★★★★☆ Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R Free
** spoiler alert ** Murderbot contends with affection
Artificial Condition
Martha Wells
narrated by Kevin R Free
** spoiler alert ** Murderbot contends with affection
Murderbot calls Itself that because some four years ago It went wild and murdered a whole bunch of humans. Ostensibly. Supposedly. But Its memories have been erased. Not completely -- the memories in Its inorganic parts were erased. But the memories in Its organic parts can't be erased. And it is full of doubt about whether the mass murder actually happened, and if it did, whether Its own role was as It has been told. So It is seeking the place where the murders are supposed to have happened.
It does this by hitching rides on freighters piloted by bots. As payment for transport, It offers its many many hours of downloaded media. One of these bot-piloted freighters is not really a freighter at all, but a university research vessel. Its brain is far more powerful than Murderbot's own. It is passive-aggressive and manipulative. For this reason Murderbot calls it ART (Asshole Research Transport). Later in the series ART, whose real name is Perihelion, will become one of the most important characters and Murderbot's Best Friend.
Once at RaviHydral, a station that Murderbot and ART together determine was the site of the mass murder event, Murderbot is trying to pass as a human. To explore the station, It needs an official reason to be there. It therefore contracts to provide security for a trio of kids who are in the process of getting cheated by an unscrupulous company, Tlacey Excavations. Well, "kids" is not exactly accurate. They're young tech workers, and they are very, very naïve. Murderbot has Its hands full keeping them alive, Tlacey has no intention of paying for the tech it stole from the not-kids and will happily kill them to shut them up.
The real thrust of the story, thus, is Murderbot forming relationships with other persons: ART and the not-kids.
I am really not enchanted with Kevin R. Free's performance. In my review of the All Systems Red audiobook I kind of gave him a pass because I judged the job impossible. I am, at this point, less inclined to do that. Those of us who listen to a lot of audiobooks, know the magic a really, really good narrator can produce. Free is not making magic here.