‘Fun Wee Murderbot Story’

Score: 4/5

This is a wee Murderbot story, and I read it out-of-order with the main books. It’s fun.

‘Fun, But No Depth’

Score: 4/5

The book describes itself as ‘Perfect for fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’ but it really doesn’t benefit from such comparisons. It reminds me of this other bit from DNA:

[...]WFT-II was the only British software company that could be mentioned in the same sentence as such major U.S. companies as Microsoft or Lotus. The sentence would probably run along the lines of “WayForward Technologies, unlike such major U.S. companies as Microsoft or Lotus . . .” but it was a start.

This isn’t H2G2, it’s not in the same league as H2G2, and if you go into it with those expectations you’re in for a very sharp disappointment.

Taken on its own, it’s funny enough. It doesn’t have the depth or re-readability of H2G2, but it’s fun.

‘Is It Just Fantasy?’

Score: 2/5

This felt like a strange book. It felt like it was trying to be a true account of Belfast's Occupy movement by someone who was there, but at the same time it used made-up characters and names.

Some names are clearly pointing at real people, but are the others and I just don't know it? Maybe.

The characters are often written as if the author doesn't want to offend the person, which I'd understand if it was a real-life account but is weird for made-up characters. Are some of the events true and some of them false? Is it a real account with names changed to avoid legal problems? Or is it all just a work of fiction? I have no way of telling, other than: if it's a work of fiction, it's a bit dull.

‘Murderbot As A Detective’

Score: 4/5

Another of the Murderbot Diaries, and it’s as enjoyable as the rest.

‘Pandemic, But With Cats’

Score: 3/5

The lead character came across as an arrogant arsehole and she didn't really redeem herself by the end. Bah.

‘Good Ol’ Murderbot Adventure’

Score: 5/5

Back to the Murderbot series. This is a longer story, but it’s still the same ol’ Murderbot, still pining for daytime TV dramas.

The story length means there’s more going on and it takes longer, but I still managed to romp through the pages. Very enjoyable.

‘What Was That About?’

Score: 3/5

I’ve really no idea what to make of this book. It’s said to ‘defy categorisation’ and it does. And it certainly pokes fun at 1930s-era Soviet life.

But is it any good?

I honestly don’t know. The dialogue seemed awful, but maybe that’s a cultural thing? Maybe people really spoke like that in the 1930s? And I felt like much of the point of the book, much of the satire, went over my head precisely because I don’t like in 1930s Soviet Union.

‘I Didn’t Enjoy This’

Score: 1/5

I really didn’t enjoy this book. It felt like the author was using his vocabulary to bludgeon me into accepting his superior intelligence.

For example:

The episcopate of this pop-reference movement were the post-Nabokovian Black Humorists, the Metaficitonsists and assorted franc- and latinophiles only later comprised by “postmodern”.

It’s not that I don’t understand the words, it’s that by the time I get to the full-stop I don’t care.

Still, if that’s your kind of thing and you want to read a couple of hundred pages of it, enjoy. 

‘More Westerns In Space’

Score: 4/5

I think I like these Murderbot stories because they’re just so like old westerns, but set in space. With an anxiety-ridden Murderbot instead of a ‘drifter’, planets/stations instead of settlements, and a constant feed of soap operas instead of... Well, OK, it’s maybe not a perfect simile.

‘Loving These Murderbot Stories’

Score: 5/5

I may be becoming addicted to this murderbot and his love of soaps. It now bothers me that there aren’t dozens more of these available.