Let’s start here: Martha Wells doesn’t have to prove anything. Her storied career, and her novels’ many, many deserved accolades, speak for themselves. Her first book, The Element of Fire, 1993, kickstarted her Ile-Rien series, the first two books of which will get repackaged and republished in 2024. If you don’t recognize her from her various prolific fantasy series, you might recognize her name from The Murderbot Diaries. Yes, the far-future novella series might be a far cry from Ile-Rien, but