back. The whole city is falling to pieces.
A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.
And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...
Review / Rambling (maybe kinda spoilery)
After the fever dream that was Harrow the Ninth, I really did not know what to expect - I certainly did not expect Nona.
In the beginning, I was so confused, who Nona actually was and what was happening.
But the worldbuilding and setting were as intriguing as in GtN and HtN - I especially loved the spin of the zombie trope as well as the urban setting. I am not well versed in Science Fiction so I cannot comment on whether the setting was derivative but it certainly was fun to read.
Also, necromancers in space. And Noodle.
5 stars for worldbuilding/setting.
The plot was more clearcut than in HtN and it actually made sense. I loved the headings of the parts (5 days until the Tomb opens etc.) because it set up the ending so well. Tamsyn Muir is definitely a fan of "spoiling" the ending but who am I to complain (I am a sucker for this plot structure).
Also NtN had one of my favourite tropes of all time: domestic living in a SFF-world/city. I cannot get enough of that trope!
I did not particularly like the John-focused chapters - it gave some context to the whole story but the whole climate crisis felt a little too real haha.
4 stars for the plot.
As for characters, I loved, loved, loved Nona. You usually do not have a "child" protagonist in SFF, so it was really refreshing looking through the eyes of one. I loved how she told the story and how she did not really have a clue what was going on 99% of the time (very relatable hehe).
I also adore Camilla and Palamedes, so I was happy to see more of them, although not together of course. I liked the family dynamic between Nona, Camilla/Palamedes and Pyrrha. As I have already said, I am a big fan of domestic living in SFF-cities, so that ties in perfectly.
Also - Gideon is back (kind of, maybe, idk) and she is as funny as ever (also a bit creepy).
Only downside of the book regarding characters: often, I had no idea who these people were because the names were so confusing. Also, Harrow was not there for the most part.
4 stars for characters.
I have seen some people critiquing Tamsyn Muir for not having a consistent tone throughout the series. I actually really loved world.
In my opinion, there were a lot of cringey jokes in the first book and although I like Gideon, I am glad that we see different people as narrators.
I loved the second book for its mysterious "vibey" writing style. I loved the third book for the child-like writing. The new perspective really helped me with immersing myself more in the book.
4 stars for writing style.
The overall vibes of the book were definitely there and I really enjoyed reading the book.
+1 star for overall vibes.
In an effort to consume more and different books, I have decided to take part in r/fantasy's Book Bingo.
The goal is reading books that match the 25 prompts for this year until March 31st 2024. It is a fun challenge designed to coax you out of your reading habits and to read widely in the fantasy genre.
I have already completed following prompts:
Angels and Demons (Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman) on 23 May 2023 (4.5 stars)
Coastal Setting (The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon A. Chakraborty) on 2 June 2023 (4 stars)
Queernorm Setting (Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir) 6 June 2023 (4.75 stars)
For all the rules, click on this link and follow me on this journey into the unknown realms of the fantasy genre.
I am going to tell you a little secret - I am not only going to talk about the books here in the Refugium... I am also going to rate them, so that you know what to expect when picking up these stories yourself.
But take everything I say with a grain of salt, friend, because the rating only conveys my opinion about a book. You will find I am not a strict critic - I read mainly for my enjoyment.
Alas, let me walk you through the rating system that I use.
There are five categories that are most important to me: worldbuilding, plot, characters, writing style and overall vibes. Each of these - except overall vibes - can score a minimum of one and a maximum of five stars. After giving points for each category, I add all the points and divide them by 4. That is going to be the average rating of a book.
Overall vibes is a special category that can give up either 0, 0.5 or 1 bonus point depending on how much I enjoyed reading the book.
What it takes for one, two or five stars, you ask? There should be at least some mysterious powers at work, friend (aka I do not want to bore you with a very subjective and very boring matrix).
Welcome, traveler! Make yourself at home here in Rosy’s Reading Refugium. We have tea and biscuits and warm blankets and many, many, many books. Stay here and rest and listen to the stories that might inspire you to read the fine books in our collection.
