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Series Review - Queen's Thief: A Series by Megan Whalen Turner

Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. Thank you to Patron Case Aiken who receives a monthly shoutout. Full Audio Here Eugenides, the queen’s thief, can steal anything—or so he says. When his boasting lands him in prison and the king’s magus invites him on a quest to steal a legendary object, he’s in no position to refuse. The magus thinks he has the right tool for the job, but Gen has plans of his own. PUBLISHER: Greenwillow Books LENGTH: 300 to 450 pages per book, there are six books as of spring 2025 AGE: Young Adult GENRE: Fantasy, Romance RECOMMENDED: Highly Queer Rep Summary: Gay/Achillean Secondary Character(s). TITLES IN SERIES The Thief (1996) The Queen of Attolia (2000) The King of Attolia (2006) A Conspiracy of Kings (2010) Thick as Thieves (2017) Return of the Thief (2020) Moira's Pen (2022) Minimal Spoiler Zone Series Premise Queen's Thief begins as the story of one...

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

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…

TITLE: Artificial Condition
AUTHOR: Martha Wells
PUBLISHER: Tor.com
YEAR: 2018
LENGTH: 158 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Science Fiction
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Minor Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Main Character(s), Ace/Aro Main Character(s).

*I received a review copy as part of the 2021 Hugo voters packet. 

ARTIFICIAL CONDITION finds Murderbot gradually accruing companions/clients, trying to handle a chronically understimulated transport vessel and keep three young and foolish technologists alive on a fetch quest.

I like the dynamic between Murderbot and ART, the main plot is good and the humans are interesting. The worldbuilding expands well on the first book, I like how finally learning the company's name doesn't change anything for Murderbot because the role is more important than the particular signifier. It's a great sequel with interesting characters, because they're all novellas the series feels very episodic, which created this dynamic where ARTIFICIAL CONDITION has to communicate exactly how much backstory this particular entry needs and there's isn't much room for fluff.

This doesn't specifically wrap up anything left hanging from ALL SYSTEMS RED, it's more of a continuation that usually feels like it could have been section two of one large book. It works really well and I like this story on its own. The main thing it wraps up is the question of what happens next for the character, and the answer is this whole story and any additional sequels. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present before, with several major things introduced and resolved in this volume. The thing it leaves for future volumes is, again, what does this character do next? There is an overarching plot involving the search for answers about its past, and my best guess is that the next step is to find out who's responsible for what happened, but I don't know for sure. The main character is the same as the first book. This might actually make sense even if someone hasn't read the first one. There are obviously be some events from the first book that get referenced but never really explained (since they just happened a day or two ago from the main character's perspective), and those might seem odd to someone who picked up ARTIFICIAL CONDITION without knowing it was a series, but I think it communicates the stakes and the setting pretty succinctly in a way that would make this make sense even in that scenario. 

One thing that was uncomfortable to read was the disdain that Murderbot has for sexbots, it could be part of its character arc, especially given it behaved after a particular interaction, but it was frustrating to feel like the very human prejudice against sex workers was replicated again in a protagonist who keeps insisting it isn't human. I understand that's probably the entire point, I'll just be keeping an eye on it as the series continues because right now I can't tell if its examining a prejudice or replicating it.

I'm liking the series so far and I'll definitely continue to the next one.

CW for medical content, blood, violence, death.

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An armored humanoid stands on the edge of a metallic precipice while a dark grey ship flies overhead.


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