10 Books Like Murderbot for Readers Who Love Its Voice and Unexpected Friendships

The thing I want from a book after The Murderbot Diaries is the gap between what the narrator says and what it does. Murderbot would rather watch its shows than talk about its feelings, yet it keeps making other people’s safety its problem. With ART, even an argument can sound like a declaration of trust. That mix of dry humor, competence and reluctant affection is harder to find than a book about robots.

Start with A Closed and Common Orbit if you miss the awkward trust between people and artificial minds. Pick Project Hail Mary if you want a funny voice and a friendship built under pressure. For a robot narrator with a sharper edge, try Sea of Rust.

These ten picks range from fast space adventures to quiet novellas and one fantasy mystery. Each gets at a different part of what makes Martha Wells’s series so easy to miss after the last page.

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1. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

The closest match for AI personhood and trust

Lovelace used to be a ship’s AI. Now she has to make sense of life in a humanoid body, with help from an engineer named Pepper. The novel also follows Pepper’s childhood, giving her reasons for helping that go well beyond technical curiosity. Where Murderbot often shows it cares by getting someone out of danger, Chambers makes room for the quieter work of helping someone build a life. This is the second Wayfarers book, but it can be read on its own.

Meet Lovelace and Pepper on Amazon

2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The best match for a friendship built through problem-solving

Ryland Grace wakes up aboard a spacecraft with two dead crewmates and no immediate memory of his mission. His running commentary makes even the worst developments funny, but the real draw for Murderbot readers is how an unexpected partnership takes shape. Before either side can take trust for granted, they have to figure out how to communicate and solve problems together. Go in knowing as little as possible about the other half of that partnership.

Pick up Andy Weir’s space survival novel on Amazon

3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

A precise nonhuman voice and an uneasy alliance

Breq once controlled a warship and thousands of bodies. Now she has just one body and a score to settle with the ruler of the empire she served. Her decision to help Seivarden, an officer from her past, complicates a mission that initially looks like it has room for exactly one person. Breq’s narration is more restrained than Murderbot’s, but both make you notice what their narrators observe about people and what they struggle to say about themselves.

Start the Imperial Radch trilogy on Amazon

4. Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

The darker pick for a sardonic robot narrator

Brittle, a former caregiver robot, scavenges parts in a world where humans are extinct and independent machines are fighting to stay that way. A working component can mean the difference between survival and becoming someone else’s spare parts. That gives every alliance an edge. If you like the way Murderbot assesses a room for threats before it considers anyone’s feelings, Brittle’s perspective will feel familiar, even in this much bleaker setting.

Follow Brittle into the robot wasteland on Amazon

5. Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

A short read about robots building a life together

A group of deactivated robots comes back online in an abandoned San Francisco kitchen and starts making hand-pulled noodles. Running a restaurant gives them a chance to put their skills to use on their own terms. It also leaves them exposed to people who resent seeing robots do exactly that. This is a good pick if you wanted more of the downtime in Murderbot, when the question of how to live freely can matter as much as the immediate danger. Book source

Visit the robots’ noodle shop on Amazon

6. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

A gentle human–robot friendship

Sibling Dex, a tea monk who needs a change, meets a robot named Mosscap, who wants to know what humans need. The question sounds straightforward until Dex tries to answer it. Mosscap’s openness is a far cry from Murderbot’s suspicion, but the novella shares Wells’s interest in what people and machines can learn from one another when nobody gets to dictate the relationship. Start here if you want a short book and room to breathe.

Start the Monk & Robot series on Amazon

7. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Workplace banter and a crew worth sticking around for

Jamie Gray takes a job that turns out to involve protecting enormous creatures on an alternate Earth. Scalzi gets a lot of mileage out of people treating an extraordinary assignment like a job, complete with the inevitable jokes and complaints. It’s a brisk standalone for readers who like Murderbot’s workplace humor and the pleasure of watching a crew get competent together under pressure.

Join Scalzi’s kaiju crew on Amazon

8. Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

A messy captain and a loyal space crew

Captain Eva Innocente has to rescue her kidnapped sister while keeping the crew of La Sirena Negra in the dark about why their jobs are getting stranger and more dangerous. The psychic cats are a fair indication of the book’s sense of humor. The more revealing part is what Eva’s secrecy costs her. If you enjoy watching Murderbot discover that withholding information can be a lousy way to protect people, Eva gives that problem a whole new crew.

Board La Sirena Negra on Amazon

9. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

A prickly partnership in a fantasy mystery

An imperial officer turns up dead with a tree growing out of his body. Investigator Ana Dolabra sends her new assistant, Dinios Kol, to gather the details she’ll need to make sense of the crime. Din’s ability to remember what he observes and Ana’s ability to draw conclusions from it make them effective together well before they’re comfortable together. If Murderbot and ART’s mutual exasperation is what you miss, this fantasy detour has the right kind of friction.

Meet Ana and Din in their first case on Amazon

10. Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

A thornier look at who gets to own a person

A pharmaceutical pirate named Jack is pursued by a military agent and his robot partner, Paladin. The pursuit gives the book its momentum, but Paladin’s situation raises the more uncomfortable questions about consent and freedom. The relationship between the partners has a romantic dimension and is more fraught than the friendships elsewhere on this list. Read it if the contracts, corporate power and ownership behind Murderbot’s story are what stayed with you.

Explore Paladin’s story on Amazon

Which book should you read after Murderbot?

My first pick is A Closed and Common Orbit. Pepper’s practical help gets at one of my favorite things about Wells’s books: someone can show they understand you by making your life easier and giving you room to decide what happens next. If the voice matters more to you, try Sea of Rust for a machine’s dry survival instincts or Project Hail Mary for jokes and problem-solving under pressure. For something you can finish in a sitting or two, go with Automatic Noodle or A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

If you still have a Martha Wells book to catch up on, see our Murderbot Diaries reading order. If Project Hail Mary caught your eye, read our Andy Weir book review.

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