I just reread the entire Murderbot Diaries series of novellas, by Martha Wells, because they came up in conversation recently and I remembered how much I liked them. I originally read them each as they came out, so going back to read each of them one after another without stopping was a new experience.
I don’t think I can fully express how much I like this series.
The protagonist is an incredibly efficient fighting machine, but also full of anxiety and social awkwardness and really prefers shows and movies to actual live humans. The universe it’s set in is fully realized and detailed, but the story never shoves it in your face and makes you listen to infodumps. It’s narrated by a nonhuman character who doesn’t particularly want to be human, and is incredibly relatable in many ways that they don’t realize themselves because they don’t think that they’re anything like humans are. The actual writing, the prose itself, is really well done, never too blunt and never too subtle and goddamn this series is so good.
I don’t usually reread books these days. There’s too many new novels coming out that I want to get into. Occasionally, though, I’ll have a particular favorite that I drop back into because I know it will perfectly scratch a specific itch. The Goblin Emperor is like that for fantasy political intrigue. The Murderbot Diaries is that for finding-yourself space adventure. I’m definitely going to reread these again at some point, because I love them (and also because it took me a little less than a day to get through all four novellas in the series, so reading them doesn’t take a huge amount of time out of my schedule).
I can’t wait for Network Effect, the first full-length novel in the series, to come out. I’ve already got it preordered, and am eagerly awaiting its delivery.