ben_readz_books's Reviews (413)

I’ve been told I would love this, and boy were you right Tif. Murderbot is a partially-organic security unit for a survey team on another planet. It has hacked its own software and has secretly gone rogue, but still does its job because it likes its humans. There is a thriller/mystery element, and Murderbot is so incredibly relatable. Some might not, but I personally absolutely loved the ending and I’m very curious to learn more about this futuristic sci-fi world. I will definitely be continuing the series (they are quick reads; the audiobooks are only about three hours each)

Originally I expected to give this book three stars, because it seems to be trying to make a point about the way true crime media often re-traumatizes victims and crosses boundaries in the pursuit of sensationalism. However it did not do this well, and that aspect fell flat. I bumped off another half star about half way through because of the casual sprinklings of racism/copaganda and zionism throughout, but it was the last 15% of the book that really pissed me off and caused me to put it at 2 stars. The end of this book is so disgustingly ableist, makes absolutely no fucking sense, and heavily leans into the demonization of mental heath conditions/trauma. It reinforces the idea that trauma makes people violent to the point of senseless murder. I am so angry right now, the book had a really great ending all mapped out, a road it could’ve taken, and instead it did exactly the same nasty shit that true crime tv so often does (which is ironic considering the author seemed to be *trying* to make a point about that).