No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body in the station mall.
When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)
Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!
I realize I might be a bit of an outlier with this one, but I felt this was a decidedly mixed experience. I loved "All Systems Red", and thought Murderbot was probably the most relatable character I'd come across in fiction, but the subsequent novellas were rather less satisfying and I'm afraid this one is no exception. There's still a little of the charm of the first book, but it does rather feel submerged in exposition and parenthetical asides.
At about half the size of the full novel that was Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry does a great job at combining the key ingredients to a Murderbot novel: mystery, robot action, corporation critiques and heavy doses of sarcasm. Additionally, Station Security provides great secondary characters to converse with Murderbot that is typically missing, and it's those interactions that are the highlight of this novel.
The biggest failing is that Fugitive Telemetry is chronologically set before the events of Network Effect. Once you get over that disappointment, Murderbot will narrate you through his challenges dealing with humans for a long enough time that I didn't mind the shorter novel. It's like everything was sized down perfectly to fit the page count, and I appreciate that since the previous novella didn't do it for me.
Recommended.
Not going to lie - I completely blanked on the mystery and how to solve it. …
At about half the size of the full novel that was Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry does a great job at combining the key ingredients to a Murderbot novel: mystery, robot action, corporation critiques and heavy doses of sarcasm. Additionally, Station Security provides great secondary characters to converse with Murderbot that is typically missing, and it's those interactions that are the highlight of this novel.
The biggest failing is that Fugitive Telemetry is chronologically set before the events of Network Effect. Once you get over that disappointment, Murderbot will narrate you through his challenges dealing with humans for a long enough time that I didn't mind the shorter novel. It's like everything was sized down perfectly to fit the page count, and I appreciate that since the previous novella didn't do it for me.
Recommended.
Not going to lie - I completely blanked on the mystery and how to solve it. It was just a bit too complicated and rooted in the technology of the future... which I liked because crimes use modern flaws to succeed, and Martha Wells appears to have grokked her world enough to find those flaws. But for us readers, it's not so easy to understand the limits of SecSys and the like.
I think it's possible to guess at the mystery earlier, but I'm not sure. When the solution was revealed, I was like "huh" instead of "oohhhhh". And that's where I knocked a star off the book.
This is a bit of a 'flashback' novella set when Murderbot's first few weeks in Preservation. It was a neat chance to see more of how Preservation works in comparison to the Corporate Rim. As for the investigation itself, I had an inkling as to who the culprit was, but not the motive or the how and regardless it was still enjoyable.
4.25 Not quite as good as the last volume, but still pretty damn good. The only real complaint I have is that the reader sees the solution quite a bit before Murderbot does. It's interesting to see Murderbot interact with a bunch of people it doesn't really like much, but can't just ignore or fight. The old crew are there only at the margins and it's nice to see Murderbot being capable of something between cold distance and (not-so-)secret caring.
In general I am not so happy about going back to novella-length. It's closer to Exit Strategy than All Systems Red and while I didn't get the "why's-the-book-over-already?" feeling, I still think it could have benefitted from another twenty or thirty pages with an additional twist or at least more interaction between the characters appearing later in the narrative. It was still quite satisfying, but I read it one chapter …
4.25 Not quite as good as the last volume, but still pretty damn good. The only real complaint I have is that the reader sees the solution quite a bit before Murderbot does. It's interesting to see Murderbot interact with a bunch of people it doesn't really like much, but can't just ignore or fight. The old crew are there only at the margins and it's nice to see Murderbot being capable of something between cold distance and (not-so-)secret caring.
In general I am not so happy about going back to novella-length. It's closer to Exit Strategy than All Systems Red and while I didn't get the "why's-the-book-over-already?" feeling, I still think it could have benefitted from another twenty or thirty pages with an additional twist or at least more interaction between the characters appearing later in the narrative. It was still quite satisfying, but I read it one chapter at a time, so your mileage may vary there. Also there's the price for a physical copy...
A fun story, where Murderbot gets to play a detective to solve a murder mystery on Preservation Station. The investigation would involve determining if the murder was part of an attempt on its client's life by the company, GrayCris, that Murderbot and its client royally screwed in the previous Murderbot stories.
Also involved in the investigation would be Station Security, who are reluctant to work with a rogue SecUnit (aka Murderbot) who they think would murder them all in an instant (and they wouldn't be wrong). To allay their fears, Murderbot had earlier promise not to hack their security system, which limits what kinds of data Murderbot can access, which makes it very unhappy (it needs all the info to make sure the case wasn't part of a GrayCris plot).
