Science Fiction – Murder by Death

Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot Diaries, #6)

Fugitive Telemetry
by Kevin R. Free (narrator), Martha Wells
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781980080633
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #6
Publication Date: April 1, 2021
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books

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! Again!

Oh, now this one I really, really liked! It’s a murder mystery! Detective Inspector Murderbot!

I had a lot of fun with this one, not only because of the murder mystery angle, which was easily 80% of my enjoyment, but also because it all took place on the station, so none of that spacey stuff, except for the scene with the bag thing, and I thought that part was amusing. And it was short.

I really like the characters Wells has created for Preservation station, and I got a kick out of the dynamic she’s created with Murderbot and the head of station security. I really hope Wells will create more stories involving these characters – and more mysteries!

Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries, #5)

Network Effect
by Kevin R. Free (narrator), Martha Wells
Rating: ★★★½
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #5
Publication Date: May 1, 2020
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books

You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you’re a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you’re Murderbot.

Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century. I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are. When Murderbot’s human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action. Drastic action it is, then.

What can I say? I didn’t like this one, the first full-length novel, as much as I liked the short stories. Part of that was the length, part of it was all the focus on the spacey stuff (wormholes, alien artefacts, blobs on the drive engine, blah, blah, blah), and yeah, part of it was ART. Now, I like ART, but he was rather pathological until the very end, and at one point I was totally ok with someone wiping his kernel and zero’ing it out, just for good measure. I felt like the schtick being played out regarding Murderbot’s ‘relationship’ with ART had potential for some big humor, but it never really got to that point, simply hovering in the mildly amusing range.

But the story picked up considerably – for me – once Murderbot got stuck on the planet and the killware came into play. Unfortunately, by that time there was very little story left, and I thought it all ended rather abruptly.

Still, this reader-who-doesn’t-enjoy-scifi kept listening, and I definitely thought it was worth the 3.5 stars. I just prefer murderbot’s diary entries to be shorter, I think. Or less spacey.

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)

Exit Strategy
by Kevin R. Free (narrator), Martha Wells
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781501999994
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #4
Publication Date: October 1, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books

Murderbot wasn't programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right?

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah-its former owner (protector? friend?)-submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit. But who's going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue? And what will become of it when it's caught?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, these are starting to blur together in my head because I’m listening to them back-to-back, but I feel like this one started off with more action right off the bat, and I liked it. I also like that the original characters are together again.

I’ve already stared Network Effect – with some trepidation, I might add, because it’s a full-length novel. 12 hours of science fiction might be more science fiction in one go than I’ve read accusatively over my lifetime. But so far, so good.

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)

Rogue Protocol
by Kevin R. Free (narrator), Martha Wells
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9781501999796
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #3
Publication Date: August 7, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books

Sci-fi’s favorite antisocial AI is back on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensha’s SecUnit is.

And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

I’ve been listening to these back to back and I’m behind with my posts, so they’re all starting to blur together a bit, but this was the one with Miki, right?

If so, it started off slow for me; space travel … meh. But once Murderbot started interacting with humans, and even better, when things started attacking, my attention was hooked. Can’t say I liked the ending though.

Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Artificial Condition
by Kevin R. Free (narrator), Martha Wells
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9781501977237
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #2
Publication Date: May 8, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure." It has a dark past—one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself "Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don't want to know what the "A" stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.

Ok, so I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as All Systems Red; there wasn’t enough action and the start of the book, when it’s just murderbot and ART left me flat. I didn’t see the appeal of ART at all, in fact, until Murderbot landed on whatever-it-was (space settings = blah blah blah) and started interacting with people. Everything picked up a bit after that, and I enjoyed it enough that I finished it up after I got home (usually Audiobooks are car-only distractions from road rage for me).

I’ve stared the third one on this morning’s drive.

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

All Systems Red
by Kevin R. Free (narrator), Martha Wells
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781501977824
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #1
Publication Date: December 1, 2017
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books

All Systems Red is the first tense science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries.

The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid - a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Elentarri caught me in a weak-ish moment and convinced me to put aside my natural, deeply in-bred bias against all things space and most things science fiction to give The Murderbot Diaries a try.

She can chalk one up in the win column, because I enjoyed this soooo much more than I thought I would, and that’s entirely due to the Murderbot character. I have a suspicion that I’ll be hard pressed to describe the plot of All Systems Red after next week (and in truth, there’s not really a lot of plot), but I will remember Murderbot vividly. I thoroughly enjoyed his irreverence, his humor, and his introverted reactions to the people around him.

This was a fast audio listen and I thought Kevin Free did a very credible job. He does speak unnaturally slow overall, but he brings Murderbot to life and gives it personality. I’ve already started the second one, Artificial Condition.