Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
There’s nothing polemical intended here. It’s just an earworm that got re-implanted in my brain over the weekend, and according to the Deep Magic, I must infect as many as I can. Sorry, them’s the rules.
What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Serviceby Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack
DETAILS:
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Length: 608 pg.
Read Date: June 1-27, 2026
A behind-the-scenes look into the creation and legacy of The West Wing as told by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, with compelling insights from cast and crew exploring what made the show what it was and how its impassioned commitment to service has made the series and relationships behind it endure.
Step back inside the world of President Jed Bartlet’s Oval Office with Fitzgerald and McCormack as they reunite the West Wing cast and crew in a lively and colorful “backstage pass” to the timeless series. This intimate, in-depth reflection reveals how The West Wing was conceived, and spotlights the army of people it took to produce it, the lifelong friendships it forged, and the service it inspired.
From cast member origin stories to the collective cathartic farewell on the show’s final night of filming, What’s Next will delight readers with on-set and off-camera anecdotes that even West Wing superfans have never heard. Meanwhile, a deeper analysis of the show’s legacy through American culture, service, government, and civic life underscores how the series envisaged an American politics of decency and honor, creating an aspirational White House beyond the bounds of fictional television.
What’s Next revisits beloved episodes with fresh, untold commentary; compiles poignant and hilarious stories from the show’s production; highlights initiatives supported by the cast, crew, and creators; and makes a powerful case for competent, empathetic leadership, hope, and optimism for whatever lies ahead.
…the bad news: We will not be covering every single episode of The West Wing in this book. Or even every “iconic” one. Or even every so-called classic moment. There are not nearly enough pages in this book to dig down into all the hopeful-moving-dramatic-funny-romantic-bantery-big-block-of-cheese moments that were served up over seven seasons.
The fact that they took until page 206 to tell the reader that seems like it was too late. It was pretty clear—unless it was going to be very brief coverage of every episode.
Instead:
Finally, if you’re hoping to find within these pages genuinely sophisticated analyses of the nighttime basketball game from season 1 or the daytime hoops from that Camp David summit episode, we’re sorry to say it, but you’re out of luck. On the other hand, we won’t be going into Zoey dating that Jean-Paul guy, so there’s an upside too.
We’re happy for the trees saved by not having written a ten-thousand-page book, and we hope you’ll enjoy the upcoming deep dives into what we consider some stellar “key episodes.”
In lieu of that, the authors do recommend The West Wing Weekly podcast—which they drew a lot from throughout the book. It’s probably good that they didn’t, in a way, I (and many others) would’ve spent too long comparing their coverage to the podcast episodes.
Still, I’d have enjoyed it.
One of the longest chapters in the book was Thirty-Three, “Gone,” which covered the deaths of John Spencer and Leo McGarry. It was a fantastic tribute, featuring observations and stories from so many cast and crew about it. They also reprinted a couple of eulogies. Those cited in the chapter come close to hagiography—perhaps even indulge in it—but it’s hard to come away from that without a glimpse of the devotion that Spencer inspired in those that knew him and worked with him.
If you can read that chapter with dry eyes, well, as Mrs. Landingham would say, “I don’t even want to know you.”
Similarly, there’s a chapter devoted to singing Martin Sheen’s praises. It’s not nearly as emotionally hard-hitting, but just about as good.
Throughout the book, the authors talk about some of the ways that cast and crew volunteer for various causes and programs, help candidates campaign for office, and whatnot. Time after time, we read about them being inspired by something they learned about from someone on set. They go to pitch in with something that a coworker is working on, and then they become involved.
In addition to talking about the various causes they’re involved with, the reader is provided with links so they can donate/volunteer/learn more about them.
The show talks about the call to just show up. The authors try to provide opportunities to do so. It’s really a great combination.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the series straight through, and several individual episodes I’ve seen multiple other times. As I write this, Season 5 Episode 6, “Disaster Relief,” is on the other monitor. The Post-Sorkin Era is still getting on its feet and is benching Josh for Angela Blake—it’s a giant mistake (compounded by not keeping her around after this…ahhh, she’d have been fun to see after this). Yes, they make some delicious lemonade from this. But I’m going to stop talking about that now…I’m just saying that I’m exactly the kind of Wing-Nut they wrote this book for. *</span?
But boy, oh, boy, did it work for me. I cannot say enough good things about the book.
Do I wish we got a little more time on the “John Wells Administration”? Yes. We didn’t get the depth on the casting stories of the main characters that came in late. We didn’t get quite as many Key Episode features from that time. And so on.
