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Comment by VyseofArcadia | Hacker News Reader

I enjoyed the novella but also didn't feel like it did anything particularly new or interesting. I think a lot of people just relate to a snarky unwilling protagonist who would rather be watching TV.

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My thought when I was reading it was that Murderbot is a stand in for people on the autism spectrum. This is an unusual viewpoint in literature and probably resonated with a lot of people in a similar situation. I personally liked the stories and will read the next installment when it comes out, but found myself gravitating more towards ART than Murderbot. If I had any quibbles it would be how the living people are underdeveloped and sometimes no better than background furniture. This naturally arises from the viewpoint of the protagonist, but can be somewhat annoying to the reader.

It seems to have a lot of resonance with trans people too. I'm autistic but there's enough overlap between the two groups that I've noticed how people in both communities react to the series.

One thing I found cool about Murderbot is that there's no implication "it" is of any particular gender.

I'm a man, so I went in with my prejudices and automatically assumed Murderbot is a "he". When reading a review that considered it a "she", I re-read most of it and there's no single indication of its gender, if Murderbot even assumes one.

I found that interesting, kind of like that trick Ursula K. Le Guin pulled when she didn't tell her readers Ged from Earthsea was dark skinned.

I read murderbot as androgynous. I’m pretty sure they even mention how there are no reproductive organs because why would a SecUnit have that? There is even a story where Murderbot befriends a sexbot and feels glad not to have to deal with that sort of complicated hardware.

There are parts of the story where Murderbot passes as either a man or a woman so I figure the body shape must be fairly neutral.

I’m pretty sure Murderbot explicitly doesn’t have a gender

> I'm a man, so I went in with my prejudices and automatically assumed Murderbot is a "he". When reading a review that considered it a "she", I re-read most of it and there's no single indication of its gender, if Murderbot even assumes one.

Wow, I've only read the first one, but definitely considered Murderbot a she (even though I'm male). Hmmmm....

Murderbot definitely comes off as a she in many of the interactions, imo. Though I'm a gay man so what do I know.

I don't think it's fair to call that a trick of Le Guin's. She does tell the reader the first time it's relevant, which is fairly early on. In any case it's explicit in the text. Which is very different from the sort post facto declarations other fantasy authors have made about their characters in response to fandom theories, which does feel sly to me.

Yeah, on second thought I don't think it's fair either. I didn't mean "trick" in a derogatory sense. In fact I was praising Le Guin!

I do think it's unquestionable that she was purposefully subverting and playing with the standard expectations of fantasy novels written by white and male authors.

I think Martha Wells does a bit of the same with her depiction of both Murderbot as well as -- in general -- the role of women in her series. In particular Dr. Mensah impressed me: she's fair, intelligent, and in charge. She's not an action hero nor does she know her way around extreme violence, yet she's not downplayed as incompetent or lost (arguably after overcoming some initial naivete); in fact she's possibly the most competent character (in things other than killing people, of course).

I was the opposite, when reading the novels I always felt a female vibe from murderbot so when the news came out about the tv series and the actor that was chosen to portray them it kinda shocked me and forced me to wonder why i assumed that.

I think that is a new and interesting protagonist tbh. So many are heros or have to develop into heroism. It’s refreshing to just have someone who explicitly doesn’t save the world or similar stakes.

Maybe the pop culture obsession is new, but the snarky, reluctant protagonist is something I have seen enough to be kind of tired of. Off the top of my head, Murderbot also reminds me of the protagonist of Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City which I recently read.

If you enjoyed Murderbot, take that as a recommendation, although it is less sci-fi and more historical fiction.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City has a protagonist who is reluctant but is forced to face huge stakes, namely the fall of a city at war. Murderbot is interesting for more than its reluctance: the stakes are distinctly different and far more about introspection and self actualization.

Orhan is quite different though - he's a braggart unreliably narrating his own story after most of the events have transpired. You can't believe his reluctance, it's a show he's putting on to make himself look better. The entire story feels like it too, credit to the author.

Murderbot is not that. What you see of them is as genuine as their perspective can be. Murderbot may be snarky, but it doesn't have the same braggadocious air, and I do think that changes the character and story significantly. And if you're a similar kind of neuro-atypical then it can be a refreshing bit of heroic representation.

I will give Sixteen Ways some credit though - at least it ended. I don't particularly like the ending, but it is one. Murderbot falls off hard by the time the series gets to full length novels.

While I liked it for what it is, the reluctant antihero isn’t exactly a new concept, other than possibly in the present aspect of being a semi-autistic robot/AI.

>> a lot of people just relate to a snarky unwilling protagonist who would rather be watching TV.

You put that beautifully! That is what I enjoyed about it.

I enjoyed that I could relate to the protagonist's anxiety (in addition to what you said about watching TV).

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