eBook, 176 pages
English language
Published April 26, 2021 by Tom Doherty Associates.
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!
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
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.
I love a good Murderbot story
