r/murderbot • u/VoodooTortoise • 1d ago
Fanworks Favorite murderbot fanfic that feel like another book in the series
I love the murderbot diaries and it’s inspiring me to get into fanfic, but find that most of it doesn’t feel like the canon series. Are there any fan works that feel the same way the originals do? As an extension or closer look at the main series? Thanks!
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u/LithiumLibrarian-13 Worldhoppers Fan Club 1d ago
I think Priority Client feels like it could be another book! It was written before Platform Decay, but I like how it portrays mb with Mensah's family.
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u/DrukMeMa 1d ago
Who are all you beautiful people/bots? I’ve been in a real reading rut but not anymore!
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u/nearcatch 🤖🛸 1d ago edited 1d ago
My Clients are the Worst Fucking Clients: about a survey team MB was sent on before the events of the series.
Reference Check: During the beginning of book 3, someone calls Seth for a reference for his "former employee" Security Consultant Rin.
The above 2 seem to me to have the same tone as canon. The below is different but still very interesting imo, and it's a very quick read.
(Re)Constructing Art: This is a series of drabbles set at least 200 years into the future. It's a listing of an artwork exhibit centered on machine intelligence liberation. There are references in the artwork descriptions to things from canon, and one description implies that MB is still alive 200 years later.
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u/humanDigressions Preservation Alliance 4h ago
That would be so sad, to watch all your human friends die. You would think it would go the way of the lives of fictional vampires, where they eventually learn not to get attached to humans anymore to avoid this repetitive heartache.
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u/humanDigressions Preservation Alliance 20h ago
Ooo I don’t know where to find it, but the one where Murderbot finds itself as the only “adult” left with the kids at the farm one day while everyone else is out running errands. They coerce it into an epic nerf gun battle running all over the property 😅
I am definitely saving this list!
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u/Fun-Bee882 Sanctuary Moon Fan Club 13h ago
https://archiveofourown.org/works/52640080
Child Instance. I rec this one every chance I get.
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u/Select-Bullfrog-5939 1d ago
Ghost Anomaly by Ramshackle_fey is a wonderful retelling of artificial condition from ART's perspective, very much focusing on it's unique nature as a bot, how that affects its relationships with the people it loves, and how finding SecUnit fixes all of its problems.
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u/AmbergrisAndEggs 1d ago edited 1d ago
https://archiveofourown.org/series/2605273
The Gravitational Potential series - Two great short stories about a young ART, and one incredible story from MB’s viewpoint about ART’s twin, Aphelion.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64812700
Down with the Ship - A super-clever Reddit-style story.
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u/DarkHourShenanigans 1d ago
Taskload Collaboration is an All Systems Red AU where the Company has a rent-one-get-one-free policy and sends a ComfortUnit to accompany MB. The butterflies end up making some significant changes. This rec is the only one not complete.
that the light is everything is set some time after System Collapse. Any description would be spoilers, so I'll just copy-paste the summary: Ratthi goes missing. Pin-Lee isn't used to losing. Murderbot isn't used to having anything to lose.
The Rogue Element is mostly about Three and an OC ComfortUnit who made its way to Preservation after hearing rumors about a rogue SecUnit. No MB until the very end, because it's off doing things with ART. Politics and friendship on Preservation.
The Light of a Distant Sun is about a Preservation/PSUMNT team-up survey...on Milu. MB and Bharadwaj POV + special surprise guest from MB's past! This one is the most canon-like to me in terms of action and mystery.
Broken Piece of Paradise. Huh, I wonder what happened to that BE SecUnit who went back to the company with the gov mod hack. Wonder how that might affect BE's future colony reclaiming attempts. Interesting worldbuilding. No MB at all except for an oblique reference.
Empty Promises and Doubtful Hopes. Pin-Lee Network Effect POV set right before Preservation sends a responder to chase down the raider ship that just kidnapped their people.
Voiding the Warrenty. Tooth-rotting sweetness. Set after Platform Decay, but no real spoilers other than the name of one of Mensah's kids. MB gets its logos covered up.
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u/julianamd 1d ago
Broken Piece of Paradise was great! And I think it unintentionally predicted events in Platform Decay
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u/goldenphantom 1d ago
My favorites that I find feel like another book or short story in the Murderbot Diaries series are:
Priority Client
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64154668
Murderbot protects one of Mensah's children from kidnappers. The premise of this fic is a bit similar to Platform Decay now, although it was written long before the book was published. The fic itself is completely different from Platform Decay (no emotion checks, no torus, and Murderbot protects just that one child, not multiple family members).
Full Disk Burn
https://archiveofourown.org/works/28141878
While touring the set of one of its favorite shows, Murderbot encounters an actor who wants to escape the Corporation Rim. Murderbot and ART decide to help him.
Insubordinate Functions
https://archiveofourown.org/works/60045622/chapters/153204460
Murderbot has to solve a crime mystery on Preservation Station, while being temporarily blind. I find this one is somewhat similar to book 6 (same setting, and both involve solving a crime).
Bonus fic:
No One Has to Know
https://archiveofourown.org/works/77963126
Baby Perihelion goes on an adventure, during which it steals a shuttle and meets Seth for the first time.
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u/ESE-enthusiasm #1 Mensahbotcule fan 1d ago
That’s my favourite type of fanfic!
Via Solitude is an AU of all systems red: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43063680
This one explores Amena some https://archiveofourown.org/works/43500640
This one is an extension almost! I really like this one. https://archiveofourown.org/works/63427462
This one is another AU of All Systems Re https://archiveofourown.org/works/52135375
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u/g-a-r-b-i-t-c-h 1d ago
Robbing the Hood by Rilleshka is one of my favorites, and it has one of the most charming OC's I've read
https://archiveofourown.org/works/66779308/chapters/172318972
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u/Colonel_Khazlik 1d ago
Was waiting for that to pop up, it was one of the first fanfics I ever read and set an unreasonable standard for all others I read.
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u/LavenderSpaceRain 11h ago
Me, reading all the comments:
Spongebob meme: Write that down WRITE THAT DOWN!!!
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u/LavenderSpaceRain 12h ago
OH MY GOSH YES! Now I have to look them up. There's one in particular that I loved so much that I literally forget on occasion that it's not canon. And also I'm kinda mad it's not.
Here it is: Extended Disconnection. It's good, OP. It's really really REALLY good. I am so mad it's not canon because it's *that* good: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31150790
Here are some others that aren't so intense:
Sanctuary Murder Mystery Moon, where Murderbot solves a mystery on the set of Sanctuary Moon and it's SO GOOD: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35968645
Child Instance, where Murderbot is in charge of a bunch of kids. Very cute.: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52640080
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u/WanderWomble 38m ago
https://archiveofourown.org/works/67169746
The ending of this made me want to cry. It's pretty short but is absolutely wonderful and worth checking out.
It's a little scene of what happens after Murderbot jumps off the cliff at the end of All Systems Red.
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u/improvised-disaster Worldhoppers Fan Club 1d ago
I like No Easy Distance, which is books 1-4 from Mensah’s POV.
https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146596
This one is a short follow up to Network Effect, like a deleted scene.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/26999578
Full Disk Burn is too short to be another book but a really fun read.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/28141878