Artificial Condtion

Artificial Condition  by Martha Wells          Audio Book: 3 hrs., 21 mins.      Hardback Book:  160 pages                  

I found out this was book 2 in the Murderbot series.    I wish books would note when they are a part of a series and what number the book at hand is in such series.   It is one thing if it is the first book in a series but to be out of order and not starting with the first book in the series can be a littles disappointing.    However,  this book could stand alone, the reader just knew there were things that transpired prior to the Murderbots arrival at the location he was in this book, but, that could be explained away by the murderbot main character’s reference to them as being a part of semi-erased memory tapes or the like.     I wanted to like this story.   It had elements that weren’t bad but some of the continuity was off, sometimes the robot’s language didn’t jive, some things seemed off because that far in the future I don’t think robots would cuss, be streetwise, and use slang and or the dropping of the endings off of words.   I was struck with the feeling that this was a first attempt at writing or perhaps a highschooler’s writing assignment.    It did not come across as good writing, but, perhaps something that was done for a class, or an attempt at trying one’s hand at science fiction.   I wanted to like the story, there were parts of it that were o.k. but overall – I would not recommend this one.  It needed some editing before its release that somehow fell through the cracks.   I don’t know about the previous book nor can I speak for any later books in this series but I would not be interested in reading any further on this story.   Not to be judgey just to offer constructive criticism, this book seemed a little 1 dimensional.   No recommendation here.   

 - Shirley J.