Artificial Condition
The Murderbot Diaries • Book 2
by Martha Wells
Narrated by Kevin R. Free
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
Murderbot finally meets someone snarkier than itself, and the result is the most entertaining co-dependency in science fiction.
- Great if you want: sardonic AI protagonists, found-family dynamics, tight character-driven sci-fi
- Listening experience: punchy and propulsive — no filler, easily finished in one sitting
- Narration: Free nails Murderbot's flat deadpan without losing the underlying warmth
- Skip if: you haven't read book one — this picks up mid-arc
About This Audiobook
Artificial Condition sends Murderbot, the self-named security construct who hacked its own governance module and now spends its free time watching television serials, back to the mining facility where it once killed seventeen people. Teaming with a Research Transport ship of considerable personality, Murderbot tries to recover the memories the company suppressed, only to find that the truth about what happened may be worse than the rumors.
Kevin R. Free's narration captures Murderbot's distinctive voice precisely, the combination of operational competence and social anxiety filtered through someone who has decided that humans are too much work. The novella's compressed length suits the audio format, and Free's deadpan delivery of Murderbot's internal commentary on human behavior provides the series' characteristic humor without sacrificing the genuine emotion underneath.
