Early Novella Review – Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot Diaries, Book 6) by Martha Wells (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult (appropriate for YA)
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 176 pages
Publisher: Tordotcom
Release Date: April 27, 2021
ASIN : B088H926KF
Stand Alone or Series: 6th book in the Murderbot series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley to Review
Rating: 4/5 stars
“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!”
Series Info/Source: This is the 6th book in the Murderbot Diaries, this takes us back to a novella format. I got this novella from NetGalley to review.
Story (4/5): Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station and is forced to work with the human Preservation security team to solve the mystery. I really enjoyed this but was left feeling a bit confused about how this tied into the last book in the series. At the end of book 5 Murderbot was going to join ART on a mission but now Murderbot is back on Preservation? Confused. However, it was a fun little story and I enjoyed it even if I did struggle to see where this falls in the overall timeline of things.
Characters (4/5): Murderbot remains a very fun character and I have really enjoyed watching it learn to live more and more with humans and interact with them.
Setting (4/5): It was very nice to spend some time on Preservation since that is kind of Murderbot’s official home. We hear a lot about it in other stories but very rarely get glimpses of it, I enjoyed the time on Preservation. This whole world is very well developed and I love exploring it.
Writing Style (4/5): This was well written and easy to read very in keeping with previous Murderbot novels. Wells does an excellent job with the Murderbot character and weaves good mysteries too.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a quick read that I really enjoyed. Aside from the fact that I was a bit confused about where this story falls in Murderbot’s timeline, I enjoyed this. Murderbot is continuing to figure out what it wants and how to interact with people (and bots). The story is entertaining, humorous, and heartfelt.