But honestly, we didn’t get enough of those for the Sorkin years, either.
Honestly, I wanted at least another 400 pages.
Even at 600 pages, this book breezed by. I limited myself to 1-2 chapters a day just so I could relish the experience, and it moved too quickly for me.
Fans of the series should read this. People who aren’t as die-hard as some of us should probably give it a read—and then will find themselves rewatching it again—and likely turning to things like the podcast—because they’ve fallen further under the spell.
I can see myself coming back to this book—at least chapters and parts of chapters again soon. The index of organizations/causes in my copy should also get some use. The book is a thinly-disguised love-fest, and I was in all the way. You will be, too, if you’re at least a little bit interested in the idea.
* Then again, it took me almost two full years to read my pre-ordered copy.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.
This week’s prompt is:
I am not a Brandon Sanderson fan. Mostly that’s due to my personal commitment issues. I’ve read 4 books by the man–one or two of my sons and I read The Reckoners trilogy some years back and I read The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England largely because of the title (and I wanted to read something by him that didn’t involve devoting a huge chunk of my life). I enjoyed all of them–some more than others, but there was nothing about them that made me “a fan”–nor am I a detractor. He seems like a nice guy who has had a lot of success and does a decent job of paying it forward. I’ve also heard his classes are more than worth the time.
Oh, I’ve also heard he’s masterful at taking a bunch of seemingly unconnected narrative threads and pulling them together in the last 10% or so of a book. Even if you know that’s his game, he can still really impress a reader the way he does it.
My friends and acquaintances that are into Sanderson do tend to make me wish I had the patience and bandwidth to try based on the way they talk about his stuff. But I don’t.
So why am I bothering to write a post this week? It’s because of the second part of the prompt.
First of all…I couldn’t find the short video I wanted to where Andrew Zimmern talks about his favorite fast food fries. But I did find this quotation/image at kitchenbusiness.com:
If you’ve ever seen Zimmern talk about food–you know that he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. And if he can talk for a few minutes about Fast Food French fries (and have positive things to say about some of them), there’s gotta be something there worth talking about. I’m pretty sure I could do the same thing with Alton Brown and others–I just remember Zimmern’s right now.
But that quotation speaks to my beef with the assumption of the question (and I don’t think that the nice people behind Pages Unbound concur with it, they’re trying to give us something to talk about)–fast food does not mean bad food. Fast food fantasy does not mean bad fantasy.
This goes beyond not trying to yuck someone’s yum. But it certainly starts there. Just knock off that kind of nonsense.
We’ve talked about what makes good Fantasy fiction in this series before–it should be some form of escapism (sure, it might be escapism in order to examine/critique our society, culture, whatever); probably have an element of magic; and take place in a world where things don’t quite work like ours, probably in at least some sort of fantastical fashion.
Can those things be done on a popular level with an easy entry point for readers of a wide variety of ages and education levels (not to mention familiarity with the tropes and conventions of fantasy), that don’t take a lot of intellectual vigor to get through the material, and possibly be more entertainment than anything? Yes. Can that be accomplished by a writer who shoves as many classical allusions into their language and characters as possible, drawing on myths and folklore from a variety of cultures, to create a scathing critique and challenge to the status quo in Western politics and power structures? Absolutely. I don’t think I want a steady diet of the latter–not sure I want a steady diet of the former, either. But give me a mix of both–along with a mix of other genres–and I’d be satisfied.
I think I should probably throw a couple of paragraphs in between the last two, but at this point, I think my point is made. But let me go back to the fast food idea for a second:
Today, I’d rather have some curly purple fries from Boise Fry Company with some of their custom ketchups and salts rather (to name one superior Fast Food fry). But there was a time in my life when fresh McDonald’s Fries (especially in a properly-filled Super-Sized sleeve) were one of the greatest culinary pleasures of my life. Now, I’m not there anymore. Partly because I think they’ve done something to the way they prep them–also, they don’t do a good job of filling the smaller sleeves now. But do I discount those earlier times? No. In fact, if I could hop in a TARDIS and have one right now (or is it right then?), I’d probably be pretty happy. A tasty fry is a tasty fry no matter if it comes in cardboard packaging or is served on a heavy plate by someone wearing a dress-shirt and tie.
