Book Review: Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Marsha Wells (Four Stars)
I told her, They don’t want me. (Hey, I don’t want me, either, but I’m stuck with me.)
Murderbot strikes again. Our favorite human-machine-construct security unit must investigate a murder. He doesn’t want to; the cops don’t want him to. What could go wrong? This story beats most contemporary science fiction because readers can identify with the protagonist alienated from self as well as others.
“This is the part that’s my job.”
Wells returns to the successful novella format of her first Murderbot Diaries. Internal clues suggest this story follows Rogue Protocol (Diary #4) rather than the longer Network Effect. Fans should read Wells’ Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (The Murderbot Diaries #4.5) before this story.
It tried to alert its onboard SecSystem, but as the old saying (which I just made up) goes, if you can ping the SecUnit, it’s way too late.
Disappointed that SecUnit doesn’t get to armor up as implied by the cover art. Nice representation of Murderbot next to Port Authority bot Balin.
“You know, swearing during operations doesn’t meet the professional conduct standards of Station Security.” “Because Senior Indah has never told anybody to [expletive deleted] off.” “You have me there.”
It’s five-star writing, but I rated it four because of gratuitous profanity. Yes, profanity establishes character, but Wells pours it on. Dozens of instances of the f-word. It knocks the reader out of the spell of the story.
“And I assume you’re open to another contract the next time something weird happens.” “Only if it’s really weird.” “Understood.”
As a Matter of Fancy 