Exit Strategy, a review

We’re back with the gang in book 4 of the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells! I adore this Sci-Fi novella series so much where we follow a Security Unit gone rogue. The most loveable rogue ever!

Okay so I may be a little biased, but I do love Murderbot. (thank you to Kari from Kar-ing for books for gifting me this!) and I was so excited to be back with the original group that we follow in the first novella.

I had hoped that Murderbot was able to be closer to the group straight away, but I think that’s because I’m used to a traditional story. It makes total sense for them to not feel that closely aligned with them. But they still get on fantastically as a team and I loved to see it!

The team dynamic is done so fantastically in this book too, there’s a moment (I won’t spoil you, don’t worry) where Murderbot doesn’t prioritise themselves, and it’s such a powerful action!

I have to admit the first one was more of a favourite for me, but this was still so much fun. We get to see so much growth from Murderbot, but in this one we also get to see the growth from the humans around them. We get to see them realising Murderbot’s wants and needs and reacting to that.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 9, Writing: 9, Plot: 9, Intrigue: 8, Logic: 9, and Enjoyment: 9 which gives an average rating of 8.86 and a 4.5*!!

I’m really excited to see how book 5 goes after the ending of this, Murderbot is going to be living in such a different circumstance and I’m excited to see how they navigate that! I really do recommend picking up this series if you haven’t already.

Rogue Protocol, a review

Yes I did read yet another Murderbot book, no I won’t be accepting judgement. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells is the third novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. We follow an AI unit who really does not want to have to deal with humans. And yet here they are.

Yet again I really enjoyed this book. It was so fun to see Murderbot engaging with other bots, and in a really interesting way this time around (spoiler free so I can’t say much more than that!)

In this book we get to see Murderbot become a lot more adept at dealing with humans, as well as understanding their emotions (and their own) a lot better than previously. I adored the stark contrast we had between Murderbot and one (god damn adorable) character and Murderbot’s reaction to this themselves.

On CAWPILE I gave this book: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 9, Writing: 10, Plot: 8, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 9, and Enjoyment: 10. That gave me a total of 9.14 which to nobody’s surprise is a 5 * rating.

This Sci-Fi series is one of my absolute all time favourites and I’m still so so grateful to Veronica from Veronica’s Shelf got me into this series and clearly made my life infinitely better! So excited to read more of these!

All Systems Red, a reread review

Yes, you’re right, I did indeed reread All Systems Red in the same year I originally read it! (see my first review here) But after picking up Artificial Condition during a reading slump I knew I had to go back and re-enjoy this novella!

After my reread I can confirm this is one of my all time favourite books! I laugh out loud while reading it seeing Murderbot attempting to deal with these humans wanting to emote with them. And the plot itself is the perfect vessel to frustrate Murderbot progressively through the story!

If this is your first exposure to Murderbot, I feel like you should know that they’re a SecurityUnit (AI) that has gained control over its governor module so it’s no longer controlled by its owning company. But despite it’s name, Murderbot doesn’t want to kill humans. It just wants to be left alone to watch soap operas all day! But instead the human’s that it’s been tasked as security to are stupid and need protecting.

For my second read I on CAWPILE I gave: Characters: 10, Atmosphere: 10, Writing: 10, Plot: 10, Intrigue: 10, Logic: 9, and Enjoyment: 10 which gives a massive 9.86 average which is obviously a 5* read!

I adore this series so much and I’m so excited to catch up with the books that are already out!!

Artificial Condition, a review

I was having a pretty rough month in October, moving house, moving jobs, and my body feeling completely overworked. So I was barely reading. I kept trying to pick up my tbr books and failing. So on the evening of the 26th October I said “fuck that” and picked up book two in the Murderbot Diaries. And boy am I glad I did!

I adore Murderbot, the ridiculous machine that they are. And in contrast to the first book, this time they have to blend in as a human. This massively changes the dynamic and the internal monologue we get is so much fun!

Of course I can’t say too much more than this about the plot because this is a novella and I don’t want to spoil it for you! The character development that we get out of Murderbot is fantastic, with them being forced into interactions they most definitely do not want and having to learn to adapt.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 10, Atmosphere: 9, Writing: 10, Plot 9, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 9, Enjoyment: 10, giving an average of 9.43 which is a 5* read!

I adored this book so much. The novellas are such short and fun reads and I will forever love them.

All Systems Red – a review

The wonderful Veronica from Veronica’s Shelf gifted me All Systems Red by Martha Wells as a surprise, and I had heard of it before but it wasn’t yet on my tbr. Apparently Veronica knows my taste better than me because this 100% should’ve been on my tbr!!!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

All Systems Red follows Murderbot, this is the name the droid has given itself after it was able to hack into it’s own systems and override protocol. They can do anything, the Company no longer has control over them. And they use their power… to watch soaps and daydream all day! But Murderbot is assigned to a mission, and when the neighbouring mission goes dark it’s up to Murderbot and the scientists it’s there to serve to get to the truth.

This. Book. Is. So. Fun! I adored all of the character interactions. I adored being in Murderbot’s head and learning about the world through their unique viewpoint! And the ending? I totally didn’t expect that! I definitely want to pick up each and every book in this series!!

They’re very short books too, all of them being novella’s and book one being under 150 pages. So ya girl needs to get them onto her shelves!

My ratings on CAWPILE are:

Characters: 10

Atmosphere: 9

Writing: 9

Plot: 9

Intrigue: 9

Logic: 9

Enjoyment: 9

Which gives an overall score of 9.14 which is a 5*!!! I adored this book so much and I can’t wait to read more in the series!

Highlight here to read the trigger warnings: violence, murder, slavery, body horror, medical content, panic attacks, self harm, fire