Goodreads choice awards nominee sci fi 2017

I started this expecting a fun listen with a silly plot, well it's fun alright but the plot was so much better than I expected. Murderbot has hacked it's controls and finds itself stranded on a remote planet with terrible things happening all around it and now to top it all off, the latest group of humans it has been assigned to guard, actually want to interact with it. People throw big names around like custard pies sticking to a wall when they are trying to explain (or sell) books like this and they often have very little to do with the actual author or story beyond the genre it's in. Since they've really overdone it with this one I will say that in my opinion the story is most like something I would expect from John Scalzi (the less crude stories like The Dispatcher and Old Man's War - note this is not a judgment, I love most of Scalzi's books, this is for comparison only) with a touch of Ann Leckie. I'm not going to tell you much about the actual story beyond this because I don't see any point in spoiling the plot. 5* story, will be listening to again and can't wait for the next.

Narration is harder to mark. My problem is that I love this narrator's work. I listen to a lot of different stuff and he does one of my favorite series the Holmes and Moriarity books by Josh Lanyon (fun and sarcastic murder mystery/romance, between two men, one of whom has been a previously top selling writer of a long running series/sometimes amateur detective and the other of whom is an ex cop/ current incredibly successful author who thinks things should be left with the police. The point being that Kevin R. Free is very good at over the top and funny, while still managing to make the best of a great plot, so I was surprised that his performance here was a little flat in comparison, particularly when voicing Murderbots' thoughts as opposed to voice (perhaps the editor directed him to do it that way). The narrator has a beautiful voice in my opinion and while it's not immediately apparent he can soften his tone enough for a real range of emotion to come through. This also helps with managing to do distinct voices for the main characters without putting on silly characters for the women, which I always appreciate. 3 1/2* but going up to 4 nearer the end. I hope they keep him for subsequent stories where he can really come into his own.

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4 people found this helpful

A great ride with a relatable robot.

An enjoyable adventure that is quick paced & entertaining. Well read by narrator Kevin Free.

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rating is only because of pricing.

liked the book and interested in reading the rest but these books are just too short.

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Nice and short

bit low quality voice at times and low volume.
Nice story
! ! !

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Enjoyable listen

Well read and with a good story. Can’t wait to listen to the next one.

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Love this series.

The performance by the narrator is marvellous. Storyline great. Thoroughly recommend to enjoy who wants a bit adventurous, gripping yet quite light hearted sci-fi.

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Narrator fit as voice for mc

Wasn't too sure at the start if the narrator was a bit too dry. But it grew on me and it fits well with the main character being a murderbot. Good listen for a long drive.

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Glad I didn't waste a credit on this.

I was expecting great things from the book and had been thinking about using a credit on it for a while, so when it popped up for free I jumped at it.
Unfortunately the book didn't live up to the reviews for me.
It was amusing and a decent story but a credit for 3 hours of slightly amusing dead pan robot wouldn't have been worth it.
Tried the second on also, seen as its free and that one was a bit of a struggle.
Think I'll leave this series.

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Not quite yet a fan

I'm an infrequent, picky sci-fi reader. However, a couple of enthusiastic recommendations sent me Murderbot's way.

Did I enjoy it? Yeah. Am I a bonafide fan? It'll take another novella or two to decide that.

Murderbot's dry, quiet, quirky sense of humour matches mine and I love it, though I'd probably pass on the multi-part space sagas. The story's engaging, funny, and on occasions, thought-provoking, but given its length, there's not a huge amount of complexity or depth.

On to the next...

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A different viewpoint

interesting story. enjoyed listening. lost a star because the last bit of action on the planet was confusing

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