finn_
He/they. Dutch guy. Owned by two cats.
944 points
finn_ finished a book
5d
System Collapse
Martha Wells
Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse. Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back. Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast. Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.
finn_ started reading...
1w
System Collapse
Martha Wells
Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse. Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back. Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast. Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.
finn_ finished a book
1w
Fugitive Telemetry
Martha Wells
No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall. When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?) Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans! Again!
finn_ started reading...
1w
Fugitive Telemetry
Martha Wells
No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall. When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?) Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans! Again!
finn_ finished a book
1w
Network Effect
Martha Wells
I'm usually alone in my head, and that's where 90 plus percent of my problems are. When Murderbot's human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action. Drastic action it is, then.
finn_ finished a book
2w
The Egg
Andy Weir
A short story about the universe and your place in it. "You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. ... And that’s when you met me." The Egg is a short story written by Andy Weir, his most popular, and follows a nameless 48-year-old man who discovers the "meaning of life" after he dies. The story is about "you" (in the second person), and God, who is "me" (in the first person). God says that you have been reincarnated many times before, and that you are soon to be reincarnated once more, leading to quite a few existential questions. Andy Weir (1972-) built a career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, The Martian (2011), allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail.
finn_ commented...
3w
I fully agree with Clay being the worst protagonist. I don't mind protagonists that are bad people or just unlikable, so long as it serves the story and isn't just - like you said - misogyny disguised as feminism, but never addressed as such. The only reason I finished it is because I myself was too curious about the mysteries of the bookstore. In the end, even the end / the reveal was disappointing so you can rest easily :P
It is very very rare I see a book as being better off untouched. Even if I dislike a book, I will still finish it for the sake of it being a learning experience. Others may still like it, and that's totally fine.
But what the actual f*ck?
The concept is great. The execution is awful. And Clay is single-handedly the worst protagonist I've ever read in anything.
Bro didn't care even slightly about the mysteries of the bookshop until literally every other character pointed out something was weird and then the book acts as though he was super curious from the beginning when he just... didn't care? He doesn't really seem to care about anything honestly? It's like he doesn't even want to be in his own book!
Not to mention how this guy talks about women. Jesus Christ. I would take a "Her boobs boobed boobily" over this. There is nothing more uncomfortable than reading Clay talk about women he finds attractive as though he wants to wear their skin, not to mention the undertones of misogyny disguised as feminism.
In short, I have better things to do than finish this book, and I think you do too. Read literally anything else. Since the protagonist doesn't care at all, I doubt the pay-off is worth sitting through the talk of "beautiful women can't be intelligent", "beautiful micro muscles" and "blood pooling under skin" as a description of a flushed face...