And man, I really shouldn’t write using this metaphor so late at night…
So, sure, someone might “eat” a lot of Sanderson right now–but even he can’t put things out fast enough to satisfy people who only read Sanderson. So those people might decide to walk under the Golden Arches and head over to the place with the Ping Pong Ball head and read some McCaffrey, or just beyond that to the girl with red pigtails and try a Heather Fawcett book or two. Maybe they’ll want something more filling and try some Martin. Or they decide they want a particular texture and go for Brent Weeks or R.F. Kuang, or…. So let’s grant the whole Sanderson is fast food idea. At some point, a reader is going to want something else to eat–and will look for something like him, but not. And there are shelves and shelves of things that’ll fit. So leave his readers alone, and be ready to point them at something else they’ll like.
Of course, that’s my opinion. I could be wrong. Go read some of the other responses to this prompt.
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
A Moment of Divine Inspiration Helped Melvil Dewey Bring Obsessive Order to the Infinitely Disorganized Stacks in the Library—huh. (probably better to say moment of boredom than divine inspiration, but….)
Rereading Mark Twain While Everything Else Burns
let’s do a ‘couch to 5k’ for reading—this is a pretty cool idea
‘Angel Down’ and Riffing on a Literary Trick—Nick Kolakowski muses on Kraus’s Angel Down.
The Stories We Don’t Tell—Reading about why and how Knighton walked away from what sounds like a promising novel (but yeah, I totally get why) and how it transformed into something else. Invoking The Faithful Executioner didn’t hurt my appreciation.
Summer’s One Must Read Book 2026—I don’t know how I forgot to post this last week. Over on Readling Ladies Book Club last week, a handful of bloggers shared one book a piece to help you come up with summer reading.
Announcement Repost: Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week 2026—Another thing I think I forgot to properly share (this time back in May), was the upcoming Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week. From what I’ve seen, this is going to be better than the (IMHO, great) ones in the past. There’s still time to get involved for readers/bloggers/writers.
Over on Instagram, @spooky_bookworm shared a (possibly controversial) list Books Written w/AI Worth Reading—I couldn’t agree with this list more.
Tom Gauld shares some Heatwave Reading Dangers
My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week:
“Beer is to Bill as methadone is to a heroin addict. The alcohol level in the beer is so low he can’t drink enough to get sloshed, to saturate his fat-laden tissues. His gray matter. But he tries. He’s in pain and needs to blot out reality. Some way. Somehow.”
—from “Midight Confession” by Lawrence Kelter in True Romance: A Noir Anthology edited by Troy Lambert & Vincent Zandri
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
The Asset by Shane Kuhn (I miss this guy’s books)
Daughter of the Sun by Zoe Kalo
The Question of the Felonious Friend by E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen
And I talked about the releases of: Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz ; The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez; and Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Late Night Mars by Thomas Trang—”Book 2 of the Asteroid Savage Series, a gritty, high-stakes science fiction thriller perfect for fans of The Expanse and Altered Carbon, where the line between hero and criminal is as thin as the Martian atmosphere.”
Country People by Daniel Mason—”A year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont), leaving all the comforts of home behind”
Some People by Parini Shroff—as well done as Shroff’s previous book was, I really hadn’t planned on another. But… “A man on the brink of divorce is forced to care for his injured future-ex-mother-in-law in this wise, witty, and heartfelt novel” sounds pretty good.
image course: Book of the Month on Facebook.
Okay, after putting it off for months, I finally got around to reading the paperback I bought last year. Then a friend got me the audiobook—and I had to see if Hays was as great as everyone said. So I did both versions in a month. Which isn’t how I usually do things, but sometimes…
Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman, read by Jeff Hays
DETAILS: Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1 Publisher: Ace; Audible Studios Publication Date: December 30, 2025; January 28, 2021 Format: Paperback, Audiobook Length: 427 pg.; 13 hrs., 31 min. Read Date: June 9-11, 2026; June 26-30, 2026
“Not everything will be social commentary.”
“It’s usually just stupid,” I muttered.
“It’s entertainment,” Mordecai said.
For the maybe 5 of you who haven’t learned this (inadvertently or purposefully), after living amongst us for decades, an alien race nearly wipes out the human race in an instant. Every human being—or physical object, plant, or animal—that was in an enclosed space was crushed when those buildings flattened. Those who survived were given the opportunity to enter a Dungeon to compete in a Hunger Games sort of reality show for several alien races to watch.
Sadly, for Carl, he only survived this because he was outside to catch his ex-girlfriend’s cat in the middle of the night. As he thought this would be a quick dash outside, he was wearing a jacket, t-shirt, boxers, and his girlfriend’s Crocs. Somehow, he didn’t realize he’d be in these clothes—and only these clothes—for (possibly) the rest of his life.
