If it wants to prove that it can be better and deserves the freedom to live the life it has chosen, it has to follow the rules imposed on it by the society that has (barely) chosen to accept it. And here, she uses the condensed timeline and single location as a way to put Murderbot in a situation of constant moral reckoning.

Still, one of Wells' superpowers has long been her ability to pack an epic's worth of material into a very small package. One of Wells' superpowers has long been her ability to pack an epic's worth of material into a very small package. A locked-room variant where, as soon as the body is discovered (, Line 1), the old manor house is closed, everyone is shut inside and a convenient flood wipes out the only bridge off the island. An IT thriller (like so many Murderbot stories) that functions at least partially as a forensic examination of linked surveillance and data systems.

A cozy mystery garlanded with plasma cannons and spaceships. Martha Wells' newest entry in her award-winning, nerd-charming, trope-bending Murderbot series, Fugitive Telemetry, is a lot of things that you probably don't expect. Imagine that Agatha Christie or Nancy Atherton woke up one morning and decided to set their newest ticking-clock, cozy mystery not in some quaint English seaside village but in a quaint, progressive orbital station that Angela Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher was hurled forward a thousand years to find herself tutting over the body of a dead spaceman dumped in a hallway - no fingerprints, no DNA, no record of how he got there or who did him in. Armed and armored against all the evils that men do. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.Imagine for a moment that Hercule Poirot was a robot. I’m always left with a satisfied smile and a hunger for more when I complete one of these books.Įxtremely highly recommended – this seems to draw this part of the novellas to a close, next is a short ‘ Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory’ followed by a full length novel ‘ Network Effect’ which I am really looking forward to. I mean as well as passing a law for higher level artificial intelligences/bots for independence. On a side note: I want a Murderbot and ART team up again, and I want to meet some aliens, or at least get into some alien archaeological sites/tech. I really want this pairing to grow and develop even more. She seems to respect Murderbot in all its expression of existing. I kind of get a sense of a small crush between Mancha and Murderbot – whether it be friendship or a one-sided romantic crush. Hat’s off the Martha Wells for crafting such a wonderful character and addictive series. He is more complex and developed that many other protagonists I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in my reading journey. Murderbot is showing courage, bravery, loyalty and self-sacrifice… and sarcasm.

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