Exit Strategy

As I mentioned in my previous review of Rogue Protocol, I did start this final novella of the series immediately after the previous one ended because I don't have sang patience and I didn't wanna wait. And wow do I feel rewarded for doing that.

I think the author did plan to end the story of Murderbot in this novella, so everything comes full circle here and I loved every second of it. The writing is heart wrenching and emotional, while also being extremely dangerous and high stakes and totally action packed. I was really worried for the characters' safety on multiple occasions and kudos to the author for keeping up that tension. The plot also becomes much more expansive because we finally get to see the tactics of the villains and the extent to which they'll go for their nefarious purposes. Despite all this, the humor and entertainment factor that's the highlight of this series is still intact, and it was a joy being back in the head of Murderbot and listening to its sarcastic voice.

I never discussed the themes that the author tries to capture throughout the series but it would be remiss if I didn't now. We see Murderbot grapple with the question of what it means to be human, does it really want to be one even though it is increasingly empathizing with them and how much agency does it have in its own life. On a larger scale, we see giant corporations trying to use their influence and power to perform illegal activities and harm anyone who comes in their way - it was eerily reminiscent of our real life; on the other hand, we also have a group of humans from one non political entity trying to fight for everybody's rights and providing safety for refugees. And it was nice to see the message that we have to treat each other kindly, and let people (or Murderbot) make their own choices and provide them whatever support we can - and this will lead to good outcomes.

Murderbot is amazing and you all already know how much I love it. It was at its most vulnerable this time around because it finally goes back to find Dr. Mensah and the preservation group, and I found its worries about how they would react to it so heartbreaking. It's struggle with not wanting to feel emotions or attached to humans is kinda adorable because it's obvious that this group of humans matters to it, even though it hates that. And I loved that the humans, and Dr. Mensah never gave up on it either. They all make for a great team and I loved watching them together. And I can't help but adore the fact that every time Murderbot feels some anxiety, it starts binge watching it's favorite shows and it's hilarious because I do the exact same thing. What more can I want than a super powerful Murderbot that I can relate to.

To conclude, this novella was the perfect finale to this series and I'm so happy that I read them back to back because it was such a joy. If you are looking for some fun sci-fi which also explores the themes of identity and freedom, then you can't go wrong with this series. I promise that it is full of laughs but also unexpected tears, and just an overall delight to read. While the story arc that started in All Systems Red is complete, I'm glad that we are getting a new stand-alone novel and I've heard rumor that a certain transport vessel might make an appearance, so I'm very very excited for the release of Network Effect. It can't come soon enough!!

Ah, Murderbot. I've missed its jaded-ass voice, and its obsession with entertainment media is so relatable. “Why am I compelled by my guilty conscience to work, I just want to stay in my corner and watch drama serials all day” is definitely a mood.

I'm starting to think that the episodic nature of Murderbot novellas are probably... deliberate? To perhaps mirror the episodes of the serials that it loves watching so much. In any case, that's completely up my alley and my short attention span these days. This installment was enjoyable, with Murderbot teaming up with some old friends to bring down a nasty corporation.

There're definitely some interesting messages to be had if you dig a bit deeper below the surface - there is criticism about capitalism and big corporations gaining too much power, there is questioning what exactly makes humans human, and then also living through events from the perspective from a robot for whom the boundaries between AI and humanity is tenuous at best. This is the book where Murderbot catches feelings, and it doesn't like it.

I'm not a huge sci-fi reader so there are occasionally passages where I zone out quite a bit. Murderbot can sometimes get a bit technical in its narrative, but even just being there for its hilarious asides and commentary on the events and people around it, as well as the dialogue that goes on between itself and its companions is worth reading this whole series for.

Certainly continuing on the rest of the series.

Realistic, gradual and sustained character growth is rare in novels. And yet, Murderbot has clearly grown in this fourth installation, which it reunites with many of the characters from the debut novel. Murderbot starts having and believing in its emotions and starts believing that relationships with people matter. Most of this novella is emotional work and it feels deeply satisfying after the first three books.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the Murderbot novellas and this, the 4th entry to the series, is the best so far. The basic premise remains - we have our Murderbot (security unit) who has managed to rewrite their programming to make themselves self aware but has to hide that they have overridden all their protocols. We return almost full circle as the Murderbot finds out that Dr Mensah, who befriended them back in the first novella, is in danger. Despite going rogue they are still a SecUnit at heart and they go in to rescue Dr Mensah. The action stakes are raised in this outing, the action sequences some of the best yet in the series. The characters were all in place before so less time needs to be put into the character development and the novella can focus on the plot. The novella format works in our favour as it gives just enough time to produce a tidy, fast paced action pastiche without dragging or feeling slow.

So happy that more Murderbot is in the works!

I've greatly enjoyed every volume of this series and I loved this last book in the first set of novellas. Just like the others, it's funny, exciting, and emotionally moving, without ever being maudlin. The reason why Murderbot's favorite show is its favorite actually made me a cry a little, but this book also made me laugh out loud several times. I was very sorry to reach the end, and I eagerly anticipate the Murderbot novel that's planned for 2020.

