“Teenagers – Tired Of Being Hassled By Your Parents?
Act Now!
Move Out, Get A Job, Pay Your Own Bills…
While You Still Know Everything.”
James Hauenstein
**Here Be Spoilers**
I’ve finally finished the Murderbot Novellas and I’ve really, really enjoyed the trip. Before I get to the book, however, I’m going to do the same thing here that I’ve done with my reviews for both “Rogue Protocol” and “Artificial Condition” – I’m going to rant:
“I honestly have only one complaint and it has nothing to do with the book itself. I don’t like the way Martha Wells and the publisher are commercializing the work – hence the Razor / Blades quote. The story is being sold as 4 separate novellas:
- All Systems Red – 2017
- Artificial Condition – May 2018
- Rogue Protocol – August 2018
- Exit Strategy – October 2018
They’re sold separately as hardcovers at the price of $16.19 and as e-copies for $9.99. In reality, these are 4 sections of one book – obvious as you read through each separately – and could easily have been published in one volume. The fact that they were all released within an 18 month period only confirms that the Author and the publisher made a pretty crass commercial decision to break the book into four pieces and sell them separately to maximize revenue.
Instead of paying $25 for a single hardcover volume, I’m forced to purchase 4 separate novellas for a combined cost of ~$68.00 in hardcover or ~$40.00 in digital format. Before you say it, I will – shame on me – no one forced me to spend the money – I know I’m being played. Nevertheless, I’m really enjoying the books and I want to get my hands on them as they become available. It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and it makes me wonder about Wells’ attitude towards her fans and readers. Wells and her publisher gave me the Razor but she’s selling me the blades – one at a time – at a pretty high price.”
Good – got that out of the way!! I can now go on to say that this 4th novella was, in my opinion, the very best of the Murderbot installments. It went quickly – just like the preceding three. It was funny and fun – just like the preceding three. It was easy to fall in love with Murderbot again in this novella – just like the preceding three. What made this one stand out from the others, however, was the fact that it reunited the original group of characters – it closed the circle. Most importantly, it brought Mensah and Murderbot back together.
Seeing them together again in this final installment, I found myself thinking of the two of them and their relationship in a very different light. It may be a bit of a stretch for some but I can’t help but think of Murderbot as a teenager – a smart, capable, totally frustrating, thoroughly conflicted teenager.
Throughout the story, Murderbot is doing all the cliche things that many would equate with teenage behavior. He’s rebelling. He’s running away from home. At times, he’s surly in the face of authority. He’s pre-occupied with his media. At times, he lacks the conversational filters you develop as you age. He thinks all humans / adults are stupid. He always thinks he’s right. He doesn’t do what he’s told to do. Most importantly, he’s growing up and defining himself in a very complicated world.
Similarly, I couldn’t help but think of Mensah as Mom. Mensah is Murderbot’s touchstone. She’s calm. She’s mature. She’s decisive. She always does the right thing. She is THE ONLY human that knows how to interact with Murderbot in a way that forces him to acknowledge the quality of her thought processes and she is THE ONE human character that Murderbot seems to respect. She’s the one human Murderbot actually confers with – defer to – his one human truly ADULT presence. Mensah also saved his life back in “All Systems Red” and she was willing to advocate for his actual personhood.
During the final combat sequence, in a life and death situation, Murderbot steps back from what he’s doing to actually ask for Mensah’s opinion regarding the motives of their attackers. At the point when Murderbot had decided to try and capture the Bond Company gunship and was about to act – Mensah suspected what he was about to do – she stopped him cold with one word – a simple no – and then engaged him in the way a concerned and very capable parent would – explaining what was driving his behavior – making him realize that there was a more rational, less confrontational way to achieve his objective. She provided the adult perspective. It was classic parenting.
I know Wells is married but I don’t know for sure that she has children. If so, I would bet my bottom dollar that she was drawing on her parenting experience as she wrote this book. I’ve been looking at all of this through the lens of a serious and dedicated science fiction fan and – while I’ve always been really positive overall – there were parts of the story that I quibbled with – quibbles that I’ve written into my first three reviews.
With this new perspective, however, the story transforms a bit. Looking at this as more of a family drama and a mother / son story, I fell in love with the books in a different and totally unconditional way. I enjoyed all of these books but I enjoyed this 4th and final installment the most – by far. As a parent myself – one that’s done the work of helping my son make the transition from boy to teenager to young adult, I now think I know why! 🙂
If you haven’t read these books, please do so. They’re just flat out wonderful – even if you do have to pay too much to get them.
🙂
Have A Great Weekend!