Book: Martha Wells' "Exit Strategy"

After the slog that was the last book I read, I needed a palate cleanser so I dipped my toe back into the Murderbot series.

Martha Wells' "Exit Strategy" is the fourth book (novella actually) in the Murderbot series and it was a fun, violent  romp as the other three novellas of the series.  The only complaint is how short the novellas are.  They always leave you wanting for more.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads because it was exactly what I needed to clean the philosophy residue out of my head.  It was so refreshing my next book will be book five of the series.

Book: Martha Wells' "Fugitive Telemetry"

Continuing the Murderbot Diaries series the next book I read was Martha Wells' "Fugitive Telemetry".  Book six of the series returns to the shorter novella format.

This is a perfectly good Murderbot book with a more mystery feel to it.  Murderbot investigates a murder on a station.  It had a slightly different feel than other books in the series like the Author was trying something a little different.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads.  it's an easy read  to fill in the gaps between harder reads and it is entertaining.

Book: Martha Wells' "Rogue Protocol"

The third installment of the Murderbot Diaries was my next read.  Martha Wells' "Rogue Protocol" like the other two books I've read from the series is a fun read whose only fault, really, is that it is too short.

This novella continues where the last ended with our rogue security unit doing good, killing bad guys, and trying to find peace and quiet to watch his media.  Peace is often elusive.  Instead he finds himself always defending the underdogs.

I gave this novella four stars out of five on Goodreads.  I don't consider the Murderbot Diaries great but they are good.  Good enough that I'm looking forward to reading the remaining two novellas and the full length novel.

Book: Martha Wells' "Artificial Condition"

I have been reading a lot of non-fiction lately so I decided to squeeze in a piece of fiction to lighten things up.  Martha Wells' "Artificial Condition" is the second book of the Murderbot Diaries series.

In this novella, our hero, Murderbot, is investigating an incident in his past that led him to give himself the name of Murderbot.  What he discovers changes his whole outlook.

Like the first book, "All Systems Red", the reader is drawn into how the bot thinks as he attempts to discover what he is and how to fit in to the human world around him.

He seems to be developing friendships in this book and I am interested to see if they reappear in the other books of the series.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads.  I am still looking forward to seeing how the potential of this character is realized.

Book: Martha Wells' "Network Effect"

I decided to keep up the series and read the next book (number five) of the Murderbot series.  In the old days I would binge a whole series.  As I've grown older I have moved away from this.  I now spread out the books in a series with other unrelated books in between.  I'm not sure why I have done this and, as I work my way through the Murderbot series (I am currently reading the sixth book), I wonder what the heck I was thinking.  It is much more enjoyable to binge a series in one shot.

Martha Wells' "Network Effect" is the first full length novel of the Murderbot series coming in just over twice as long as the first four novellas.  The novellas always felt complete though I always wanted a little more.  This Novel length story feels a lot like the novellas and frankly I still wanted more at the end of it.

I wish the author would flesh out the political and social structures of the world she is writing in.  Every book adds a little bit more but it's never enough to satisfy my curiosity.  By book five you should have a fairly complete picture of the world so that the stories can be more character and situational themed.  The lack of deep world building sometimes gives the stories a shallow feeling.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads.  None of the Murderbots have been disappointing even if they are somewhat incomplete in their world building.  They are like an action movie and sometimes that's enough to be entertained.

Book: Martha Wells' "All Systems Red"

The first book of 2021 - I am, admittingly, having a very late start to the reading year - is the first book of the Murderbot Diaries series.  This novella,  only one hundred-sixty pages, is Martha Wells' "All Systems Red".

A lot of people I know recommended these books to me and I can understand why.  The writing is good and the protagonist, a defective security robot, is interesting and has an interesting personality.

The story follows the bot who is providing security to a planetary survey team.  Competition between teams results in violence.  The rogue nature of the bot helps you explore motivations, free will, and the idea of being human.

The first four books of this series are novellas with the fifth book being a full length novel.  I can't wait to dig deeper into the psych of a rogue murderbot.

I gave this book five stars out of five on Goodreads mostly because of its potential going forward.

Book: Martha Wells' "System Collapse"

My last book of the year, meeting my goal of twenty books for 2023, was the latest Murderbot Diaries book and the second full length novel of the series.  Martha Wells' "System Collapse", is a direct sequel to the other full length Murderbot novel, "Network Effect" (book five of seven).

The book is a good Murderbot book but I have found, after reading the last four books back to back, that there is a lot of repetition.  The books, except for books five and seven, seem to be written so they are somewhat stand alone so information provided in earlier books is sometimes repeated in later books over and over again.  So, does this repetition ruin the books?  Not really.  I guess I would suggest you space the books out more than I did so that the repetition is less noticeable.

If you are planning to read this series, I think the proper order would be 1-2-3-4-6-5-7.  Book six is not related to book five or seven which are related to each other.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads because, like this entire series, the books are entertaining enough to keep me reading.