The Murderbot Diaries series so far have been extremely cyberpunk.

• Murderbot hacks its own brain (or part of it) and tells us about it on page 1 of the first novella.

• People with cybernetic enhancements are so commonplace that Murderbot can (with a little help) disguise itself like one of them and no one bats an eye.

• From the very start, the story is focused on big corporations having a lot of control and the consequences of that on the workers and slaves (like Murderbot) in the system.

It was a relief to have my clients headed back to safety. But it felt odd to be back on my own again, working for no one except myself.

• The two main characters in this novella are a human robot hybrid and a sentient transport ship who spend a lot of time “Netflix and Chilling” with each other in cyberspace.

I pinged the transport again and gave it the same offer I had given the first transport: hundreds of hours of media, serials, books, music, including some new shows I had just picked up on the way through the transit mall, in exchange for a ride.

• Murderbot spends most of its time in this novella either “Netflix and Chilling” with ART or hacking cyberspace security systems to prevent its incompetent clients from being murdered.

• Murderbot is working as a freelancer and is forced into participating in the gig economy to stay afloat. If it gets hurt on the job, well too bad, it’ll have to figure out how to deal with its injuries on its own.

This is very cyberpunky and I like it.

Overall, I enjoyed the novella but the high level of plot-driving stupidity on display from Murderbot’s clients this time around prevented me from being as invested in the narrative, compared to All Systems Red.

I really enjoyed the interactions between Murderbot and ART though. I’m really invested in Murderbot’s journey and seeing where it goes from here.

PS: There’s a lot of horrific ideas I’ve been introduced to in the Murderbot Diaries series so far but one of them rises above and beyond all of the others in terms of how wild it is.

It blows my mind that there are people in this universe who, for whatever reason (hopefully there’s satisfying answers/context for this later down the line), choose to have committed relationships with 8+ other people who also happen to be their coworkers.

Being in a relationship with 8 other people? I can see that.

Being in a relationship with 1 coworker? That’s probably fine.

Imagine being married to not ONE but ALL of your coworkers… Really think about that.