I have figured out why I like Murderbot so much. He/it affirms my faith in humanity. Here’s someone who’s superpowered, augmented, thinks and strategises at the speed of light, has so much potential to do harm; but he chooses to be good, to do good, to watch cheesy and boring TV shows; and is inevitably bored but wants to be lazy and do nothing at the same. I truly think (and hope) he epitomises the best of humanity. So much of our problems, nowadays and probably since the beginning of time, is people wanting more, wanting what other people have, and wanting to subjugate and have influence over others. If more people were like Murderbot, we might have peace in the world.
I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this novella. This falls somewhere between the events of Exit Strategy and Network Effect. Murderbot investigates a murder which happened on Preservation Station, along with (or more appropriately, despite) the skeptical station security officers who doesn’t like the presence of a SecUnit in their (mostly) peaceful, non-corporate existence.
What struck me the most is the anti-corporate/anti-capitalism messaging everywhere in the writing. It’s funny that I didn’t notice any of that before, until I started thinking of this critically myself. The fact that corporations from the Corporation Rim would love nothing more than have indentured slaves and their progeny working for them, and they would try to get away with whatever they can, mass murder being the least of their egregious crimes against humanity – all of these are so representative of our current situation.
As always, it’s great to see Murderbot/Mensa/Guarthin/Ratthi and associated humans. The interactions and misunderstandings are heart-warming as always. I can’t wait to read the next novel.