I’m normally a bit more of a hard scifi reader with the likes of Bobiverse and Expanse (and Andy Weir/Thaichovsky/IanMBanks/Herbert etc) but I really enjoyed this humerous take on a rogue cyborg.
Is there anything out there in this vane I should look into?
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I know it’s a month old, but I just saw this post and wanted to add some comments.
First of all, I agree with the recommendation on Leckie, especially the Imperial Radch series. It’s space opera - not funny like Murderbot - but it’s a pretty interesting take on an artificial consciousness.
Second, Wells has written other stuff besides Murderbot that’s good. I’m also more of a hard SF reader, but I did enjoy her Tales of the Raksura series, which is straight up fantasy, with people who can turn into dragon-like things.
Third, John Scalzi is also really good at clever/witty dialog. Some of his stuff is more serious, but he’s got a few that are both funny and moving. Maybe check out Redshirts, which is kind of the Star Trek situation, from the point of view of the away team members who tend to die while the main characters always survive. Very silly concept, done very well.
I read kind of a ridiculous amount of SF. If you want any recommendations for hard SF, or anything else in the genre, I’d be happy to give my thoughts.
I’d rather read your thoughts and recommendations than not. Hit me with your favourite hard scifi.
Ill look into Red shirts in the mean time Ty.
Favorite “all time” would have me looking through a lot of titles, but I’ve really been enjoying Adrian Tchaikovsky lately, and some of his is hard SF. Probably Children of Time would be the one I’d start with.
If you like hard SF, you’ve probably read Weir (The Martian, Project Hail Mary, others), but he’s great.
I could go on a lot, but maybe I’ll keep it there unless you want more.
Anne Leckie, every book. There’s something of Banks about her writing, the protagonist in the main 3 books used to be but one body out of thousands controlled by a ship mind, before finding its self isolated and for the first time, singular. I adore her quiet writing style, and weird was of thinking of things. The Translators in particular are not only some of my favourite characters in any book, they’re also a phenomenal literary device.
I don’t know why I bother, but I help the former captain because I choose to…
+1 to recommending Ann Leckie.
There’s Service Model, but that’s by Tchaikovsky, so maybe you’ve read it
Every fricken’ time. Someone posts that they want something specific and everybody dog piles into the conversation to recommend a bunch of the stuff that ALWAYS gets recommended, but that doesn’t really have anything in common with what the poster asked for, and are even stuff they straight up said they already read.
There’s not much out there like Murder Bot, though IMO it owes something to the Stainless Steel Rat. If you liked the humor, you might like Expeditionary Force (the Skippies from Bobiverse are named after an absurd AI character from ExForce). Craig Alanson’s, let’s call them “old fashioned” feelings about gender are on FULL display (which I find off putting, but I can look past it), but the books are hella funny.
I also just the Jinn Bot of Shantiport, which is a fun take on the Aladdin story (if Aladdin was a hot girl and the genie was an old bot from an era with better tech, so its basic hacking skills make it a god). The writing style is very different, but it’s also fun, funny and has goofy AIs.
