Book Review: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Book 4 of the Murderbot Diaries

Pros: lots of action, clever hacking and planning, character development

Cons:

After its mission on Milu, Murderbot learns that Dr. Mensah has been kidnapped by the GrayCris corporation and heads to TranRollinHyfa to rescue her.

It’s nice seeing some of the characters from All Systems Red again, and how they react to Murderbot’s evolution. There’s a lot of clever hacking and some great chase and fight sequences. Seeing Murderbot back with its favourite human was awesome. I had *feelings* when Murderbot let Mensah hug it. We also learn why it likes The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon so much. As the books progress there’s more subtext regarding trauma and how different entities are impacted by it. An event at the end of the book shows Murderbot some of the benefits of its human side, which is neat. As always, Murderbot's narrative is full of an enjoyable dry humour.

This is one of my favourite novellas in the series.

=> There’s a short story called “Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” that fits in before the next book. It deals with Mensah on Preservation Station and how she’s coping in the aftermath of her kidnapping.

While Network Effect was published as book 5, Fugutive Telemetry chronologically comes next.