Rogue Protocol

 

By Martha Wells

Third book in the Murderbot Diaries.

Rin is headed off to a terraforming facility orbiting a planet as a leg in its search to gather more information about the evil corporation GrayCris that was behind the deaths in the first book, All Systems Red, boarding a ship as a stowaway. The ship contains a small group of humans and their humanoid pet bot Miki. The humans have been hired to inspect the terraforming facility before the new owners take possession. 

But, once again, Rin finds itself having to defend a bunch of hapless humans incapable of defending themselves, especially when it becomes clear that the two security people they hired are working with the attackers. Rin again questions itself about why it keeps getting involved with defenseless humans.

I think one of the best things about this series, other than the main character, is that the books are not 300 or 400 pages long. This one is only 158 pages long. I enjoy reading books but these modern books are just too full of excessive details. I really feel most novels today could use serious trimming. It is so nice to sit down to read a book you know you can finish reading in a day or two. 

But besides the convenient length of the book, is Rin. Once again Rin is smack in the middle of a huge mess and not only manages to extricate itself, it also saves the humans involved. And learns a lesson about the itself too, in the form of the pet bot, Miki. Just an exciting and touching story, I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, Exit Strategy.

Kirkus Reviews has a review of the novel.

Artificial Condition

 

By Martha Wells

Murderbot Diaries, Book 2

After Murderbot, the rogue SecUnit, was released on its own recognizance by Dr. Mensah, it slipped away from Mensah and the others of Preservation Aux it had protected. It was on a mission: to find out the truth about the mass murder it was told it committed at the RaviHyral Mining Facility Q Station. It doesn't have a memory of it, in fact its memory only goes back to a little more than three years.

But it refuses to accept what it has been told as a fact. It knows how unreliable facts can be and how easily manipulated. Manipulating facts is how it travels through everything, ever since it hacked its own governor module and continues to hack all the security systems and data feeds that would record its passage through various locations. 

It managed to locate a place on a cargo transport headed to RaviHyral that had no humans traveling on it or other SecUnits. It was being driven by a bot, a rather nosey and intrusive bot that Murderbot thinks of as ART or Asshole Research Transport. 

ART becomes an ally of Murderbot and helps it learn how to better pass itself off as a human. A SecUnit unattached to a proprietor is considered to be a rogue and extremely dangerous and unpredictable. But Murderbot isn't interested in enacting revenge on its creators, it just wants to understand itself and believes knowing the truth about its murderous past is where to start. 

So with ART's help and advice, Murderbot gets a job as Security Consultant to a group of young scientists who are desirous of obtaining research conducted by them on RaviHyral that was stolen from them by their former employer, Tlacey Excavations. Here Murderbot introduces itself to the three young scientists as Eden, the name of a character on its favorite serial, Sanctuary Moon. But looking at the situation, Murderbot is pretty sure that the scientists really do need a security consultant to keep them from being silenced. Plus it gets it the reason it needs to be on RaviHyral.

While not quite as action packed as the first book in the series, it does let the reader into the Murderbot's past a bit more. As in the first book, Murderbot is not willing to abandon its new set of charges, the three young scientists, to whatever evil fate awaits them. As it soon becomes clear, Tlacey is a very bad person and has no intention of returning their research. All she wants is them dead. And Murderbot is going to do its best to keep that from happening. 

All Systems Red

 

By Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1

Murderbot. It's a SecUnit. Its responsibility is to keep the humans under its care safe and alive. Which it doesn't have a problem with and tries to the best of its ability to fulfill that mission. It actually cares about the humans, well, maybe not so much for Dr. Gurathin who has an attitude. Murderbot has feelings about its humans which it probably shouldn't. It's not part of its job. But Murderbot is not a typical SecUnit because it figured out how to hack its own governor module. Which means it makes up its own mind about what it does or doesn't want to do. And that is something that it is definitely not supposed to be able to do. 

So Murderbot's current group of humans under its care are exploring the possibilities of a new planet, going out in small groups under Murderbot's protection. Murderbot is equipped with a range of inbuilt weapons it can access in a flash if needed. Out with two humans one day, Dr. Volescu and Dr. Bharadwaj when a huge animal lunges out of the ground and grabs Bharadwaj. Murderbot is able to rescue Bharadwaj, but is gravely damaged in the process, nevertheless gets both humans back to the base. 

Reviewing some of the incidents that Murderbot first dismissed as failures of the company contracted to supply and backup the survey group that Murderbot is protecting, it and the humans realize something is wacky. They decide to travel to another groups' base but when they get there they find everyone is dead. And they themselves are soon being attacked by the SecUnits that were supposed to be protecting the people at the base. Murderbot realizes that the SecUnits have been taken over by some hostile force and reprogrammed to kill instead of protect. But it soon finds itself in danger of being reprogrammed too.

This story doesn't fool around when it comes to action-packed science fiction adventure. From strange beasts, questionable corporations, rogue bots, and ruthless criminals, the world of Murderbot is the good stuff! Very entertaining and I am looking forward to the next book in the series, which I think is Artificial Condition.

Fluency

By Jennifer Foehner Wells

Dr. Jane Holloway is a talented linguist who has a innate knack for learning new languages. She is not an astronaut. But she has agreed to join a mission to outer space. She has been told by NASA that all the space missions in the past have been a cover for an endeavor to reach an alien space ship that is parked in the asteroid belt. NASA wants her on the team because they hope she will be able to learn and understand the aliens' language.
When they reach the alien space craft, they find they are expected. The door opens, the lights come on and they are welcomed. Actually, only Jane is welcomed because she is the only one who can hear and understand the alien voice in her head. Ei'Brai welcomes her to the Speroancora, the huge alien space ship. Ei'Brai is the sole survivor of what used to be a large crew. They came to our corner of space looking for our help. But their enemy planted a disease on board their ship and all but Ei'Brai died. Ei'Brai can't pilot the ship by himself, he is the navigator. He wants Jane to take control of the ship, since she is the  only human with whom he can communicate.
But problems abound, including the ship being overrun by vicious vermin and Jane's crew mates showing signs of suffering from the same disease that killed all except Ei'Brai on board the Speroancora. Plus they are not at all sure that Jane hasn't lost her mind and is making it all up that she is in communication with an alien entity. It is vital that her crew mates listen to what she is telling them, otherwise they are all going to die.

I enjoyed this story a lot. The obstacles set before Jane and the others are quite formidable, including the others lack of faith in what Jane is trying to communicate to them. The Ei'Brai character was interesting as was his role in the ship's mission to Earth. I am looking forward to the next installment in this new series.
For another review, see http://thenewpodlerreviews.blogspot.com/2014/09/fluency-by-jennifer-foehner-wells.html.