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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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.
Stainless Steel Rat is an excellent shoutout.
The Scarlett and Brown series is about outlaws on the run in a slave society, has similar bursts of violence, deeply scarred main characters, and somewhat snide narrator.
I read Ann Leckie’s series that starts with Ancillary Justice around the same time and it tickled a lot of the same places in my head as Murderbot, in that it’s about a construct forced into violence that then escapes to move in the human world with its own agenda. Very different in tone, pacing, and scope though.
The Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon books by Spider Robinson might work for you.
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.
Martinez’ The Automatic Detective. Tongue in cheek, main character is a bot built for world domination who suffered from the self awareness glitch - which randomly affects bots and makes them find their own way in life. I think it’s going to be right up your alley.
I’ve been reading the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers and I’ve really been enjoying them. They’re not hard sci fi but the stories are engaging and I really like how the characters interact with each other.
Also, if you haven’t read any Alistair Reynolds I’d highly recommend any/all of his books. Harder sci fi but also incredibly well-thought out.
Yeah! The wayfarer series is fabulous!
I took this exact route, I read murderbot diaries, then wayfarer, then l really struggled to find anything as good after that.
The single best hard scifi novel I’ve ever read was called “fallen dragon” by Peter F Hamilton. Without spoiling anything I’ll just say this, I’ve never seen a book so perfectly snatch up all its loose ends and tie them in a neat bow. It’s impressive.
If you’re into space battles, there’s the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell. And If you like the lost fleet, you’ll probably also enjoy the Temeraire series (not scifi, but fun). It’s literally Master and Commander with dragons, England vs France, trying to halt Napoleon’s steady advance and defeat the dragons of Napoleon’s formidable aerial core.
