This was great!! A murder mystery with Murderbot? Yes, please!
This was my second favorite installment of the series (All Systems Red is still No1). Murderbot playing detective was a perfect fit.
My only ongoing complaint is that there isn't enough Murderbot/Dr. Mensah interactions for my liking, but hey, you can't have everything.

This entry in The Murderbot Diaries comes directly after book five and is, once again, much too short for my liking. However, I can't come up with a page number that would satisfy my longing for more wit and charm (yes, a bot can be charming if you overlook some elements of their personality) from this SecUnit. Hmm, 500 pages of Murderbot? Give it to me Ms Wells and let me test it out. Anyway, just so you will not be surprised, this offering is approximately 176 pages long and it fairly flies by.

SecUnit is on the spot when a dead human is found on Preservation Station. Our main characters are all still here (from story #5) keeping Dr. Mensah safe from GrayCris. The question now is whether this dead human could have any connection to GrayCris agents trying to kill Mensah. Preservation Station Security doesn't want to work with a SecUnit because, well, who does, but they have no choice in the matter so Murderbot begins his own semi-private investigation while working with security and promising he won't do anything to hinder either the Station or their security department. All of this and no chance for him to download media; a SecUnit could become very cranky from all these distractions.

This story is a good mystery puzzle and I think it would work well as a full length book if it had a little more meat on it's bones. Murderbot is back to making astringent comments about humans and their abilities but always speaking to himself so nobody gets their feelings hurt. He also doesn't have to kill too many humans when things do go into action mode so the Security Department head for Preservation Station begins to accept his abilities and rely on him. I loved it and sincerely advise you to read all the stories in order so you will understand why so many other readers love him just as much as I do.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge Tordotcom for an e-galley of this story.

I'll admit I was a teensy bit disappointed at where this novella fits into the Murderbot timeline. I was expecting the action to take place post Network Effect, but I read this as occurring between Exit Strategy and Network Effect, more like Murderbot Diaries #4.5 rather than #6. I really wanted some Murderbot & ART kicking Corporation Rim butt as intergalactic spies; hopefully that will be next time. Oh well, I still got to spend time with Murderbot, which is about 85% more pleasurable than any other books I'm reading.

So this time around, we see how Murderbot is learning to fit in at Preservation, as well as more interactions with his humans. Murderbot teams up with Preservation Security to solve a murder, something that's rare on Preservation. It also deals with the fears of people who aren't quite used to a sarcastic walking weapon who nevertheless is a pretty good person. Fun times.

FYI, I received a free advance copy of this book.

Yay! Murderbot is back! And they have a new mystery to solve!

While it was disappointing to return to the novella format after the full length novel released last year, this story was just as much fun as any other cloned human/robot construct solving a murder story. This story definitely gets the Murderbot sass in there, their reactions to the stupid humans is definitely my pandemic vibe right now.

Loved it, already want more Murderbot in my life. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advance copy to review!

[4.5/5 stars] I’ll be the first to admit that I love Murderbot so much that anything published in the series immediately gets a baseline rating of three stars… anything I find particularly amusing above and beyond expectation launches it up from there. The full-length novel had all the Murderbot attributes but, after some distance from my initial impressions (and review), I don’t think the extended plot did the story any favors. It was a bit repetitive and could’ve benefitted from a more generous edit. Coming home to another novella in Fugitive Telemetry was exactly what the series needed to refresh itself back absolutely superb rather than just merely awesome.

I loved this one. Probably my second favorite after Rogue Protocol. As always, Murderbot was a scream (the humor kind), but what struck me in this one was how much the character has grown. It’s definitely still an antisocial introvert, but you can now read between the lines to see that it actually is finding a bit of begrudging comfort out of its “relationships” and gets a little butt-hurt whenever someone snubs it over a prejudice. My favorite scenes here were the ones involving it trying to work with the humans on their very inefficient terms. Hysterical.

The mystery was very satisfying and the pacing was spot-on. I had to stop myself from devouring too fast because who knows when we’ll get another one. Martha Wells has truly created a unique voice that is as memorable as it is funny.

Recommendations: I’m a huge fan of everything about this series and plan to continue recommending it as often as I can. Murderbot is my spirit animal. I don’t care how much I read, I’ll never get tired of his sardonic nature. The series is especially recommendable because the installments are so short – they give people a chance to try them out without a huge time commitment. I don’t know about everyone else, but I was sold on the very first line of book 1…

Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller

Rating: 9.5/10

You all heard that right: It’s a Murderbot Murder Mystery! Your favorite human-hating android is back with a brand-new mission: find the killer. And I have to say that author Martha Wells proves her genius over and over again by putting Murderbot into different types of situations and scenarios and demands that it find a way out.

