Fugitive Telemetry

This isn't a bad Murderbot novella, but it doesn't really move enough forward enough for me to appreciate it as anything more than an action/detective side event in between the much more emotionally impactful Exit Strategy and Network Condition. I think my favorite parts of this book are Murderbot snarkily interacting with Indah and station security, where it's trying to one up them but also do its job and also (mostly) obey the rules that they've given to it.

This novella does get some more into Mensah's trauma (and avoidance) but I'm not sure this story is doing extra on top of what Home or Network Condition is doing, and her trauma is not the thematic focus of this novella either. (Although what that focus is, I'm not sure I could really pin down. Maybe that's part of the problem.)

If Murderbot was going to stick around in Preservation space and Indah was going to become a recurring character, or we were going to have ongoing themes of Murderbot trying/failing to fit into Preservation systems and culture, then maybe this could have felt more impactful in retrospect.

I have a spoiler-y offhand comment, so I'll post that separately.

This was a fun addition to the Murderbot saga. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this book was written before the fifth title, "Network Effect," despite being published after it. That's not just because the events it depicts take place before the events of "Network Effect" but because the writing style to me feels more akin to that found in the first four books of the series. The main "twist" on the Murderbot formula in "Fugitive Telemetry" is that its proceedings are framed as a murder mystery, with MB effortlessly sliding into the role of a freelance sleuth in an effort to "crack the case." When viewed through that lens, it's a fairly straightforward gumshoe tale but the sci-fi and trademark Murderbot trappings help to give everything a unique and entertaining flair. For me, "Network Effect" is the standout highlight of the series to date, so it would have been tough for anything to follow that effort but "Fugitive Telemetry" definitely has its charms, one of which being that its a super quick read, which adds a lot in the way of interesting little details, further fleshing out what was already a compelling setting and cast of characters. I give it two arm-embedded energy weapons up.

Not much to say beyond the title. There's nits to pick, but you know what you're getting and you're not likely to be disappointed.

... and in this respect, how easily I can convince myself to pick up a book out of this Murderbotseries, how I look forward to it, to the fun while reading, makes this series, even if it's small, comparable in my eyes to the fun I have looking forward to picking up the next Lee Child / Jack Reacher novel, or more literaric, picking up one of the 75 books in Georges Simenon's Maigret series. Wells Murderbot might not have the status of these long series yet, for sure. But I look forward to the next part from Wells as much as I do when picking up one of those others, great series. That's quite a praise, believe me.

Although this was published after "Network Effect" it's set before the events in that book so I decided to read it first. It's a murder mystery with Muderbot investigating which sounds like a fun premise. Unfortunately, I felt it fell kind of flat. It's not as well written as the first four novellas. Some of the descriptions feel cumbersome and there's a lot of stuff in parentheses which hampers the flow of the prose. The case itself is interesting, though, and had several twists I didn't see coming. All in all, an okay read.

these are starting to feel like they don't have anything new to offer idk

Yes! This is more like it. Wells put some effort into this one: it’s not just snark and magical hacking and Mensah Mary Sue. It’s even new territory for Wells: a whodunnit, with an effective subplot that I think we’ll be seeing more of. Murderbot does not simply hack its way out of every problem; in fact, it even gets humbled on multiple occasions (in proper ways that lead to self-reflection, not eat-dirt ways). There are new characters, and brief appearances from old ones... but, interestingly, none from Mensah except for one or two terse feed exchanges. I appreciate this: Mensah has a life and responsibilities, and Murderbot needs to find ways to fit itself into Preservation. This was fun and tense and filled with promise of more to come.

Totally not suitable for Murderbot virgins—and wow does that come off as really weird-sounding. I mean, don’t make this your first Murderbot book: you won’t get it at all. Start with [b:the first one|32758901|All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)|Martha Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631585309l/32758901.SY75.jpg|53349516], then maybe the rest (it’s OK to skip #4). But for those who love Murderbot and were disappointed with the last ones, I think you’ll enjoy.