Two things really stand out to me about the Murderbot stories, in addition to the truly fabulous central character. One is the inclusion of a protopian society, and how plausibly Wells reckons with how the society can uphold its approach even among more hostile and mercenary circumstances. The second is that the action seldom hinges on anyone’s incompetence. Murderbot’s clients, generally, are at at worst lacking in sufficient context rather than acting thoughtlessly or selfishly. Their motives make internal and contextual sense, and they mostly behave rationally, so it’s not about people being awful or idiotic to drive the plot forward. Even the antagonists, as evil as they are painted to be, aren’t, by and large, faceless mustache twirlers so much as bureaucrats removed from the human consequences of their choices. I really like getting to exist in a universe that demonstrates the possibility of productive collaboration without homogenizing everyone’s personalities or motives.