4/5 stars on Goodreads
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| Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells |
Murderbot is back in Fugitive Telemetry, the sixth book in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. After the previous book, I assumed the life of the rogue SecUnit would take a new turn, but instead the latest book steps back in time and takes place between Exit Strategy and Network Effect.
Murderbot has settled—sort of—on Preservation space station, a safe haven for all refuges from the Corporate Rim, even for security constructs (part organic, part cyborg) and bots. It fills its days trying to prevent its favourite human, Dr Mensah, the leader of Preservation from being killed by GrayCris Corporation, watching its shows, and getting annoyed by humans who fear it for being a SecUnit. When a murdered body is found, Murderbot is convinced GrayCris is responsible and gets involved in the investigation.
Fugitive Telemetry is a surprisingly traditional whodunit. Murderbot follows the clues, in its own way, which leads it to a different mystery entirely than it had assumed. But since it’s taken to solve the mystery, it’ll see it through, even though it doesn’t have anything to do with Dr Mensah. There aren’t nearly as much explosions, hacking on-the-fly, and fight scenes than in these books usually, but the mystery is interesting and the identity of the culprit surprising. And Murderbot manages to make new friendlies (not friends—never friends) in the process too.
If you haven’t read Network Effect yet, it’s perfectly possible to read this one first. It’s maybe even better if you do. It’s a good book, but I do hope the next one will pick up where Network Effect left Murderbot. Maybe in another full-length book even.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.