Donald Maass Literary Agency

Tor.com: Martha Wells is an amazing writer, whose work I’ve generally loved since first encountering THE ELEMENT OF FIRE. When her novella ALL SYSTEMS RED came out last year from Tor.com Publishing, it was a delight to see Wells turn her considerable talents to original science fiction­ – space operatic science fiction with a sense of humour and a deep well of kindness. This year will see two sequels published, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION (May) and ROGUE PROTOCOL (August), and­—not a word of a lie—they’re both really good.

Wells brings a strong sense of character to Murderbot. Deeply socially anxious, immensely awkward about talking to Actual People, and constantly insisting that they don’t care (when it becomes obvious that they do), Murderbot is a very human sort of bot­—despite their occasional assertion that they’re not really a person.

Wells’ pacing is sharp, and the world of the Murderbot Diaries is atmospheric and filled with cool shit. And the individuals who appear on the pages of these stories, however briefly, all feel like fully-rounded people. These are delightful books, and I sincerely hope that Wells writes many more of them­—because I definitely want to find out what happens next.

Publishers Weekly: This enjoyable latest installment of the long-running Liaden space adventure saga, featuring the ever-resourceful Clan Korval and their eclectic allies, picks up on the simultaneous and parallel story lines of ALLIANCE OF EQUALS (2016) and THE GATHERING EDGE (2017)…

As always, this intelligent space opera focuses on matters of manners, honor, duty, and clever repartee; violence is rarely the solution, and subtlety wins out over overt force. For returning fans, it provides thoroughly satisfying progression or resolution for multiple threads and will feel comfortably familiar for fans of Korval’s escapades.

Publishers Weekly: The sixth installment of Bishop’s paranormal series (after 2017’s Etched in Bone), set in an alternate upstate New York, constitutes a fresh take on a series concept…It is a standalone thriller, set near a village called Sproing in the Finger Lakes.

New to the cast is narrator Vicki DeVine, who, unlike past protagonists, is an ordinary human woman. Recently divorced from an abusive wheeler-dealer, she has come to Lake Silence to renovate the property that constituted her settlement. The Jumble is exactly that: a dilapidated sprawl of buildings, abandoned by humans but not by the world’s supernatural predators, the Others. Vicki plans to reopen it as a modest resort until a body is discovered on her land.

Abruptly, this unassuming, hesitant woman must cope with a police investigation as well as a conspiracy by developers to seize the Jumble. Many core elements of prior plots are intact, notably the Others’ inevitable dominance…but the pleasures of these books have always lain in worldbuilding and character growth. Centering these on a woman liberating herself (personally and professionally) from abuse makes this episode unexpectedly timely.