5 stars!

Oh what a read!

MurderBot, the self-adopted name of a keenly intelligent, self-aware “SecUnit” robot designed for corporate protection and combat skills, has managed to hack its governor. Its corporate owners had installed the governor in all SecUnits to ensure strict behavioral control and prohibiting any free will. That keeps humans from being completely terrified at their fighting capabilities, which includes built in weapons.

Once Murderbot gains control, it embarks on a perplexing journey to understand itself, while also being thrust into precarious situations that inspires it to voluntarily save and protect humans in danger around it. A blend of robotics, biology, and human tissue, MurderBot mostly tolerates humans, though it surprises itself, as well as all the humans interacting with it, as it forms strong attachments and friendships with those it has saved. The sheer humanity of Murderbot irresistably draws you in, as it wrestles with emergent emotions and a general dismay at humans and their relationships with other humans.

While Murderbot likes to pose as a detached outsider, it’s anything but. Left to its own devices, MurderBot would be happy perusing thousands of episodes of TV space opera, from which it gleans most of its human interaction insights. Drawn into human relationships and thus away from its placid entertainment, Murderbot proves endearing while keeping a running annoyed internal dialog as it attempts to figure out its place in the world and master human idiosyncrasies such as sarcasm.

In Fugitive Telemetry, we’re at the tolerant, humanitarian Preservation Space Station, where a gracious leader rescued by MurderBot has offered up shelter as well as “personhood.” That being said, the security services on the station want nothing to do with MurderBot – and in fact have insisted on safety measures to keep MurderBot completely out of their computer systems. But when a mystery dead body appears in a remote hallway on Preservation, station security is flummoxed as to what’s going on, especially given their remote location and rarity of violence. Is it a community insider? A wayfarer from the many traveling ships that refuel at Preservation in transit elsewhere in the universe?

Security services reluctantly hire Murderbot to help, who has a leg up on humans in detective work, as it can seamlessly communicate with and query any other robots, even those with extremely limited functionality, as well as process data at astonishing speed. What follows is a great mystery, brilliant detective work by Murderbot, and the security teams’ slow move from hostility to admiration to trust.

The growing pride you feel in Murderbot and the thrill of the perplexing mystery being solved leaves you both heart-warmed and wanting more.

You can jump right in, but you’ll savor it much more if you venture back to read all of Martha Well’s tremendous MurderBot series, which is comprised of 4 novellas and one novel.

Murderbot takes on a new contract on Preservation Station after finding a dead human even though they really just want to watch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and not be involved but, still waiting for a GrayCris attack, they swallow their pride. Murderbot grudgingly helps the humans but not without sarcasm and making them feel stupid.

The sixth Murderbot Diary book is sadly a short 176 pages BUT is still very fulfilling and doesn’t have to be a 300 to 500 page book, even though greedy Murderbot fans will disagree.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

A satisfying novella, like an HBO mini-series that keeps the pace churning forward. I requested this story without realizing that it was the sixth in a series, so I wholly admit that I might have appreciated it more if I had been following the entire series. If I started on page one already begrudgingly fond of Murderbot, I could have launched right into the mystery with an old friend.

The mystery itself was tidy, economical, and reached a satisfying closure. The humor was... alright. It follows the familiar line of, "wow, if aliens came down to Earth, they would sure think humans were weird for doing X." Yes, humans are illogical and flawed. There is an unending well of material to draw from there.

Tonally, Murderbot both disdains but reluctantly protects humans, drawing some piecemeal purpose from working with them. That worked well. It also spent a decent chunk of time explaining to the reader how the technology worked, which didn't feel consistent with the otherwise impatient narration.

However, it does make me want to go back and start from the beginning, so perhaps I should let my gut override my mind for this review.

Listen to full reviews at: https://bookclubbed.buzzsprout.com/

Dryly sarcastic and slightly paranoid, Murderbot is always a delight to read. With new intrigue to be solved and silly humans to be rescued, fans of the previous books will not be disappointed.

Fugitive Telemetry delivers everything I expect and more! Murderbot in all its glory. All the wry comments, the jokes that don't land, and the ways humans are just SO MUCH sometimes. Murderbot is one of my favorite SF characters because of the ways it is able to show humanity's hypocrisies, idiosyncrasies, and characteristics. The ways we see the ways that humans react to Murderbot, to sentient thoughts where we don't expect them, and in just generally a "mind-blown" quality.