In addition to the continuing themes of identity and finding a place for oneself, the anti-corporate theme is central here. We see a little bit of Dr. Mensah & her associates' home society, and it's pretty much fully automated luxury gay space communism, which I probably don't need to say is extremely appealing to me.

Kevin R. Free did another amazing job narrating the audiobook, perfectly capturing Murderbot's cynical but innocent personality. I liked the voices he performed for the other characters also.

This tied up the storyline quite well, but suffered a bit in the momentum department as it tried to make sure all the bits and pieces were in order.

Overall, this series is amazing, and I'm on board for future Murderbotting. I'd say my ranking of the existing volumes from best to still-great-but-not-best is 2, 1, 3, 4.

I read the first installment of the Murderbot a few months back (as an Amazon single), but after reading it, I decided I was going to pony up the £8 for the following 3 books - although probably the most I've spent on a single book, let alone 3 books - absolutely totally worth it. I loved this series.

The series follows Murderbot, a rouge security unit, mostly good at killing but who would rather just watch TV and be left alone. The first book reads easily as a stand alone, and I'd say the second book does too.

The third and fourth pull together all the previous adventures into an overarching story that we see Murderbot learning about itself and struggling with the the concepts of emotions and desires.

In fact, the Murderbot ends with that huge question of: what do you want.

There's so many things I enjoyed about this series: it's a sci-fi that doesn't really require you to understand all the ins and outs of the political systems that exist in the world. I've read a few sci-fi books that really struggle to make the world believable because there's often so much to take in - the Murderbot diaries does this in a way that reads easily and lightly.

The action sequences are really well written and fairly easy to follow - another thing I've struggled with in other books.

Even though we know that the Murderbot is a construct, it exists in a time that emotions can be simulated - and therefore felt - by the Murderbot, which, just like any one of us, they don't relish having to process those emotions, and they'd much rather just shun away and hide away escaping with TV.

Finally the characters are refreshing. As a white man myself, I'm too quick to assume the gender and race of the characters I reading about, Martha Wells does a really good job of keeping me in check, reminding me that Murderbot doesn't have a gender, there's people in the universe that don't identify as one gender, and that not everyone is white. I love this, and I appreciate it in the books I read (in the hope that it shifts my mindset).

Loved it.

The audiobooks for this series are really well done. Loved listening to them.

This one got the original crew of smart humans + Murderbot together again. Murderbot does one stupid thing after another to save said humans and is self-aware enough to call itself stupid.

The ending was nice (thank goodness Murderbot didn't do the thing from book 1 again).

Also, this is my favourite crew because they work really well together, are genuinely good people, and don't mind Murderbot being sarcastic or rude to them.

Wells is just coasting now. The first Murderbot: that was phenomenal. Second, very good, with discovery and growth and a promising new character. Third, kind of formula; now the fourth is pure formula: cartoonishly evil bad guys, a rescue mission, shoot-em-up, many miracles thanks to Murderbot's l33t hacker skilz (plus the fact that everyone seems to run a 1980s-style internet without the least idea of security), teasing love interest with Dr. Too-Good-to-be-True Mensah. At the end we've been along for a ride but not gotten anywhere. I think I'll skip the fifth one.

The bot that hacked it's governor module becomes more independent and becomes more human-like, without even wanting to, I'd say. It's so familiar to know that all that Murderbot wants in life is to watch more media. But at the same time, Murderbot can't stay away from its ex-owner problems and goes into a complicated rescue mission.

Pages ‘n Pines Grading Scale:

5 - Amazing
4 - Really liked it
3 - Liked it
2 - Okay
1 - Didn't like

Okay so I basically didn't breathe through this whole thing. I loved every second of it and it was equal parts touching and tense. The ending was phenomenal and has the series ended there, I would've died happy. (luckily it didn't but still) So so happy to see the old gang together again and get more SecUnit and Mensah bonding time.

This fourth and final novella is the least thrilling of the quartet, but it does a nice job bringing Murderbot's character development and story arc to a close. It was satisfying to have the original survey team from the first novella back in the fold and it provided a nice full-circle element to the narrative. With a full length novel coming soon, I'm excited to see how Wells expands upon this world and its central, lovable, relatable, root-for-able protagonist, Murderbot.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Another fantastic instalment in this series of tales about the security unit that keeps helping people despite a burning desire to sit quietly watching TV.

This was the best story in the series so far. It brought closure to a lot of the plot threads while allowing for some really good character development.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

The best novella in this series, by far.

If you cobble together the first, parts of the middle two and this third one you have a pretty great story with a compelling cast of characters.

It felt like the author had a good idea for the first one, wanted to do more but wasn't sure where to go yet. So we got the second installment, which was good, but didn't really do a ton for the story. The third one regained some focus and this one completed the story in a great way.

I'll definitely check out the novel in the series at some point.