And now I was literally standing over a dead human.

Fugitive Telemetry really sets itself apart from the rest of the franchise in that it is more brain than braun. The first five Murderbot books (those reviews can be found here and here), while they allowed Murderbot to show off its intellect at times, focused much more on its ability to overpower opponents, be they human, bot, or android. But the plot of Fugitive Telemetry requires a much more pensive approach. As Murderbot plays detective, the reader gets treated to a story that warrants (see what I did there) the protagonist interact with humans more than ever before. And, honestly, those interactions have not changed all that much.

I know a ‘fuck off’ when I hear one. So, I fucked off.

It is almost as if Murderbot would be better off solving this mystery without the help of the human security team to which it is assigned. At least that is what Murderbot thinks. I would expect nothing less, though, and that is one of the things I love about this book: it plays to Murderbot’s strengths, but in an entirely different way than the previous stories, and it is nice to get a new perspective.

Humans touch stuff all the time, I wish they wouldn’t.

I would be remiss if I did not point out the droid-to-bot interaction, which is one aspect of this book that remains unchanged. As I have mentioned before, this might be my favorite aspect of this series: the way Murderbot connects with other electronic-based entities. It communicates with them to ask for help, or to help them when they are in need and often hacks into their systems without permission. Whatever it takes to get the job done.

The PA bot came over and stood next to me. I wondered if it did anything that wasn’t related to standing around.

Chill, Murderbot. Not every being is as sophisticated as you.

I have written at-length about the very deliberate world-building, and how I love the way Wells give us more micro than macro. That does not change with Fugitive Telemetry, except this time it is not a far-away planet in another system that is being explored; this time it is Preservation Station, the place Murderbot currently calls home. The effects of this are huge for Muderbot because we are not talking about a crew of a ship or people on another planet that it will never see again. These are humans and bots that it will cross paths with in the future, and that forces it to make choices which reflect that fact (not that it really cares, but these decisions do have some bearing on how Murderbot is viewed by its peers).

I’d already agreed not to hacking their systems, what the fuck else could they want?

Clearly, this storyline brings out Murderbot’s saltiest language, as well, which I find to be rather entertaining.

The one thing I could not get over in this book is that I still have not figured out the timeline. The way this story shakes out is quite surprising given the way the previous book, Network Effect, ended. Some of Murderbot’s internal dialogue almost makes me think this book takes place between books 4 and 5, but I cannot be sure. Maybe I just missed the context that points it out. And I miss ART, already.

Looking at this book from a top-down view, the fact that Murderbot was written into a very different kind of story reveals the true value the reader gains from this book: the fact that the world has opened up, and who knows where Murderbot goes or what it does next.

If I told you, then you might find all the bodies I’ve already disposed of.

There it goes, again. Classing up the joint.

Fugitive Telemetry is a phenomenal read. If Network Effect‘s tagline was “Murderbot: Now with More Murderbot”, then Fugitive Telemetry‘s would be “Murderbot: Now with More Murder” (and I think I have made it pretty clear why I am not an author). I cannot get enough Murderbot, and I love how it continues to redefine itself while sticking with what works. I am excited to see where Murderbot’s travels take it to next.

Thank you netgalley and Tordotcompub for an early review copy in exchange for an honest review

Ohhh yes Murderbot!! I just can't get enough of Murderbot.

As usual this novella starts out with a bang and just continues on after that. There was plenty of that great snarky inner dialogue that Murderbot is so known for, and my favorite character trait of them. We follow Murderbot dealing with a murder case on Preservation Station and yes they get the opportunity to work with their most favorite sentient beings, HUMANS!

We meet some new characters who don't all trust Murderbot but they must try and put their differences aside and work as a team. Some of the original crew from the first book make some small appearances and Murderbots moments with them are both adorable and hilarious.

I really loved following a story set up of a murder mystery and seeing how Murderbot was going about trying to solve the case (faster than those silly humans mind you) One of the aspects I really enjoyed was watching Murderbot do their best to solve the case while following the rules and guidelines that where presented to it. It added a new element to the story since we are so used to watching them do things their way regardless of what anyone else has to say about it. I will say I was completely wrong as to who I thought the culprit was and I love that I was wrong, it made the reveal that much better. The action was on the smaller scale this time around but it still held that same amount of captivation like the previous books did.

