Warning: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are addictive. Fugitive Telemetry, the sixth in the series, is as irresistible as the rest., though it departs in one crucial way: Fugitive Telemetry is more purely focused on the mystery and a lot less on the mayhem. The mystery begins with an unidentified body in the Preservation Station corridor. Station security is not used to dealing with murder. Murderbot–is. Station security is not thrilled at having a sentient weapon helping them with the case. Murderbot is not thrilled to be working with humans. The resulting collaboration is effective and fraught.
Fugitive Telemetry, though the sixth book in the series, actually takes place before the fifth book, Network Effect. I was a little sad at first not to be reading the further adventures of Murderbot and ART. Then the mystery caught me. Identifying the victim is only the first step in a tangle of competing interests and goals.
Then there is the matter of relationships. Murderbot is still struggling to define who he is, to himself and others. What does it mean to be an individual when you were manufactured to be a replaceable unit? Further, Murderbot fits no easy categories: He is no longer a disposable security guard, but he is also not a robot or a human. He refuses to take a guardian/owner or to be polite just to make people comfortable. His efforts to define who he is, to himself as well as others, are part of what makes him so appealing.
You could, conceivably, start reading the series with this book, but you would miss a lot. The mystery itself is solved in the book, but there is a lot of interpersonal and political ground laid in the first four novellas. Also, I can’t think why you would want to deprive yourself of the opportunity to read more about the would-be misanthropic construct.
With the exception of Network Effect, the Murderbot Diaries are novellas. They come in at a nice, bite-sized 150 pages or so. Each book can be read in a single sitting, or over a weekend, if you want.
I reviewed the first book, All Systems Red, here. You can find the full list of Murderbot Diaries here, on Goodreads. Also, for those who, like me, are looking forward to the adventures of Murderbot and ART, Martha Wells has signed a contract with Tor for three more Murderbot Diaries.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to rereading the series again.
