Fugitive Telemetry
Ratings549
Average rating4.2
Contains spoilers
Murderbot AND a murder investigation? Right up my alley. This felt a bit different from the other books in the series so far (I read this one before Network Effect as I want to follow the chronological order), definitely less action packed - but I loved it. It was a really fun and quick read (well, listen).
Not really related to the story, but I love that this series is narrated by Kevin from Welcome to Nightvale.
This one starts a little slow (full disclosure: however, I'm fresh off a reread through of Dungeon Crawler Carl and this would be extremely slow by comparison) but it does pick up around the half way mark.
By the point I was definitely intrigued and wanted to keep going. It's structured as a bit of a whodunnit and it's fascinating to see in what areas of personality Murder Bot has changed. It still is incredibly dry and sarcastic, but seems to be adapting more "human" attributes.
If you like the series, I say just push through.
“Humans touch stuff all the time, I wish they wouldn't.”
I was so disappointed, after the finish of [b:Exit Strategy|35519109|Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)|Martha Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518642623l/35519109.SY75.jpg|56934601], to realize this is not part of the ART story arch. My bad, I didn't realize publication order is not chronological order. So that's on me, I guess.
That said, I enjoyed going back to the shorter format in Fugitive Telemetry. The shorter form seems like a natural fit for Murderbot's style, especially with its humor and snarky observations, it can get a bit repetitive on the longer novel. It feels more focused and keeps things moving fast.
The murder mystery was entertaining. Murderbot's interactions with Preservation Station's security team—who clearly don't trust it—are as amusing. I love how Murderbot constantly points out human shortcomings. Despite some limitations imposed by the humans around it, Murderbot finds clever ways to navigate these challenges, all while begrudgingly showing more humanity than it admits to.
I need Murderbot in my life.
im a robot whatever humans are soooo weird xoxoxooxddd xdd dim such a quirky robot wow
Sometimes when Murderbot talks I have no idea what they're saying but nonetheless it's always fun!
I am so in love with this series. Murderbot is a kindred spirit, we all love. I hope his adventures never end.
I would watch hell of the Sanctuary Moon TV show if it ever was made 😂
TL;DR
Good entry in the series, a murder mystery with some help from two new characters. I liked both of them, they are pretty cool and I liked their interactions with Murderbot.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked the murder mystery story on this one, very engaging and interesting.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I liked Indah and Aylen, even if Aylen is just gone suddenly towards the end, I thought she would more involved in the story and be there for the ending.
X - Setting/Ambiance: It's the preservation station again, nothing new there.
✓ - Ending: Not an amazing ending but it wasn't terrible. A normal ending, and that's not bad.
Extensive Review
Another good entry in the series but there are still a few things that I disliked:
- There's a character called Tural, he's okay as a character, the problem is that he's refer to as "They". Get this stupid garbage inclusive pronouns out of here.
- The cursing, Murderbot is at it again with the unnecessary cursing and it's still as annoying as the first time I noticed it. Again he's not in dangerous situations and something bad happened that would warrant that. He's in conversation and randomly curses because "he's annoyed".
There is also a good thing, there were almost no mentions of his stupid media series in this entire story, maybe twice he mentioned that he wanted to watch them. I was very pleased with this, being in the middle of some dangerous situation and having Murderbot saying "I would rather watch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon episode 365" is very frustrating. Thankfully there was barely any mentions of his media series.
Always a fun romp with murderbot and crew. This was a quick read and an essentially stand-alone story.
Our sarcastic hero takes the next step in exploring its new freedom and discovering what it wants to be when it grows up.
This series has been a comforting presence during this past month as all I want to do is curl up alone and watch TV or read. I also appreciate the perspective of a protagonist who doesn't really want to do the work they are in, but apply their skill set, and believe in what they are trying to accomplish. I find these perspectives quite relatable right now.
OK so overall I've been slamming this series in a short period of time and reading this right after [b:Network Effect 52381770 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) Martha Wells https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1640597293l/52381770.SY75.jpg 63614271] was a lil disappointing at first just like, but I thought we were going on adventures with ART now!!!! but then actually this was very interesting and fun (despite the horrors of capitalism). What a good Murderbot!!
Despite this being a murder mystery, I think this was the least action packed and most cozy of the books so far. I quite liked seeing a more day to day look at the Murderbot stories. Murderbot's dedication to Mensah's security and disagreements with local security personal was amusing. I'm really enjoying reading through this series
Huh, I remembered not liking this one as much as the others. Turns out either past me was wrong or my memory was.
