William

This is a different book. The style of the plot and the feel of the world reminded me of old pulpy sword and sorcery tales from well back in the 20th century those stories had a sense of wonder at the world and a sort of glee at crazy ideas or the possibilities of magic- but far too many had paper thin characters, few female characters worth speaking of and spotty descriptions.

This book is not like that.

This book has that old fashioned sense of wonder, it has the feeling of glee at the possibilities of magic and it has plenty of crazy ideas - but Martha Wells takes all of the good parts of sword and sorcery and then she adds huge, rich layers of characterisation, gorgeous description and deep characterisation to make this a book that creates a world and a cast that feel real and make your brain hum like a crystal glass.

If I have one negative it is that this feels very much like an introduction to the people and the world. The plot does resolve itself - Ms Wells is not cheating us. It's just that I have that edgy feeling I get when I was halfway through a really nice cup of tea and someone tidied it up before I was finished.

I really want more from this world!

This is old fashioned Epic Fantasy mixed with buddy comedy. To be clear, a lot of it is “paint-by-numbers”, but I've got to say this author paints very well. I recognised an awful lot of tropes, but the way he put them together just somehow worked and (this is important) by the end of the book the author is putting a twist and shine on his world building that is really hooking me.

If this is how a newly published author starts out a series, I have high hopes for the series.

One caution for potential readers: This book was originally written as two novels, because of this there is an awesome hold-your-breath scene in the middle of the book, followed by a major lull in the story pace. The ending however is well worth the wait.

So I'd say, less a “paint-by-numbers”, more an “Awesome Mixtape” with a very interesting demo at the end.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a bookclub read and I was intrigued to see how differently some people reacted to the mystery and storytelling style.

A positive for me was the way in which each character was flawed, yet relatable - they all had made mistake or had a negative personality trait - yet each was presented as human and worthy of sympathy. Other readers surprised me by feeling the exact opposite and disliking the regular flashback chapters that revealed the character's backstories. I actually thought this was handled very well and, once I caught on to the structure, looked forward to each flashback as pieces of the jigsaw.

Something that was both a positive and a negative is Ms Lafferty's writing style. To me it is eminently readable and just flows. It almost feels fairy-tale in its smoothness. My mental image of the story was very much one of brightly coloured animation. Her writing style lends itself to a social story, but very much not Hard SF. If you are trying to figure out the science behind things, I suggest leaving your brain at the door or you'll get a headache. I just had to firmly tell myself that there had obviously been a huge revelation in our understanding of science at some point, so nothing works the way we think it does...then it was all OK.

A negative for me was that several “surprises” seemed to have flashing neon signs on them long in advance - to the extent that I was sure that they were red herrings the murderer, the nature of the ships AI and, above all, the use of the large 3D printer as a cloning device...dood, they make such a big deal out of the fact it can print a pig...with every last detail of the organs...what do think is going to happen?. It very much surprised me that some other readers found these same points rather too much of a surprise.

So I think this book presents itself differently to different people. I found it an enjoyable, interesting story well told with its greatest strength being the interesting and relatable characters. Put it this way, I immediately picked up another book by the same author - that should tell you what you need to know.

[Note: This book is good - the sequels are excellent, any criticism of this book does not apply to the rest of the series which just gets exponentially better]

This is a very interesting novella, told from the point of view of a Security Unit (a human-looking organic/machine robot - think Arnie in Terminator but asexual). This SecUnit has examined it's functions and disapproves, it doesn't mind keeping it's clients safe, but doesn't like the fact that it may be called upon to kill things - so it calls itself Murderbot. This is an unusual SecUnit, it has hacked it's own governor chip and now doesn't have to obey commands - it has freedom. With this freedom it carries on doing the day job of keeping humans safe but now secretly downloads TV series to binge watch whenever it's left alone. Now though it has been asked to watch a bunch of researchers on an unexplored planet and things are going a bit weird. Keeping this bunch of humans safe may be harder than expected...

I really enjoyed the main character (Murderbot) and the unfolding mystery. Things build to an exciting climax...and then it's over. Most of the story I would give 4 to 5 stars, but the ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory, not quite “it was all a dream” territory, but close right at the resolution the main character falls unconscious and wakes up to find everything has been sorted out. It was a bit of a disappointment as up until then the story had been great.

So my final decision is:

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎ Story. (5-2 for ending)
⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎ Main character.

Average = ⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

I first read The Martian in my pre-Goodreads days and I'm not 100% sure when, I do know it was before the movie was a twinkle in Matt Damon's eyes. When I first read this book I loved it, I enjoyed the science, the problem-solving and the (one sided) banter. It really reminded me of what I love about Asimov's writing, especially his short fiction. There's a problem that seems impossible to solve, let's look at what we've got and hack our way out. This is pretty much the same reason I like Sherlock Holmes.

Did I enjoy it the second time around? Absolutely, with one little caveat. I flew through the book, loving every minute of it - until the very last page where the story just stopped very suddenly. That was so not how I remembered it. I remembered a gentle and funny epilogue that eased the reader out of the extreme tension of the last scene of the book. I was sure it was there last time. I had a weird moment in which I considered the possibility I was in a parallel universe. Then I gave myself a mental slap for being a silly sod and instead started wondering if it was all a dream.

An internet search provided the answer - no I was not loosing my marbles, for some baffling reason they had removed the epilogue at some stage, leaving the story with the abrupt ending. The original (very short) ending can be found here:
https://the-martian.fandom.com/wiki/Original_Ending

Endings are very important, if you spoil the ending it can sour everything that went before. I'm leaving my five stars, but that is most definitely for the version with the epilogue. Now I'm off to cut and paste the epilogue back into my copy of the otherwise excellent The Martian.