On the other hand, Carl is a veteran of the Coast Guard with plenty of experience in explosives, who worked as a marine technician in Seattle before the Dungeon.
The series is about he and that cat doing everything they can to survive the Dungeon.
Cats are assholes. I get it. But do you know why people like cats, despite their asshole-ness? It’s because they don’t fucking talk. If they did, and they were all like you, they’d all be extinct because we’d have killed you all by now.
Ignoring my mild allergy, I’m not anti-cat. I’m just ambivalent about them. It generally comes across as a vague dislike (especially if I’m not ignoring my mild allergy). And when it comes to fictional Felis catus representation, I’m ambivalent at best.
So imagine my surprise when I’m about halfway through this book when I have to confess to my cat-loving daughter that there’s a good chance that my favorite new character of the year is a particular tortoiseshell Persian cat—”one of those fluffy, flat-faced cats that look like they need to be sitting on the lap of a Bond villain.” Okay, her surprise was bigger than mine.
Princess Donut is just so much fun—well, at least once she eats the Enhanced Pet Biscuit which turns her into a talking, sentient cat with plenty of memories of her life before the Dungeon (mostly to Carl’s consternation). She soon picks up the ability to hurl magic missiles from her eyes.
She is vain, she is mildly manipulative when it comes to Carl, her charisma score enables her to charm just about every NPC they encounter (and she does okay with the rest, too). Thanks to her history of competing in cat shows, she’s a natural when it comes to dealing with the media.
And…I don’t know…she’s got buckets of je ne sais quoi and I can’t get enough of her. I’m not sure I trust her choice in pets (she adopts a baby velicraptor-like creature toward the end of the book), but I can’t see how that won’t prove to be hilarious down the road (just seeing some fan art online assures me of that).
Part of a collective mind intent upon destroying any semblance of scientific progress in the universe, the Krakaren is the only communal brain entity in the galaxy who actually gets stupider as time moves on. Consisting of multiple, shrieking tentacles, members of the Krakaren cooperative spend their days birthing their disease-laden minions, creating and selling harmful products, attempting to debate scientific experts, and proselytizing to the weak-minded, all in an attempt to… Well, nobody knows what the hell their end goal is. Even Eris, Goddess of Chaos, doesn’t want anything to do with these crazy assholes.
(was this essentially me reaching to find an excuse to post that quotation? Yes. But also…it really does give you the flavor of the prose, humor, and strangeness of the monsters)
Jeff Hays is on his way to being my favorite audiobook narrator. He’s got stiff competition, but after two books, he’s got a shot at knocking people like Lorelei King, Gildart Jackson, Luke Daniels, and Ray Porter off the podium.
His choice to base Carl’s voice off of (and his performance of it) was inspired. His portrayal of Princess Donut is dynamite. And the way he does every other character is great.
If this is how polished he is with the first book—I can only imagine he’ll be fantastic once he gets some experience with Dinniman’s characters and style.
If we get to the point where we don’t help each other anymore, that’s when we stop being human.
I really do think that it’s possible to dig deep with a lot of this book, to sink your teeth into it and see that Dinniman is accomplishing a lot and has a lot to say.
It’s also entirely possible to shutdown all your critical faculties and just have a blast with this book.
Both are totally appropriate ways to enjoy this (well, that’s true of just about every book—but it feels truer here).
I’m going to try to dig deeper when I get to future installments. But for now, I’ll just note that this is more than just jokes and killing things and leave it at that.
Dinniman draws on a bunch of video games, Douglas Adams, The Hunger Games, The Running Man, Ready Player One to create this world—and that would be enough, but when you add in his particular brand of humor and heart…I tell you what, that’s just great stuff.
If you, like me, have held off from this for whatever reason you have. Reconsider it. This is one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in ages, and I’m counting down the days until they finally release book two in paperback (and/or I decide to pay for the hardcovers).
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author—but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit.
“You must meet the most interesting people on the gallows,” Whitlaw Goddard said to the black-hooded man readying his noose. The wooden stool creaked beneath his bare feet as he shifted, earning him a cuff that left his ear throbbing. The large audience chattered among themselves, making jokes and mocking, waiting for the day’s entertainment to begin.
The silent executioner didn’t dare talk with the heretic the corrupt hierarchs held responsible for conniving to land a mage on the holy moon, home of the gods. He ignored the condemned mage and pulled a length of rough rope taut, checking that it would hold the weight of his portly criminal. The man grunted in satisfaction and tied the end into a looping knot just large enough to accommodate Whitlaw’s head.