Well, that's that for the time being, since I've officially reached the end of the published works. I enjoyed this installment, but was disappointed that it was back to novella length and that there was no ART. Some of the fast action confused me toward the end, in regard to the planet the refugees were from and what was going on with attempting to smuggle them to safety. But Murderbot gets the baddie and saves the day, like you know it will, with the help of its guns-for-arms and continual sarcasm.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells is another great Murderbot Diaries book! This book was published after but set before the Murderbot novel, Network Effect, and is seemingly a self-contained story. Murderbot works with Preservation Station security to investigate a murder (you can imagine how thrilled it is with that arrangement). This novella has all the elements readers have come to know and love in the previous volumes, Murderbot's snark and wit, some action, etc. In some ways I found this book to be a bit less exciting than some of the previous five, especially Network Effect. Something about the plot just didn't feel as high stakes and exciting as the last. It might be the first book I didn't enjoy more than the previous, which is kind of lame, but since we're talking about Murderbot books it was still really good. Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
5/5/2023 Update
After re-listening I disagree with my earlier assessment that the plot didn't feel high stakes. It's a great book and I really enjoyed it.
Wow that was kind of intense lol I didn't expect a murder mystery kind of situation lol but it was fun and intense at the end! It felt a little bit slow for me in the beginning so I'm glad it picked up after they started interrogating the Targets. Another thing I'm noticing is that Murderbot has A LOT to say now, like the parentheses, and sarcastic comments lol but I think the profanity is soooooo prominent. It's not something I love, rather, I dislike it, but I understand it's a way for humans to show strong feelings, so I felt like this book really demonstrated how Murderbot *has* developed and have stronger feelings and emotions through language. Enjoyed it regardless!
Yes! This is more like it. Wells put some effort into this one: it's not just snark and magical hacking and Mensah Mary Sue. It's even new territory for Wells: a whodunnit, with an effective subplot that I think we'll be seeing more of. Murderbot does not simply hack its way out of every problem; in fact, it even gets humbled on multiple occasions (in proper ways that lead to self-reflection, not eat-dirt ways). There are new characters, and brief appearances from old ones... but, interestingly, none from Mensah except for one or two terse feed exchanges. I appreciate this: Mensah has a life and responsibilities, and Murderbot needs to find ways to fit itself into Preservation. This was fun and tense and filled with promise of more to come.Totally not suitable for Murderbot virgins—and wow does that come off as really weird-sounding. I mean, don't make this your first Murderbot book: you won't get it at all. Start with [b:the first one 32758901 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) Martha Wells https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631585309l/32758901.SY75.jpg 53349516], then maybe the rest (it's OK to skip #4). But for those who love Murderbot and were disappointed with the last ones, I think you'll enjoy.
In book six Murderbot, our favorite SecUnit, gets caught up in a murder investigation at Preservation Station.
It should have been easy as that is just the kind of job it was designed for. Unfortunately, things don't go smoothly. First of all station security doesn't trust it, which makes things awkward. (After all, Murderbot is a SecUnit and everyone knows they are prone to go rogue.) And then, as the investigation proceeds it becomes evident that this isn't simple human-passion driven murder. Something much deeper is going on. The killer's tracks have been very skillfully covered. All of Murderbot's considerable abilities will be called on to solve the mystery and bring the culprit to justice.
Murderbot remains a grumpy droid. The story is spiced up with its trademark internal (mostly) sarcastic and witty observations on the actions of bumbling humans.
The previous book in the series was a full length novel, but here Martha Wells returned to the novella length, which I think is more suited to the series.
Anyway, damn good story. Kevin R. Free provides an excellent narration.
Solid four stars.
I'm not sure this is exactly where I expected the story to continue. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, the story was good, and unlike some of the early novellas in this series, it is fairly episodic. I won't quite say self contained, since it is really helpful to have some background first, but the actual plot is mostly self contained. It also showed some character development for our lead. And shows it both developing new skills, and refining how it works in this environment.
I will keep reading this series as long is it is being made. But there is not much more to say, Martha Wells just continues to make this great comfort food.
I'm not typically a big review writer, but I was inspired to create this one in memory of an avid reader and reviewer Jenny Colvin.
