Exit Strategy

Listening to murderbot it's such a nice time to spend a few hours with. I hope my book app has the next one. Think it will be a full length novel this time, I'm excited

I haven't been good about writing reviews for each of these, because I've been crazy busy. But since this 4th book caps off the arc of the first 4, I figured I'd say something here.

This is a really fun sci-fi series. These first 4 books have been novellas - short chapters following Murderbot on their journey of self-discovery. While they get bogged down a bit in description at points (not uncommon for sci-fi, versus space opera which doesn't bother and keeps things pretty hand-wavy), it didn't hurt my enjoyment of it.

Murderbot is a great character to follow. They are an AI security bot that hacked their safeguards, but pretended to be a normal security bot ... did their job, and otherwise hung out in their bay watching endless streaming shows. Murderbot is basically a cyborg - a cloned human plus lots of cybernetics and a controlling mod keeping the AI caged - and so much of their approach to the world is child-like as they discover (and are often horrified by) the foibles of humanity. The overarching plot is a greedy corporation trying to hoard alien artifacts, something that is illegal. In the first book, the survey team Murderbot was hired to protect on an planetary exploration mission is attacked by the corporation. In that book, Murderbot blows their cover trying to keep their clients alive. Fortunately, the clients are good people who want to protect Murderbot ... though book 1 ends with the beleaguered bot going on the run because they don't want to be owned. They make some allusions to horrible treatment by humans - like, clients who set up security bot fighting pits to entertain themselves on missions, ordering the bots to attack each other until one can't fight anymore. It's horrific, especially because as a cloned human, these bots DO feel pain, and emotions.

This book caps the arc with Murderbot returning to the people from the first book - their favorite humans, Murderbot says a couple times - and helping them finally beat the evil corporation.

You don't get a lot of world building in this series. Like, I'm not particularly sure of the structure. Corporations seem to be basically like government entities, maybe in their own territories? But then you have an alliance of free planets (the good humans are from there) that are non-corporate entirely. Seems like that's where I'd want to be, frankly. But anyway, none of that particularly matters because the heart of the story is this poor bot figuring out who she is and what she wants.

I very much enjoyed it, and will probably read on ... though I'm going to take a little break and read some fluffy stuff first. I need a brain vacation.

Matabot contra una corporación interestelar en una estación espacial para empresas.

Acaba incluso mejor de lo que suena.

I love this series, it's one of my favorite easy reads. The graphic audio version with its full cast is such a joy to listen too. I actually found the first book in a local used book shop and brought it home for a rebind, I'm excited to mosey my way through this series!

Well, I thought I’d revisit this series.

The story continues to follow the story of self-aware, autonomous security droid named Murderbot who is trying to find a way to escape its programming and live a life of its own. Along the way, it must confront its past and the secrets of its creators while also trying to protect the humans it has come to care about. "Exit Strategy" was meant to be the last in this series, but 2 more books have been published with another one coming in 2023. The book received widespread critical acclaim for its action, character development, and portrayal of artificial intelligence.

These books are shorter than what I’m use to, and I’m not sure that I agree about how good they are. But, they help to fill in some of my free time while I’m busy doing other things

These books keep getting better and better with each installment of the series!

Exit Strategy was no departure from that precedent and is the first in the series I've rated five stars, mainly for the emotional growth we saw in Murderbot throughout these pages. Its slow acknowledgment of how it feels about "my humans" was incredibly heart-warming to read — especially with Dr. Mensah during this entire rescue mission.

When it held her hand to look more normal while trying to leave the station — such a big moment for its growth, and I felt so many warm fuzzies reading it!

I can't wait to see where Wells takes Murderbot next, and you can bet that I'll be there for every step of the journey.

A good rescue plot, culminating with a hopeful ending of possibility for future shenanigans. I like that the ending both gives closure but also lends to new developments. Just plain fun.

An appropriate ending to the quartet of Murderbot novellas that tied up loose ends and brought the series full circle. Compulsively readable as always, and very funny. However, the plot was just a little...meh. It was very straightforward like a never-ending chase scene, with the occasional quiet, impactful moment. Still entertaining, but it seemed a little drier and more predictable plot-wise than the earlier installments.

After being so intrigued by the ending of the last book in this series, I couldn't resist and dove into

Exit Strategy as soon as I finished the previous one.

Returning to the well-known characters was a delight, and I was especially eager to see how Murderbot's reunion with Dr. Mensah would unfold. Although I suspected from the start that it would be different from what Murderbot feared. And, indeed, I was proven right. Nonetheless, it was fantastic to see these two together again, and I hope we'll have many more opportunities for such interactions in the future.

As always, the plot is excellent, and despite the short length of the book, it's well-developed. Since I've been reading these books one after another, I do notice a certain pattern in how the author constructs the plot, but it doesn't bother me at all. A good twist at the end still brings me satisfaction. What is more, there's always something optimistic about these books that keeps me hooked.

I'll definitely be picking up the next book in this series soon, eager to continue the journey with Murderbot and its companions.

My favorite of the novellas. Murderbot Diaries shines when it's about the characters.