Network Effect

Martha Wells

Book 5 in The Murderbot Diaries

Network Effect is a full length standalone novel in the universe. Set immediately after the 1-4 novela storyarc, Murderbot is hired to support a survey team which includes Dr. Mensah's adolescent human as a member. Upon return, the survey ship is attached and Murderbot and Amena are both kidnapped, pulled into the pirate ship which immediately jumps into a wormhole. The pirate ship happens to be ART, that the kidnap is not random. We get to see the further developing relationship between Murderbot and ART, the reason why alien remnant technology is the one thing that all corporate entities agree should remain banned, and a fun dance between adolescent humans and adolescent constructs and their discussions of both human and bot relationships. No let up here -- Wells nails it. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Artificial Condition

Martha Wells

Book 2 in The Murderbot Diaries

Murderbot stows away on a transport ship in route to RaviHyral, where it hopes to find more information about a mass murder (which it apparently participated in but doesn't remember because of a memory reset). The transport turns out to be sentient and helpful, although Murderbot names it ART (Asshole Research Transport) to give you an idea of their working relationship. While in route, it takes a contract (as a way to get system access) with some scientists looking to retrieve some intellectual property. It gets some information about the event, and protects his scientist employers (although neither is obvious, of course).

I love the sarcasm, and the obvious coming-of-age of the sentient construct. And the ART-Murderbot relationship adds yet another dimension.  

4 stars (out of 4)

Exit Strategy

Martha Wells

Book 4 in The Murderbot Diaries

This is the final entry is this 4 novela storyarc. GrayCris has kidnapped Dr. Mensah and paid off all kinds of station and corporation bribes to have pulled it off. Murderbot is reunited with his original Book 1 crew and works to free her. Lots of hacking and subterfuge. It is fascinating to participate in conversations or events from the perspective of the bot simply in terms of time cycles. Things happen so fast on the bot cycle and so slow on the human cycle and Wells does an excellent job of giving the reader a glimpse, feeling the impact on how events play out. Which is also why Murderbot has so much "free time" to watch telenovelas. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Rogue Protocol

Martha Wells

Book 3 in The Murderbot Diaries

Murderbot hears on the news feeds that Dr. Mensah is in a protracted legal battle with GrayCris. Dr. Mensah being his contracted employer in Book 1, and GrayCris the corporation that did the murdering. So it hitches a ride to Milu, another operation of GrayCris that is involved in a sketchy legal battle, hoping to get some evidence of wrongdoing to support Dr. Mensah. Along the way, it contracts with the reps for the corporation that is aggrieved by GrayCris, provides security for them on a fact finding trip to an orbiting planetary terraforming station, and (of course) saves their lives against ridiculous odds. Again, plot is space opera but the growth and development of Murderbot as a character is pure gold.

4 stars (out of 4)

All Systems Red

Martha Wells

Book 1 in The Murderbot Diaries

A space opera. In this universe, the Corporation Rim is an area of the galaxy where corporations own planets, start colonies and basically control life. When groups want to undertake an operation (for example, surveying a planet or salvaging a wreck), they contract with a bond company to provide equipment and security. The security is often in the form of a SecUnit - a construct which combines robotic and cloned human organic parts (not a cyborg I suppose because the organics are cloned, not original). Also, a construct is created, which is different than an augmented human (which we might traditionally think of as cyborg). Anyway, our protagonist is a particular SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, allowing it to be independent. And it finds that in addition to being good at security, it loves watching the telenovela serials on galactic media. So it keeps its "freedom" secret (besides which if anyone knew it would be sent to the recycler for disassembly). 

In this world, SecUnit is contracted to a survey team, which happens to get attacked. They barely get out alive. End first installment.

Wells world is fabulous and is exactly the type of sci-fi storytelling (sentient AI) that I have found most fascinating and memorable over the past few years. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Fugitive Telemetry

Martha Wells

Book 6 in The Murderbot Diaries

Another novella in the series. Murderbot, a Security Unit who has achieved sentience, and is now recognized by the Preservation as individual (i.e. not as property). While its primary employment is security for Dr. Mensah (see Books 1-5), in this serial Murderbot takes on a contract to solve a particularly strange murder on a Preservation station. What I continue to love about this series is the absolutely perfect narration and inner dialogue of Murderbot. I can't get enough.

4 stars (out of 4)

System Collapse

Martha Wells

Book 7 in The Murderbot Diaries

SecUnit is on the surface of a planet, doing his SecUnit thing protecting his humans. On this planet, his humans are trying to negotiate with colonists to help them with planet ownership, trying to remove infected alien technology and not kill humans from the corporation trying to kidnap colonists and press them into slavery. All of this while trying to hold off a mental breakdown in his "squishy bits". This continues to be one of my favorite series of all time. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory

Martha Wells

Short Story in The Murderbot Diaries

Not even a novella, this is a very short story. Murderbot and Dr. Mensah have a moment of shared PTS and begin to explore their value to each other as survivors. 

4 stars (out of 4)