30. Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries book 2) by Martha Wells

Well over 2 years ago, I was enthusiastically looking forward to continuing to read the Murderbot series, but dang these are hard to find used!  I broke down and bought the first 3 volumes (2 books per volume) at Dark Carnival.  I even bought the first volume, half of which I'd already read and it has a super annoying Stream on AppleTV+ sticker on the cover.  I am really starting to lose my principles as I age!

Artificial Condition is truly a novella.  I read it in an afternoon (a deliciously hot day in Montreal).  In the first half, Murderbot learns more about itself against its own will as it is grilled by a very smart data processing transport bot (who runs a ship owned by some university for research purposes but is contracted out for transport in between projects).  In the second half, assisted by this new robot "ally" (murderbot is extremely annoyed by it and reluctant to allow it to get close), he investigates the site of his own early massacre and helps out a family of miners who got screwed out of their data.  It's quick and satisfying.  

What I am enjoying about the series so far is that it is episodic.  There is a loose over-arching metaplot of murderbot figuring out what it wants to do, which seems to be evolving with each novella.  In this one, he wants to go back to the site of his massacre (he has the memory of having killed 57 that was covered up as an industrial accident) to find out what really happened.  It's part of the plot in this book but is secondary to the narrative of the episode.  It makes for me at least for more enjoyable reading.