Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Artificial Condition by Martha Wells starting after we finish the first one (which starts March 22, 2021).

I've forgotten how much I enjoy Murderbot and ART's interactions with each other~

Finished reading! I'm actually doubly glad I'm rereading the first several books now - I've discovered that I've somehow been remembering a certain scene a bit wrong for some reason...?? It wasn't that important but at least I stand corrected now lol

I like Murderbot and ART's interactions too! Also Murderbot's coping mechanism when anxious is very relatable lol

I'm still reading but will finish later today

I think that's one of the things that makes the series so interesting! That the main character is not even human and yet it's the most relatable character of them all. Like, it just seems so genuinely human, for all it's general dislike/anxiety towards actual humans.

Finished yesterday!

(view spoiler)[it's interesting how finding out that the mass murder incident wasn't actually its fault, didn't really give Murderbot much relief at all.

How it is still attached to "its" humans, even though it's under no obligation to the company anymore is super heart-warming!
How it treated Tlacey's sexbot, hacking the governor module and sending it away, was also very nice. Like ART said, they could have just destroyed it.

What I found really interesting was the use of the gender pronouns ter, te, tercera. The author could have made Rami non-binary (a thing that we're more or less already used to), but she made a conscious choice to invent a whole new gender and have all the characters treat it like the most normal thing not even worth thinking about. In my opinion, that made the story that much better! (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[I remember reading the tercera gender thing the first time around and thinking "I don't know what this is or what it actually means in terms of gender but this sounds cool and it just builds up the world that tiny bit more so yay~" or something to that effect lol

And I mean, who knows. Maybe in the future there'll be loads more genders and their corresponding pronouns. I think the most amazing part about Rami's gender is just that it sounds so plausible.

I'm honestly kind of wondering if there's like an overarching secret conspiracy going on behind the plot. Like, there's these events happening but they're all interconnected because of someone somewhere wanting something or other. It's probably not what's going on but... one can speculate! >u> (hide spoiler)]

Sooooo, onto the next book? (o u o)/

Yes, I could start tomorrow!