Fugitive Telemetry

Fugitive Telemetry

By Martha Wells 

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!

Aaaaaaaaaaah, I love the Murderbot series!  I didn't really like the novel as much, (thought that it took too long to get started, needed more humor and less world-building) but I find her novellas to be just right - no slow parts, just a depressed, formerly murderous robot, the humans it helps despite their overwhelming feelings, and the other bots that alternatively befriend or try to kill Murderbot (I liken this to the scene in The Princess Diaries (there's a throwback!) where they're talking about two kinds of women in James Bond movies: the sexy blondes who have sex with James Bond and the sexy brunettes who try to kill James Bond).

This one is a bit more self-contained that the previous ones, which build on each other - I guess this is supposed to be set in between two earlier books, so Wells had to be more limited in that respect.  I don't think that's a downside, as I said above, I like the episodic nature of the installments, and honestly I would probably read and thoroughly enjoy four or five more CSI/Murderbot crossover novellas.  

Critiques: not enough references to soap operas; needed more slapstick humor, like the early scene where the detective is questioning Murderbot's timeframe for the death and then the tech comes in with the exact same information and the detective rolls their eyes and the tech is sad no one is excited. I find this book very visually easy to picture in my mind grapes.  

Good parts: Murderbot needs a name-tag! Jollybaby is an absolute unit!  Historical ship lifeboats! Nervous chatty people in interrogation rooms! 

Anyway, two thumbs up, highly recommend, fine holiday fun.