The mage shuddered and swallowed back down the sudden burn of bile. He’d never been one for pointless small talk, but with his hands bound and his magic sealed, a rising panic lent desperate energy to his tongue — as if by some miracle he might charm the dour executioner into sparing his life.
from First Mage on the Moon by Cameron Johnston
Getting a couple of days off last week, and spending time in a hospital waiting room (surgery–not mine–went well) on Monday gave me a lot of time to read. I’m a little ahead of schedule now. Better yet, the books I’ve tackled this month have been universally better than I expected.
This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:
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 |
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| The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi |
True Romance: A Noir Anthology edited by Troy Lambert & Vincent Zandri |
Sword & Thistle by S.L. Rowland, read by Eric Jason Martin |
Utomi’s novella will be my company for this evening. I’m quite looking forward to that.
I could use a little more romance in Lambert and Zandri’s compilation–but these short stories are intense enough that I’m not complaining.
My library has added some of Rowland’s Tales of Aedrea and I slapped my name on their hold list, I could use a little easy listening. So far, revisiting Sword & Thistle has been more enjoyable than I expected.
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| A Murder Most Fungal by Adrian M Gibson |
There’s no sophomore slump to be found in Gibson’s second book. That was something else.
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| First Mage on the Moon by Cameron Johnston |
The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst, read by Soneela Nankani |
I cannot tell you how happy I am that I can jump into Johnston’s newest now.
I seem to enjoy Durst’s excursions into other worlds–now let’s see what she’s like on this Earth.
Killer Vibesby Jack Friday
DETAILS: Series: Peter Key Mysteries, #1 Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication Date: July 14, 2026 Format: eARC Length: 352 pg. Read Date: July 6, 2026
Peter Key is an aimless, small-time weed dealer in his late 20s trying to live like someone in their late teens/early 20s. And that lifestyle is falling apart for him (to mix genres, think a less put-together, but better read, version of Cameron at the beginning of Remarkably Bright Creatures).
Then in an almost deus ex machina move—a lawyer shows up to tell him that his uncle (who he barely knew) is: 1. dead, 2. left him a house, a car, and some other things, and 3. left him a pile of debt.
All Peter can hear is the house part—as he’s about 20 minutes away from being homeless at that point. The lawyer has a bunch of advice about selling the home, getting rid of the debt, and whatnot. Peter wants to just move in and do so right now.
The house is a pigsty, his uncle was clearly going through a hoarding period in his life, and there are so many real estate brokers and bankers pushing him to sell the place that it feels uncomfortable. Add in some mysterious threats and warnings—and a car or two that seems to be following him everywhere.
Peter starts wondering about all this—including the way his uncle died, and starts playing amateur detective.
It’s not long before he runs into a PI who oddly enough, offers him a job and starts to show him better ways to go about what he’s trying to do.
Things get worse for Peter from there. (But better for the reader.)
What I know about Austin is so minimal. Tres Nevarre spent some time there and probably formed my initial impressions, I’ve heard about SXSW® (and wish I had an excuse to visit it firsthand), and there’s the whole “Keep Austin weird” thing that you can’t help but hear about. So…yeah, I have very little and very shallow understanding of it.
And I’m not saying that reading one mystery novel has set me straight and I’m as close to a native as you can get.
But I feel like I have a much better—grounded, fuller, and possibly nuanced—idea about it. Assuming Friday wasn’t just blowing smoke about his own city. The mix of poverty and obnoxious wealth so close to each other; a city where super exclusive poker games are regular things for the mega-rich and Beyoncé listening parties are loud and joyfully raucous; and some third thing to really round out this list.
In keeping with the title of the book, I think we’re treated to some good Austin Vibes here. And I found that great. I don’t need another Chicago, NYC, LA, or Boston PI (not that I won’t read them!), I really like getting to know another city.
I requested this from NetGalley because of the phrase in the blurb: “self-proclaimed ‘laziest private investigator in Texas.'” That was enough. Now, I’m not so sure I see him as all that lazy (yet), but that line was enough to get me interested.
Once I started reading, why did I stick with it? That’s really easy—the mystery was complex without getting convoluted, the writing was crisp and clear, the characters leapt off the page—and while Peter is woefully under-qualified to tackle the things he does in this book, somehow he gets by on instinct. That’s just fun to watch.
All families are messy. Some families are messier than others. That’s really all it boils down to here.
