Pass.
2 stars
Love the rest of the series but this is not good
eBook, 32 pages
English language
Published April 18, 2021 by Tom Doherty Associates.
“Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” is a short story set in the world of Martha Well's Murderbot Diaries. This story was originally given free to readers who pre-ordered Network Effect, the fifth entry in the series. The events of “Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” occur just after the fourth novella, Exit Strategy.
Love the rest of the series but this is not good
Chronologically set between the Murderbot books "Exit Strategy" and "Network Effect", this short short story is told from the viewpoint of one of Murderbot's clients. After having being held hostage, Mensah is suffering from mental and emotional issues from that episode, yet is unwilling to admit to anybody; except perhaps Murderbot, who can see what is happening and encourages her to seek help. This is also a prelude to one of the story threads told in "Network Effect".
Not much happens, but it does serve as a reasonable recap of the major themes of the Murderbot Diaries.
4.5 Hard to rate a short-story in a larger story, especially if it's really more of a side-story to the fifth book. It is well-done, however, and Dr. Mensah's perspective carries with it a wholly different level of emotional involvement. What I liked especially was that we see Muderbot's humour is not all confined to pithy remarks. Also I am a sucker for stories with psychological consequences and those come across much better with Mensah's perspective.
It was a fine 50 page little story.
I’ll just point y’all to my review of Fugitive Telemetry, shall I?
I think I read the books a bit out of sync and I wasn't really aware where this story fit in with the timeline so I was a bit confused. But hey ... it's Murderbot, so it's always awesome.
One of the best trauma coping things I've read outside fanfic, and as well put together as the novellas.