#41 in Science fiction
Artificial Condition
- 168
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
- Hugo Award for Best Novella
- Locus Award for Best Novella
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Our view
The second Murderbot book is short, quick and carried by its narrator’s wry, bad-tempered voice. Its best addition is ART, a research transport ship whose sparring with Murderbot supplies much of the humour. The plot is self-contained, but it leans on the first volume often enough that starting here would be a mistake. A good fit for readers who like their science fiction witty and led by character.
Worth knowing The second Murderbot novella, published in 2018, sends Murderbot alone to the mining facility where it once killed dozens of humans, to find out what really happened. On the way it meets ART, a sardonic research ship’s AI that becomes one of the series’ best-loved characters. It won the Hugo and Locus awards for best novella.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A USA Today bestseller The "I love Murderbot!" —Ann Leckie Artificial Condition is the follow-up to Martha Wells's Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times bestselling All Systems Red It has a dark past—one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks... The Murderbot Diaries All Systems Red Artificial Condition Rogue Protocol Exit Strategy Network Effect Fugitive Telemetry System Collapse At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reading order · The Murderbot Diaries
Full order & progress →- The Future of Work: CompulsoryThe Future of Work: Compulsory–Not ranked yet
- All Systems RedStart here
8.38.3 / 10 - Artificial ConditionThis book
8.48.4 / 10 - Rogue Protocol
8.38.3 / 10 - Exit Strategy
8.58.5 / 10 - Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
7.97.9 / 10 - Network Effect
8.98.9 / 10 - Fugitive Telemetry
8.38.3 / 10 - System Collapse
8.28.2 / 10 - Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy
7.97.9 / 10 - Platform Decay
8.08.0 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 2,623 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 8.4 — the Science fiction average of 7.8 barely moves it. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.5 | 72 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 8.3 | 2.6K | 97% |
Frequently asked
How long is Artificial Condition?
It has 168 pages — shorter than 98% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 8.4, the closest to this book.
