Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Fugitive Telemetry

True crime Murderbot! What's not to love?

I found this installment to be quite a bit cozier than the rest of the series, with Murderbot realizing it wouldn't mind trying its hand at detective sleuthing closer to home. The tonal shift between Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry is a little jarring though, and it felt a bit odd to shift from interplanetary adventures to a locked-room mystery on Preservation. Even so, I still thoroughly enjoyed spending more time in this series.

Murderbot still delivers in snark and darkly humorous internal dialogue:

"I didn't need as much air as humans did, but I needed some, and it was really cold out there in the colony ship's shadow. This meant that if the Life Tender failed, it would take me longer to die, so I'd have longer to feel dumb about it than a human would."

And in between the humor and action sequences, Murderbot still manages to deliver its signature surprising doses of introspective self-awareness:

"That plan was easier. Plus, one hundred percent less murdery. I liked it better. Huh. I liked it better because it wasn't a Combat Unit plan, or actually a plan that humans would come up with for Combat Units. Sneaking the endangered humans off the ship to safety and then leaving the hostiles for someone else to deal with, that was a Sec Unit plan. That was what we were really designed for, despite how the Company and every other Corporate used us. The point was to retrieve the clients alive and fuck everything else. Maybe I had been waiting too long for GrayCris to come along and try to kill us all. I was thinking like a Combat Unit, or, for fucks sake, like a combat bot."

As it turns out, existing in survival mode long term is not good for anyone, bot-human constructs included.

Unfortunately, the cover gave away the mystery of whodunit.

Content Warnings

cardaisy's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This one was a bit of a murder mystery/whodunnit/almost a buddy cop moment and I’m not mad about it at all. I don’t think it moved the major overarching story much but it did develop more of the interpersonal relationships that Murderbot has been, let’s say, cultivating in a quasi-antagonistic manner.

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arinheck's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Disappointed book six went back to a short story format. Hard for me to stay engaged and jump from book to book. I see the series is being developed into a TV show. Looking forward to that. Feels like maybe watching it will make it all more cohesive for me.

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eviethebookworm's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I could listen to Murderbot adventures to the end of time.

Content Warnings

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

distinctly a murderbot diary with its sci-fi action, murderbot's social awkwardness and some nice preservation world-building.
this time there was also a murder mystery which was fun!

i liked it, as in it was perfectly fine and a very comfy read!
however it wasn't the best nor the most exciting one of the diaries.

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indeedithappens's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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