I really don't want to say anymore because its a novella and I don't want to throw spoilers in.

Fugitive Telemetry is another fast, and captivating and absolutely hilarious installment in The Murderbot Diaries.

Official Release Date: April 27th 2021

The Murderbot Diaries just keep getting better and better and I really hope they never end. I love seeing Murderbot trying to relate to the humans around it and how much more human Murderbot is becoming, although it would certainly be unhappy about my saying that.

Murderbot continues to be anxious and depressed and wants nothing more to just sit around and protect Dr. Mensah while watching romantic shows. But there has been a murder and Dr. Mensah insists that Murderbot help the space station’s security team solve it. Murderbot does so grudgingly and turns out to be brilliant about solving it.

The story is told solely from Murderbot’s perspective, as are the other novella’s and the one novel. In this way we get to see how it thinks and how it can access and disseminate data so much more rapidly than humans. I really like how the humans Murderbot must deal with don’t really like or trust that it won’t harm them. But they do by the end give Murderbot a smidgen of respect and realize that Murderbot, while a rogue AI is not out to kill every human it meets.

The murder mystery was really well done. I could not figure out what or who was the culprit until the reveal, which doesn’t happen often to me. I really got a 1930’s detective novel feel through out the story, even though the setting is a space station and the detective is an AI. I could totally see Murderbot wearing a trench coat and a fedora while stalking around the station trying to find the clues that lead to who the murderer was.

The only negative, was perhaps that there was only one fight scene. However, it is a really big one that is well written and exciting to read. The pacing was also a little bit slow in parts, but otherwise it is well written and hard to put down.

If you haven’t yet picked up the Murderbot Diary series, you really really should. Even if you are not into science fiction, just because they are really smart and funny and make you think about what it means to be human and how a non-human might interpret our behavior.

Another standout entry in the Murderbot Diaries, in which everyone's favorite anti-social construct Murderbot is roped into investigating a murder on Preservation Station. Expect lots of interactions with distrustful humans, embarrassingly nicknamed bots, and the kinetic action sequences you love from the series in a cool and more investigative themed package. Getting to see how Murderbot interacts with people in these different kind of situations with new constraints was pretty interesting and kept me invested until the end.

Murderbot continues to be a fascinating and unique character whose growth as a (gasp) person continues in believable fits and starts.

There’s a murder on Preservation Station where no murder should be, and Murderbot gets sucked into the investigation, especially since it suspects that GreyCris might be involved. Much frustration with humans ensues.

I always love a little Murderbot in my life, and this was a fascinating insight into its head, particularly with how it's adjusting to life on Preservation Station—and its role as a rogue-but-not-evil SecUnit.

It did throw me a little, because I'd assumed this was set after Network Effect, but it actually takes place before it.

My favorite parts were not the action sequences, but Muderbot's relationship with Dr. Mensah, and also getting to see it interact with Ratthi and Gurathin (Ratthi's always focused on Murderbot's safety and well-being, while Gurathin's overly practical, "did the thing work though?" hides the fact he cares for Murderbot too). They're definitely a weird little family unit, but they are the best. Also, we get to see more of how bots interact with humans on Preservation Station, and it's quite riveting.

Full RTC.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

My favorite SecUnit is back!! Fugitive Telemetry is book 6 in the Murderbot Diary series; a novella at only 8 chapters. While you don't have to be caught up on the first 5 books, I do think that they provide the context of world/character building which only add to the enjoyment of reading of Fugitive Telemetry.

For those who are not familiar with Murderbot, he is a security robot designed to protect its clients, who are humans, from any threats. He is special for a lot of different reasons, not the least of which is he has hacked the system and now has free will.

This book is a standalone murder mystery. Murderbot and Dr. Mensah are already on Preservation Station when an unknown male is murdered. No one else had accessed the room around the time of his death, and there aren't any obvious clues as to this man's identity or why he was murdered. We have the makings of a locked room murder quandary! What follows next is a murder investigation as only Murderbot could do...complete with plenty of parenthetical asides to denote his snarky internal monologue and opportunities to showcase his superior logic/data computation skills in order to solve the case. Along the way he has to interact directly/get along with people (gasp!) and utilize the help of lesser bots. The murder mystery itself grew into something more when the background on the dead guy coupled with the motive for murder is given. I enjoyed the bit of action at the end as the primary suspect gets cornered. I did not figure out "who dunnit" until it was directly revealed. I already can't wait for another Murderbot diary in the future.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to read/review in exchange for my honest review.

