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The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells

The six book series has won various awards, including Nebula Award Winner for Best Novella and Hugo Award Winner for Best Novella. I fully expect to see a Netflix series or movie franchise one of these days.

The main character is a dry-toned cyborg with a penchant for trashy TV dramas who is afraid of nothing, except the possibility of close interpersonal relationships with humans. Built by a nefarious company to act as security detail for planetary exploration, a malfunction causes our protagonist to murder the team they are protecting. The self-titled ‘Murderbot’ then hacks their governor module to ensure they are no longer under external control, but with apparently nothing better to do, continues to perform their duties, all the while giving us the benefit of their eye-rolling narration. This is until the group of humans they are protecting get themselves into some serious trouble, and our ‘Murderbot’ is forced to confront their freedom, and make some choices about who they are and what it is they want out of life.

“…in their corner all they had was Murderbot, who just wanted everyone to shut up and leave it alone so it could watch the entertainment feed all day.” All Systems Red

As the series continues, we are taken around the galaxy solving crimes and gathering evidence against the corporate giants that treat human, and other forms of life, so cheaply. I’m only three books in and I’m utterly sold. The world is great, the plots compelling, and the protagonist unfailingly charming. I flew through the first three books and have had to restrain myself from jumping straight into the next. If you like your sci-fi low on the sci, and heavy on the action (with a good dose of dry witticism), this series is for you. 

Have you read any of the Murderbot series? If so, let me know what you thought in the comments and don’t forget to sign up for future blog updates.

Buy Book One: All Systems Red on kindle £2.09

Paperback six book series from Blackwells £36.44

 

Follow the author at @marthawells1

Like reading speculative fiction? Want more book recommendations? Follow me on twitter @SLangridgeUK for updates on my latest posts.

Like poetry? Check me out on TikTok @theyrhymesometimes

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The Ice Palace, by Tarjei Vesaas

I  loved this book. The original novel was written in nynorsk and is a classic of Norwegian literature, but I can’t believe it loses much in translation. The short, ninety-six page novella is quite positively overflowing with poetry.

For anyone put off by that, don’t be — I read the whole thing in a few hours and couldn’t put it down.

The story starts with a young girl in a small rural community whose world is rocked by the arrival of a new girl to her village. The girls’ tentatively burgeoning friendship is electric with the magic of youth and possibility and uncertainty, and in its messy, non-sensical intensity, provides a painfully honest rendition of young attachment.

After this, things only get weirder, but if you’re concerned about getting lost, don’t be. The story is unendingly compelling, the magic realism (for want of a better term) an effortless texture to the strangeness of the setting. The Ice Palace itself, when it finally consumes us, is a masterpiece of alien intelligence and cosmic beauty which puts any Lovercraftian monster to shame.

“The pine needles stretch their tongues and sing an unfamiliar nocturnal song. Each tongue is so small that it cannot be heard; together the sound is so deep and powerful that it could level the hills if it wished.” The Ice Palace

A vast, majestic book squeezed into an impossibly small story that will suck you, along with its young protagonist, deep into the incomprehensible vastness at the heart of all things. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough.

Have you read it? Share your thoughts below and don’t forget to sign up for future blog updates.


Buy on kindle £4.99

Buy hardback from Blackwells £6.49

Like reading speculative fiction? Want more book recommendations? Follow me on twitter @SLangridgeUK for updates on my latest posts.

Like poetry? Check me out on TikTok @theyrhymesometimes