Artificial Condition

[b:All Systems Red 32758901 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) Martha Wells https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484171189s/32758901.jpg 53349516] was one of my favorite reads last year, and somehow, I enjoyed this book even more! I read the first book but listened to this one on audio, narrated by Kevin R. Free, and he did an excellent job. To me, he really captured Murderbot's sense of humor.There are several interesting new characters introduced, most importantly ART, an AI who runs a transport ship. Their friendship has a shaky start, which is pretty funny. Here's Murderbot's reasoning for accepting ART's request for them to watch TV together:“If it needed me to watch the show it wanted, then it couldn't get angry and destroy my brain.” I still strongly identify with Murderbot, especially its social anxiety (or the AI equivalent) and its complete devotion to its favorite show, Sanctuary Moon, which comes up often in this book. The plot is very good, with several exciting action scenes. Murderbot is pretty introspective, but the story always moves along at a good pace. There's a complete story here, but also, Murderbot investigates the defining incident of its life. That plot is not wrapped up here. I love this series, and I probably should not have devoured the second book as soon as it came out, because I'm already impatient for book 3.