<b>Summary:</b>
This is the 6th installment of the ‘Murderbot Diaries’.

<b>Characters:</b>
The story has 1 point of view (Murderbots’).

<b>Positives:</b>
+ A WHO DUNNIT? Yes, please~! I absolutely 100% did not at all guess correctly on who the antagonist of the story was at all. Perfect reveal, perfectly logical, and wonderfully written.
+ Murderbot’s inner dialogue continues to be my favorite inner dialogues of any character i have ever read. It was no less perfect this go round.
+ THE FIGHT SCENE was fantastic. There was much less in this book than in some of the others, but what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality.
+ “Blorp along” is now my go-to phrase for doing things i have to do but, but don’t want to, so they are done only ponderously. Thank you Martha Wells for fun new additions to my daily lexicon.

<b>Negatives:</b>
- Are we allowed to complain about there not being MORE Murderbot? I know this is a novella, but can there be more pretty please? This isn’t a negative, just a needy reader's desire for more.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
How to go on and on about a novella without giving any spoilers away. Did you enjoy the first 5 Murderbot entries? If yes, READ THE 6th. If no, why are you reading further into the series? I LOVE Murderbot. They continue to be the sarcastic, frustrated, depressed, anxiety-ridden SecUnit that I have come to know and love.

I LOVED Murderbot. How ironic it is, how antisocial and addicted to tv series it can be and also how loyal it is with the people it comes to care about. I love this idea of it having no gender, and hacking its own systems in order to retain its memories and some sort of freedoom from the company that puts him out for hire. The concept of how a Murderbot is “assembled” and the fact it wants to escape its programming brings lots of questions about what it really means to be human and have a concience.
Other parts I enjoyed about the span of the 4 novels was having Murderbot being able to forge friendships with other bots and also with humans, and having it puzzling about family, friendships and puberty... Those things that were foreign to it before.

The book "Network effect" proved to me that sometimes less is more, so I was quite happy to see Murderbot get back to his novella format for "Fugitive Telemetry". I really enjoyed this one. We get back our snarky Murderbot, who gets involved into a murder investigation while trying to not get affevted by the humans that pre judge him for being a SecUnit.

I won't be talking much about the plot, as I don't want to make any spoilers, but I loved that we get more about Murderbot gender - or lack thereof -, that it begans to change some of its patterns, allowing itself to say when something humans say offends or hurts it, even if it doesn't understand the reasons why, or if it tolds himself it shouldn't be affected because it should be used to humans judging it before allowing it to prove itself.

It really makes you think about humans prejudging other people just by the idea they have, misconceptions, fear of what is different... I love how Murderbot continues to explore its humanity and keeps pushing the borders of what it really means to be human. And I absolutely love how ironic and special Murderbot is (I LOVED when it defined itself as a construct made of cloned human meat, parts, anxiety and depression... I mean, how real can you get?) The book will also foray into slavery and trying to smugle people to safety, which makes you think a lot about the state of the world.

The plot of the book is pretty solid, moves at an adequate rythm and I loved to see Murderbot allying itself with humans that originally kinda mistrusted him in order to save this murder and other people.

So yeah, more Murderbot please!

The latest instalment in my favourite book series of all time and hold on to your hats everyone: it's a MURDER MYSTERY!!

Everyone's favourite murderbot is living on Preservation Station, trying to get used to this new life of not much murdering and too much social interaction, when a dead human is found on the station. Grudgingly working with an out-of-their-depths Station Security, it has to try to unravel what caused this death, and uncover the greater threat to the station itself.

Is this book as good as the other books in this series you might ask, and the answer is a definite, resounding yes. If you, like me, are in love with this series, stop reading this review and pre-order this book right now, because you're going to love it. Hugely entertaining and with a brilliantly crafted plot, this book will leave you guessing until the end. The mystery at its centre is perfectly paced, and I was not able to put this book down.

I, for one, would have been perfectly content to read book after book with dramatic rescue missions at their centre. But this book manages to be something completely new, changing the tone and the plot structure without sacrificing any of the core elements that make this series fantastic. Fugitive Telemetry is a no-less-than-perfect new instalment in this series, and I cannot WAIT to find out where it will go next. Meanwhile, I'll be going back to re-reading this book again and again, looking for any plot hints that I might have missed!

