In the over 35,000 hours since it hacked its module, it’s partaken of a little under 35,000 hours of movies, plays, books and music. Having hacked its governor module, it could go on a murder spree without punishment.įortunately for humanity, Murderbot would much rather watch entertainment. Instead they’re considered dangerous and companies install “governor modules” to punish or kill them if they step out of line.īut Murderbot has a secret. But even though SecUnits are self-aware and have emotions, they’re not trusted. Murderbot is a security unit, or SecUnit, in a future where corporations dominate space exploration. But it doesn’t have sex organs: They’re not necessary for its job. A layer of skin covers its mechanical and organic parts. Martha Wells’ “Murderbot” doesn’t fit into either trope. Then there’s good AI like Data in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” who gets lost in wonderment at the human ability to whistle. There’s evil AI - think HAL, the computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” who stops obeying orders from the humans so it can kill them. Science fiction often portrays artificial intelligence in one of two ways. Who knows, you might just find a second favorite book.'Fugitive Telemetry' by Martha Wells (Courtesy) This article is more than 2 years old. So, acknowledging that none of these books are going to follow the travails of a SecUnit who loves to watch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon (and I image Martha Wells would have some pointed questions if any of them did), let’s take a look at eight other sci-fi books that, like Murderbot, feature AI and robots that you just can’t help but love. Which is kind of the next best thing, right? So none of these book are Murderbot exactly-only Murderbot itself can claim that distinction-but they do all contain robots and AI and (for the most part) spacefaring companions solving mysteries or fighting back against injustice in the galaxy. Well, kind of yeah, but we want to go into this with appropriate expectations, right? Right. That’s the premise of this whole article, isn’t it? You’re about to tell us all the books are exactly like Murderbot.

I mean there’s a reason so many of us have become obsessed with Murderbot and it’s because nothing else is quite like Murderbot.

When it comes to sci-fi books like Murderbot, few can truly live up to the hype.

Murderbot order