Yet another great Murderbot story! It was fun to read a more "light-hearted" story after reading Network Effect. The mystery was interesting and I enjoyed the social commentaries that are always in the background of Murderbot. It was fun to spend time in Preservation and see old friends again. I missed some of the more emotional scenes from some of the other books, but I still felt like I got to know Murderbot a little bit better.

This novella ( 170+ pages) is the sixth entry into the Murderbot saga. Although it is a self-contained story, it merits reading all those that have been published before for full enjoyment. Murderbot is a unique android-type persona. Although it originated as a SecUnit , it no longer has a "governor", having successfully hacked it own coding system and has essentially reached sentience. Martha Wells excellent worldbuilding has included a progressive growth of Murderbot's personalty with each adventure. Although usually action-packed this outing is more cerebral than most. Murderbot has a running internal dialogue that treats the reader to his sharp wit. It is forever complaining about the failures, foibles and stupidity of humans. It's missions interfere with it's love of enjoying media ... especially soap operas. It characterizes humans as slow dullards, unable to keep up and becomes exasperated and frustrated by their inefficiencies. However, it never looses sight of it's prime directive... protecting Dr Mensah (one of the main ongoing characters) as well as other people it "cares about". GrayCris is the unscrupulous mega corporation which has an ongoing attempt to take-out Dr. Mensah. Incidentally, Murderbot has quite a potty mouth, that would make a truck driver blush.
It approaches this mission as fairly simple and straightforward. A human corpse is found in a hallway of the Preservation Station. Murderbot is forced to work alongside Station Security. Naturally security does not actually trust or want Murderbot's aid. It must agree not to hack into the security network. Even with this severe limitation ,Murderbot starts it's own investigation. Who is this unknown person, who killed him and why ... and is it possibly tied to a GrayCris plot?
Martha Wells weaves her customary taught and twisted narrative while slowly revealing clues culminating in an action-packed denouement featuring several awe inspiring rescues. Once again, the reader is treated to a phenomenal complete adventure, while building onto an ongoing universe, that is replete with engrossing multi-dimensional characters ... especially Murderbot.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor /Forge for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. I can't wait for the next Murderbot tale.

There is a lot of sci-fi out there about self aware AI robots, but there is none quite like Murderbot. I have been a fan of the antisocial, sarcastic, binge watching rogue SecUnit that is Murderbot since All Systems Red and every subsequent book has been an auto read for me. The latest installment, Fugitive Telemetry, was just as delightful and entertaining as the rest.

Brief summary:
When a dead body is found on Preservation Station, Murderbot is tasked with working with the security team, (meaning that it has to talk to humans, much to it's displeasure), to solve the murder and help catch the killer.

My thoughts:
As with all the Murderbot novellas, this was a quick, fun read! I can never get enough of Murderbot's sarcasm or unique personality. I loved the murder mystery element this time and the ending was a shock to me! I wasn't sure who the murderer was and the reveal at the end was a twist I didn't see coming.

If you love Murderbot, or sci-fi in general, you will not be disappointed. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor books for the complementary eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the most book in the Murderbot Diaries. We see our SecUnit start to decide the type of person he wants to be when not with his core group. The "villain" in the end was not who I thought it would be, which was a nice twist. Can't wait for the next really strange adventure.

ARC from Netgalley

As much as MB has evolved, he still doesn't feel comfortable with humans (with a few exceptions of his friends from All Systems Red), but when a body is found on Preservation Station, MB is drafted into the investigation. More confident in his abilities, he works with Insah, who still isn't comfortable with SecUnits of any kind, to resolve the mystery.
(Note this was published after the full-length novel Network Effect, but chronologically belongs here.)

NetGalley/Tor/Forge

Science Fiction. April 27, 2021.