Ahoy there me mateys! I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings on book six . . .

I LOVE MURDERBOT!!!  I will read every new Murderbot book to come.  I will continue to reread this series over and over again.  This newest installment is no exception.  Murderbot helps solve a crime on Station.  Of course Sanctuary Moon is going to play a part.  Of course Murderbot is snarky.  Of course this book be grand.  Of course the entire crew should acquire a copy of this treasure.  Of course that be all the plot ye'll get from me.  Get it.  Read it.  If ye haven't yet met Murderbot what be ye waiting for?

Seriously ye layabouts, there are at least three good reasons to read this series:

1, I said so;
2, One of me favourite authors, Ann Leckie, talked about it in one of her blog posts.  She states, “This is volume 1 of the Murderbot Diaries, and I suspect a certain percentage of my readers don’t need to hear anything more. Go, purchase, download! You will enjoy this.”
3. Book one won the Hugo Award for Best Novella (2018), the Nebula Award for Best Novella (2017), and the Locus Award for Best Novella (2018).

ARRRRR!!!!!!!

It continually amazes me how we are all Murderbot. We just want to watch our media and not talk to anybody.

This was another great escapade and I really enjoyed getting to see Murderbot interact with more people in the Preservation system and expand their network of "ok maybe I actually kind of like this human" humans. It's also really great to see more of the other bots and how they fit in the world around them.

10/10 would reread as many times as Murderbot rewatches The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon

The Candid Killing Machine: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Our protagonist describes themself as: "A construct made of cloned human tissue, augments, anxiety depression and unfocused rage...", Unsurprisingly they have given themselves the un-complementary name of "Murderbot", and this is the fifth novella in the Murderbot series.




Since all these novellas are written exclusively in the first person Murderbot's personality and their narrative capacity is essential to their success. This is a huge score, the thing about Murderbot is their candour, both about themselves and their reactions but especially in their view of humanity. Murderbot doesn't really approve of most humans, with a few honourable exceptions, and their deadpan portrayal of humanity's many, many foibles and their reaction to them is one of the most engaging aspects of these stories.
Murderbot was originally a security bot conceived specifically to protect the "human capital" investments of intergalactic insurance companies. (Please note these are not spoilers you will find a summary of Murderbot's back story in this novella). This involved taking on alien predators but more often than not, other humans.

Murderbot's personality is that of a surly but gifted and conscientious teenager. That they come over as youthful and immature is hardly surprising given that in the first novella, they somehow acquired the ability to hack their governing module and began to think and act for themselves. And what did Murderbot want to do once it had acquired the precious gift of freedom? Why, of course! Spend hour upon hour streaming trashy telenovelas... But sometimes it just has to go out and deal with a few pesky humans.

So, to sum up, Murderbot is basically a killing machine with the personality of a surly teenager and the candour of a saint, addicted to watching TV series with a romantic bent.

Happily, it has fallen in with a group of basically decent and intelligent humans and this is where we find them at the beginning of this novella, being loaned out, completely at their own volition, to act as an external security consultant for the human-run team of a space station tasked with solving a puzzling murder with possible terrorist implications.

This is the first novella where we have seen Murderbot take on the role of detective and it works. The dry humour mostly at humanity's expense, but occasionally at Murderbot's, is as fresh and vivid in this most recent instalment as it is in the others.

If you like your sci-fi with laughs, read Murderbot.

4.5 stars. It's difficult to rate this because Murderbot is MURDERBOT but I think maybe Martha Wells just set the bar too damn high with [book:Network Effect|52381770]. Had this book come out BEFORE Network Effect, I probably would have given it 5 stars.

Murderbot is back on Preservation Station and is tasked with solving a murder mystery. I will say nothing further as I do believe the previous Murderbot novels should be read first and don't want to spoil anything. But I enjoyed the noir feel of this one and - as always - Murderbot's distinctive voice. I was hoping for a little more because of everything that happened in the previous installment, but that is not to say that this wasn't great. Because HELLO - Murderbot.

Martha Wells - I will read anything and everything Murderbot from now until the end of time so please keep them coming.

Thank you Tor Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

As the sixth installment of the Murderbot series, and the fifth novella, this was an excellent edition to the shenanigans that Murderbot is classically known for. Just as funny, just as snarky, and just as heartfelt as all the others, Fugitive Telemetry is a quickly-read whodunit with iconic Murderbot flair. I'll be posting the full review closer to publishing date. Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review!