Eventually, Murderbot works it all out and determines not just why the murder occurred, but also the method and who …
A fun story, where Murderbot gets to play a detective to solve a murder mystery on Preservation Station. The investigation would involve determining if the murder was part of an attempt on its client's life by the company, GrayCris, that Murderbot and its client royally screwed in the previous Murderbot stories.
Also involved in the investigation would be Station Security, who are reluctant to work with a rogue SecUnit (aka Murderbot) who they think would murder them all in an instant (and they wouldn't be wrong). To allay their fears, Murderbot had earlier promise not to hack their security system, which limits what kinds of data Murderbot can access, which makes it very unhappy (it needs all the info to make sure the case wasn't part of a GrayCris plot).
Eventually, Murderbot works it all out and determines not just why the murder occurred, but also the method and who did it. And now it and Station Security have a better working relationship.
Written from Murderbot's point of view, the story features a lot of internal monologues and Murderbot's opinions about humans on the station (mostly sarcastic and funny), which adds a lot of laughs to the situation. Of course, there are moments of sheer violence, but Murderbot keeps the enemy body count low compared to previous stories.
I found it interesting how this book brought in some contemporary-world themes around refugees and their abusers, but that's not explored particularly deeply, it's just one more reason to cheer on Murderbot as it does its thing. Really this is just one more Murderbot instalment, and I am so very here for that.
FUGITIVE TELEMETRY finds Murderbot as murder-detective, trying to figure out why a dead human is dead on Preservation Station, all while following a bunch of human rules.
I like procedurals and this is one, of a sort. It certainly fits the "gruff detective who isn't with the investigating body but still has to begrudgingly work with them and sometimes is under suspicion" classic set of tropes... except it's Murderbot on a station trying to solve the murder. If you like Murderbot and solving mysteries, you'll love this, I sure did.
This continues, generally speaking, the relationships and definitely-not-friendships that have been developing throughout the series so far. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present previously, and, as a murder mystery, there's absolutely a major thing that's introduced and resolved in this volume. I doubt it'll be the last book in the series, and it has things that the last …
FUGITIVE TELEMETRY finds Murderbot as murder-detective, trying to figure out why a dead human is dead on Preservation Station, all while following a bunch of human rules.
I like procedurals and this is one, of a sort. It certainly fits the "gruff detective who isn't with the investigating body but still has to begrudgingly work with them and sometimes is under suspicion" classic set of tropes... except it's Murderbot on a station trying to solve the murder. If you like Murderbot and solving mysteries, you'll love this, I sure did.
This continues, generally speaking, the relationships and definitely-not-friendships that have been developing throughout the series so far. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present previously, and, as a murder mystery, there's absolutely a major thing that's introduced and resolved in this volume. I doubt it'll be the last book in the series, and it has things that the last book left open but this doesn't close off, so at minimum those could get picked up by later books. Plus, generally speaking, I'm up to read about whatever Murderbot decides to wander around and do. The MC is still Murderbot and its voice is consistent, though its thoughts are slowly changing in how it thinks about specific humans and groups of humans. This would mostly make sense if someone picked it up at random and didn't know about the rest of the series. The necessary context is present and the main plot is contained in this volume.
This has murder, bots, and Murderbot, I'm happy and ready for the next book!
Good: Return to short form. It was nice to see Senior Indah start off skeptical and gradually warm up to Murderbot. Murder mystery format is a good fit for Murderbot's narrative style. Preservation was a nice change of setting from previous stories.
Bad: Confusing chronologically (it's set before Network Effect). I'm more interested in Murderbot's adventures with ART.
Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries is the rare gem: the series that gives on giving. This sixth instalment has all the qualities of its predecessors: it’s short, on point, and keeps us up to date with the evolution of her cyborg protagonist’s unplanned feature upgrade (a personality) with all its quirks (people), all in the guise of an entertaining SF whodunnit.
This was one of my most anticipated reads this year and it didn't disappoint. The "murder mystery" format sets it apart from the rest of the series while retaining what makes the Murderbot saga such good reads: quick pacing, a great supporting cast, excellent action sequences, thoughtful world-building and a heaping spoonful of introspection from the main character. And this novella in particular is very good at showing how that internal monologue has really evolved from the beginning of their journey.
It's Murderbot, it's awesome. But this one was a bit less so. It missed the pacing and a bit of the sarcasm. Murderbot is becoming a bit too human I guess ... pity