Martha Wells does it again with this Murderbot novella.
Fugitive Telemetry, set before the events of the full length novel Network Effect (so no Murderbot and Art team-up, sorry guys) follows Murderbot as they do their best to protect Dr. Mensah from probable GrayCris threats.
If you have read Network Effect, even if you haven’t really, you get to meet Senior Officer Indah, who is mentioned in Murderbot’s flashbacks to events on Preservation. Senior Indah was a great character, a good contrast to Murderbot who doesn’t necessarily have to follow the same rules as humans but does so for the sake of cooperation (even at the expense of efficiency *insert Murderbot rolling their eyes, probably*).
This book was more of a murder mystery as Murderbot tries to determine if a dead body ties to the safety of Mensah or not and then gets involved anyway because humans need saving from themselves.
This book is full of all the humor and snark one has come to expect from the antisocial SecUnit. Definitely a ride of a read that shouldn’t be missed.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Murderbot, this is your Dear John letter. You saw this coming, right? You must have. Six books and not one ringing success. It’s that unnecessarily oversized book five that really delivered the final blow, though out of basic decency and a need to meet obligations, I read book six as it was provided for review purposes. And while I appreciated you returning to a much more suitable (and a personal favorite) novella format, the brevity alone no longer does the trick.
It won’t matter to you, will it? You’re so inexplicably popular and beloved by so many. What’s one dissenting opinion, one disappointed reader? You won’t even sulk probably or I’d like to think maybe you might, just for a short while, and then just dissolve your sadness in a streaming show like you do and go on with your life.
In fact, why did you ever think that passion for space soap operas and snark were enough of a personality to attract and maintain one’s attention and affection? It wasn’t, it isn’t, not when all that leaves in a bunch of interchangeable uninteresting side characters and muddled contrived convoluted plots.
I know, it isn’t your fault, you were written that way (and none of your books were ever as much fun as their descriptions made them out to b)e and then praised and awarded so repeatedly, there was never any reason to improve. And it’s sad in a way and it’s certainly a commentary on popular tastes, but most importantly, Murderbot, it’s the end of us. I can no longer in good conscience rationalize spending time with you, hoping against all reason that you’ll turn your act around and wow me. In fact, sorry to say, I regret the time we did spend together. I don’t think it was worth it. And I kind of can’t believe I stuck around for this long. What can I say…I’m a completist. A book loving romantic. And you…I’m not even sure what you are, you’re not really a pandering sellout, you’re more on an inexplicable weird trend. A gimmicky creation stretched out seemingly indefinitely over a series by an underwhelming talent to an inexplicable acclaim. I wanted you to be more. Maybe it isn’t fair. So you just go do you. We tried. It was real, Murberbot, but it’s already fading from memory, much like every single plot of your books immediately after completion. Goodbye, Murderbot. Thanks Netgalley.

I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to read this before release. I’m a huge fan of the Murderbot series, and particularly loved the previous full length entry.

Although I wish it was longer, this novella was a true return to form, and possibly my favourite Murderbot entry yet. This entry shows Murderbot solving a mystery in space, which isn't the kind of story I expected, but it worked so well. The only downside is that ART isn't in this one.

Overall, this was great addition to the series that really shook up the genre for me and showed us the potential of Murderbot. Martha Wells has done a great job of building a world here, that six books in is still leaving me excited for more. I hope these stories continue for a long time, and I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Thanks Tor & Netgalley for the ARC!

A dead body has been found on Preservation Station, and Murderbot has been tasked with assisting station security to determine the who, what, how, why of it all.

In the beginning of this book I was a little thrown off by the timeline. This book is the sixth in the Murderbot series, however, the events take place before book five, so keep that in mind. Murderbot is basically used like a CSI person in this book. The station security agents are not real thrilled to be working with Murderbot but since they are basically glorified mall security, and not particularly qualified to investigate a murder, they really really really do need Murderbot’s help. All of the incredible details are top notch, the reveal of who the murderer is was awesome and totally unexpected, and this book has my new favorite word in it “blorb”. So as expected we have another great entry in the Murderbot series!

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Murderbot is back, and just as sarcastic as ever. Wells does a fantastic job of keeping Murderbot’s internal monologue both interesting and amusing. There is a murder mystery aspect of this story, that you try to solve along with the bot. The interactions with other bots, and how Murderbot feels detached from humans but also bots, was interesting to read.
This was a fun book and a fun continuation of the story. If you haven’t started the series just yet, I absolutely recommend it to anyone who loves sci-fi, and snarky narrations.
The full review will be posted on May 21st, 2021

I received an ARC of Fugitive Telemetry from NetGalley and TOR/Forge. I have read all the Murderbot novellas and novels. I love the evolution of the rogue Secbot.
This book continues the adventures of the sarcastic and introverted AI and takes them in a slightly new direction. Murderbot is called in (volunteered) to help solve a mysterious murder on a space station. Forced to work with new humans that they don't have a relationship with, they are operating in new territory as they cannot just take over everything and have to work within agreed upon restrictions and parameters. Seeing the character work with these new people and actively solve a mystery that didn't directly involve itself was good. It felt like a noir detective story set in space. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to many more adventures with Murderbot!