The first family unit we meet in this book (a couple of brothers, plus the girlfriend of one brother) is messy enough that the prudes in the readership might wonder if they want to keep pushing on (I sure did). And, honestly? It turns out that they’re the healthiest family in the book. By a mile. (however, most will not engage the prude-reflex, I should assure you).
And yet—in some way—for most of them, the family bonds, the family loyalty, the impulse to turn to family, etc. is incredibly strong. Arguably, they are the strongest when it shouldn’t be. There are some who have severed that bond—for good or ill.
But for those who haven’t—this book shows focuses on the trouble that can bring—in multiple ways and levels.
It has been a good, long, time since I read a book that was so obviously a pilot for the rest of a series. It’s about establishing the character, getting him into a new city and trying to rebuild his life, getting involved with a PI to learn from, and then starting in that career—oh, and getting a dog. And as a pilot, it was great.
I do have high hopes for this series. But I think we’re really going to need book 2 to really get an idea what it’ll be like. This novel is too focused on Peter and his family to really get a sense for what kind of stories this is going to be made up of. We know a couple of the characters we should expect to see—Grady, his receptionist, Peter’s friend…but that’s really it. So we can make a guess or two, but…it’s hard to really know. And I’m okay with that. Killer Vibes was good enough that I’m back.
But let me focus on this as a novel. Boy howdy, this was good. As a person, Peter isn’t someone I want to get to know—I think I’d enjoy knowing them, but the getting acquainted part would be difficult for me. And I kind of felt that way about the character at the beginning, too—I was interested in what was going on with him. I also really wanted to see how he goes from the kind of petty criminal that season 1 Jesse Pinkman would look down on, to a PI by the end of the novel.
But the more time I spent with him and watching him navigate the dangerous situation he found himself in—the more I liked him. Even if you don’t like him as a character—he’s a fun bumbling amateur detective in way over his head. Nevertheless, he’s largely successful at it, too. And who can’t enjoy that?
The mysteries surrounding Peter, his house, and his uncle are rich ground for readers to immerse themselves in*. There’s really not a character that you don’t want a little more of (after chapter 2, anyway)—they’re colorful, they’re multilayered, many of them are witty, and they feel real. The stakes are believable. And Friday knows his way around pacing, plot turns/twists, and how to reveal answers/clues/partial answers in a mystery.
Killer Vibes had it all. Mystery readers are going to want to be sure they make time for this one this summer.
* I know you can’t immerse yourself in ground, but roll with it, will ya?
Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
DETAILS: Series: The Muderbot Diaries, #2 Publisher: Tordotcom Publication Date: May 08, 2018 Format: Hardcover Length: 158 pg. Read Date: June 19, 2026
For the first time in its existence, Murderbot is free to go where it wants (although it needs to be careful about where, so it’s not mistaken for a rogue unit), do what it wants, all for itself.
Somewhat surprisingly—at least that’s how I reacted for half-a-second and then it made total sense—it wants to go back to the mining colony where it killed so many humans to try to understand what happened. And how it relates to the hacking of its governor module.
Along the way, it befriends a transport vessel, and hires on to protect some scientists who are trying to take on a mega-corporation.
Okay, so why did I sleep on this for so long? Yes, I should’ve just bought and read the entire series (available at the time) back in 2023 when I read All Systems Red. But I didn’t. Then I bought this one back in February 2025—and still didn’t read it until June.
I promise you, there has been much in the way of self-berating since I started reading this.
The novella is so short, that to give it my usual treatment seems like too much. So let me just cut to the chase:
Not only does Murderbot make a new friend (although the road to friendship was bumpy) with the transport ship it dubbed, ART. But there’s a connection made with another ‘bot, too. There’s a growing network of connections of beings with similar intelligence and interests (especially in episodic media) for our friend, and I’m enjoying it as much as I wonder where Wells is taking us with that notion.
The humans Murderbot tries to help this time aren’t quite at the same level as the PreservationAux crew when it comes to taking care of themselves—or at paying attention Murderbot. But it was good to see it try with others, even as what it learns about itself by interaction with them is a little sad.
On the other hand, watching Muderbot deal with humans who are trying to take advantage of his new group…well, that’s another kind of satisfying.
As much as I enjoyed the first of The Murderbot Diaries, this one really set the hook in . The character development was fantastic—as is watching its increasing self-awareness, and…well all the intangible stuff doing on with the former SecUnit. The narrative voice alone is worth coming back for—but there are a multitude of reasons to do so.
If you—like me—continue to sleep on this series. Quit it. You won’t be sorry.
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Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
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