because, like, not everyone is gonna connect with everything, sure

but the people who don't connect with murderbot seem BIG MAD

and I'm kind of like... what exactly about this character is so threatening

I've seen it called a "terrible protagonist"

I've seen people accusing Martha Wells of "not knowing what she's writing about" which

I don't even know where to start with

I've seen complaints that it "acts like a bratty teenager" or swears too much or whatever

and I'm like

how do you not get that murderbot is basically a meditation on and critique/subversion of all robot characters ever

how do you not get that making it emotional and immature and shy and fiercely compassionate is a choice?

that it's an unreliable narrator because you know, just because someone's brain is a computer doesn't mean it can't make errors?

I just

I know I shouldn't make assumptions but wow how safe is your life that you can't find anything to relate to in murderbot?

you can't relate to being scared or avoidant or self-defensive? you can't relate to feeling like you have no control over your mind or body or life?

is it because it's not human, or because it's not male or female, or because it's not a perfect selfless martyr, or because it commits violence but doesn't enjoy it?

Or maybe they can and that's the problem.

is it because it steadfastly maintains its own boundaries and its own sense of self?

why are you guys so offended by this fictional cyborg not being the person you think it should be?

Sorry I'm perseverating

this is just. one of those things that keeps B A F F L I N G me

I mean I've read books where I didn't care for the pov character or the protag or whatever

coughiceinsunlightcough

even books that were popular or that people assured me I would love

and it didn't inspire in me this kind of outrage

brightbuttoneyes I GUESS? I just.

/hands/

UNRELATED TO MY FRUSTRATION my new favorite thing is listening to people talk about murderbot and correct themselves when they accidentally gender it

"I love how creeped out he is- it is-"
me:

Unlikeable protags are hard.

(Although i like Murderbot, even when it’s being a shit)

I’ve known people who couldn’t get through Robin Hobb’s original Fitz trilogy because he’s such a frustrating child

But yeah, getting invested enough to get BIG MAD instead of just struggling and walking away makes little sense.

If you don’t like it, why are you so invested in it?

Yeah

Like, on a fundamental level I don't get how you get more than five pages into ASR and not connect with murderbot

But also

there's this VIBE

Like it's WRONG somehow

And I'm like "....okay so what do you WANT from it"

Like, not just "I can't relate"

but "this character is a BAD CHARACTER they're BADLY WRITTEN"

when? it? manifestly?

is not?

It's like they were expecting something completely different from you know.

and they're offended that it isn't that and is instead this different thing?

that's the part that really boggles me

Like, you can't argue that a character you just met is somehow OOC

wow those people exist huh

It is definitely some of the best first person writing I’ve encountered

It does quite defy any form of self insertion because the voice is so strong though. Maybe that’s it? Murderbot defiantly is who it is with no wiggle room for reading what you want to read into it?

Or it’s just the usual suspects who see something that is loved and have to define themselves by loudly proclaiming how much they hate it.

honeyfoot they sure do

I am self-medicating by listening to these two women enthuse over it for an hour at a time

spazztichero Yeah it really feels like that, like how dare it not conform

Which... OOF the irony

do you have a link to the enthusiastic ladies?

Classic Chat - Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells ("A...that's the first chunk, they do the whole series

caveat that they both default to calling it "he" a lot even though they do correct themselves

I don't agree with all their takes but they love it SO MUCH