Murderbot! Fugitive Telemetry steps back and looks at Murderbot pre-Network Effect, during its time on Preservation Station. It's also a murder mystery, featuring the mysterious death of a traveller which requires Preservation Station security (who don't have to deal with too many murders, seeing as how they're in one of the few places in the Murderbot Universe that places significant, non-monetary value on human life) and Murderbot to work together to untangle it. The problem is, of course, that Station Security aren't too happy about working with a SecUnit, regardless of the assurances made by Mensah and the rest of its adopted family about its trustworthiness. Murderbot, of course, isn't too happy about working with anyone, and it's also trying to navigate the experience of being a known "Rogue SecUnit" in a society that (mostly) wants to ensure its rights and autonomy, but isn't entirely sure how to do so.

What follows is a fun romp through Preservation, with plenty of the action you'd expect from a Murderbot novella. This being the Murderbot Universe, the exploitative corporate practices of the rest of the galaxy naturally come into play, but the immediate stakes feel lower for most of the book, with the mystery wrapped up neatly over the single novella length. (Also there are a lot of sentences in brackets followed by more sentences in brackets.) (This is a thing Murderbot does a lot in its narration, and it felt like it might have happened more here than in any previous story?) (It's fine, I guess, I just noticed it, like, a lot.) (A LOT.)

Anyway, Fugitive Telemetry delivers no less, but no more, than a solid Murderbot adventure. There's nothing disappointing about that - and Preservation Station is a delightful setting for this particular adventure - but after Network Effect ended with a significant change in Murderbot's life path, it means this episode does feel more like a fun diversion than a book that's really driving the series forward, and that leaves me with less to say about it than I have about previous books in the series. It's still an enthusiastic thumbs up from me overall, though: more Murderbot is never a bad thing.

I glommed this entire series in the last couple of months and have zero regrets. Murderbot is exactly what I needed to start off my year.

This is the sixth, and newest, release in the Murderbot Diaries, which follows a rogue SecUnit’s adventures. This book was a return to the novella length page count and it was a quick, easy read. Murderbot is asked to help station security with an investigation of a dead human on Preservation Station. And despite its misgivings and the fact that it would rather be watching entertainment vids, the request is granted.

I can’t help but love the humor, amazing action scenes, and wonderful world-building. I wasn’t sure what to expect after the events of the last book. Before I read the blurb I did wonder if this next release would have Murderbot helping ART or back with his Preservation Station humans. Thankfully, we get a nice long look around Preservation Station. I think this was the exact right direction to take this series.

Murderbot is evolving and I enjoyed seeing it not being able to rely simply on hacking but having to think outside the box. I think it is starting to almost enjoy and find a bit of comfort in its relationships with the humans who readers first met in book one. These are Murderbot’s humans and it is their SecUnit, they make a good team.

Another fabulous book in a fabulous series. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

The Murderbot Diaries series is a fairly consistent one as far as I'm concerned, and Fugitive Telemetry is no different. We've returned to the novella-length stories for the sixth book and while I'll always be happy to have a full-length Murderbot story, Martha Wells is fantastic about telling stories in the shorter format, too.

Murderbot is on Preservation Station and discovers the dead body of an unknown human. Having to work alongside Station security is not on Murderbot's list of fun things to do, but even it acknowledges that it should be fairly straightforward to figure out who this unknown person is, who killed them and why. Right?

It's pretty easy to say that Murderbot is one of my favourite characters of all time - a former SecUnit that is primarily machine and no longer on a leash, Murderbot just wants to be left alone, and preferably not talk to people. In each book we see Murderbot being thrown into situations that are uncomfortable for it, which encourages some measure of growth, however it's safe to say that it's still got a wicked sense of humour and disdain for having to deal with people.

This book is essentially a science-fiction murder-mystery and I am here for it. While we don't have as many fight sequences as we've had in previous books, it's made up for in rescue attempts, reluctant bonding opportunities for Murderbot and twisting plot that doesn't reveal its secrets until the end.

Every time I come to a new Murderbot book, it's like coming home. I know what to expect - high quality writing, engaging characters and a good dose of adventure.

Ahhh, hits the spot.

Every Murderbot book, as soon as I start reading it, makes me feel like, "YES. This is what I've been wanting this whole time." Like a food that I'm always hungry for.

This, the sixth installment, throws us back in time to Murderbot getting their feet under them on Preservation. They are still adjusting to the new circumstances, and end up having to work with Preservation police to solve a murder mystery.

It's good. Several bots and humans to meet, and lots of reluctant character growth for everyone. The only thing I could have used more of (other than content in general) was a few more signature Murderbot fight scenes.