Martha Wells’s Exit Strategy... is the fourth and final part of her brilliant Murderbot Diaries ... Its angry, poignant point of view, wrapped up in sharp, short bites of space adventure, is utterly addictive, and I’m genuinely delighted — as well as a little relieved — that the series’ success has greenlit a full-length Murderbot novel, so that I don’t yet have to bid it goodbye.
Murderbot novellas are usually a joy to read. Exit Strategy becomes even more of a joy to read in the emotional climax and dénouement ... This is a fast, fun, and funny novella that, at its heart, is about personhood, independence, and selfhood: about autonomy, trust, and kindness, as well as anxiety, frustration, and anger. At its heart, Exit Strategy is a kind story, and a hopeful one. I deeply enjoyed it. I heartily recommend the entire Murderbot Diaries series.
Like its predecessors, Exit Strategy is fun, funny, and thoughtful ... Wells deftly stacks the odds against our hero, piling up obstacles along the way to a climactic showdown that pushes the clever SecUnit to its limits, and beyond. Like the rest of the series, Exit Strategy is about much more than the vicarious thrill of watching Murderbot beat up bad guys and get revenge on an evil corporation. Beneath the familiar SF action tropes this is an affecting story about the emotional trauma of slavery, in which a deeply wounded character takes its first tentative steps on a longer journey of self-discovery.
From beginning to end, it’s a fun ride ... what each installment does, beyond just introducing a new adventure for the robot, is get into Murderbot’s head and watch as it changes into more of a person ... It forms meaningful connections and risks its 'life' for the people that it comes to protect and care about, rather than just follow its programming and leaving them to die. Murderbot’s journey is far more compelling as a result. It’s a non-human seeking to operate in a human environment, working to deal with the variety of signals and cues that it gets from the people—and TV programs—around it. And like humans, it’s just trying to get by in the world, making it up as it goes along.
Coming full circle from the beginning of its journey to awareness, Murderbot once again works to save the fragile humans and discovers that trying to avoid humanity is one sure way to get caught in the midst of it ... The last of Hugo Award winner Wells's Murderbot Diaries...brings the concept of an AI's dealing with humanity—for better and worse—to a sarcastic, sharp, thrilling conclusion.
The fourth installment of Wells’ Murderbot Diaries...will satisfy readers’ hopes for this series finale. It follows the same basic structural formula as its predecessors, so it has all the action fans expect. Exit Strategy tones down the humor a bit but adds depth to Murderbot’s introspection as it wrestles with questions of identity that it has been avoiding, and the story leaves it to decide its own future. Everything comes full circle while remaining appropriately open ended. Wells gives us a worthy conclusion to one of the best series in recent memory.
