Wells’s flair for balancing Murderbot’s at-length internal monologues with its external voice and decisive actions creates a main character who is addictive ... Back in novella form for a sixth outing, Murderbot continues to bring intelligence and acerbic commentary on humanity to the forefront.

Wells returns to a shorter novella and the main plotline from the first four books in the series. The formula remains successful: fast-paced and action-packed, with plenty of sarcasm and plans that don’t work as intended. But maybe this time Murderbot is starting to find their place in their new home. Maybe they could even make a friend or two along the way. And maybe that’s not as horrible as it sounds. Another strong entry in a series fans adore.

Where most of the other Murderbot stories are in the action-adventure mode, Fugitive Telemetry belongs more to the locked-room murder-mystery school, and the less hectic, more introspective style doesn’t always show Murderbot to best advantage. This is a petty cavil, because it’s still pretty great ... an interesting hybrid of murder mystery and space adventure. From the beginning of her career, Martha Wells’s characters have been relatable, understandable, complex, and human; her worldbuilding deft and interesting, filled with graceful detail and implying a universe beyond the page. The Murderbot stories continue this trajectory, with an entertaining protagonist – the incredibly relatable Murderbot – and a wry, witty, darkly humorous voice.

Dry wit, misanthropy, and space adventures are promises delivered in full in this month’s 6th installment of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries ... Telemetry brings us back to the novella form, and makes for a perfect, bite-sized afternoon read ... In spite of these familiar elements and the series’ characteristic lightness of tone, Telemetry does subtly deepen Murderbot’s larger plot ... I also continue to be impressed with how Murderbot deals with narratives of prejudice ... a delightful entry in a continually delightful series.

In this latest installment of the Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells continues to give readers action-packed adventures with the most human non-human character in science fiction today ... Fugitive Telemetry feels a bit like a filler episode on a TV series. Now, sometimes filler episodes don’t add much to the overall story, but this is Martha Wells we are talking about and she really nails it when it comes to Murderbot. Reading this was akin to watching a murder mystery procedural TV episode ... peak Murderbot content. There is no lack of snarky internal dialogue from our favourite SecUnit and the murder mystery aspect of the story serves to accentuate Murderbot’s amusing annoyance with the human race ... sure to please long-time readers.

... a lot of things that you probably don't expect. It is an unadorned whodunit. A cozy mystery garlanded with plasma cannons and spaceships. An IT thriller (like so many Murderbot stories) that functions at least partially as a forensic examination of linked surveillance and data systems. A locked-room variant ... It's fun, sure. It's a romp. Murderbot is, as always, fine (if grumpy) company. Its parenthetical digressions on the sloth and squishiness of humans, its obsession with its shows and its constant internal moral battles over passing as a harmless, mostly-normal, free, former corporate slave that's no threat to its human neighbors or leaning into its darker past and becoming the full-on Murderbot it truly is are all there. Every Murderbot book is, in some sense, a passing narrative. The larger arc (Murderbot trying to escape its violent, repressive past and become the best, truest possible version of itself) has been read as many things by many different people, and one of the things that makes Wells' series so comforting is that Murderbot's primary story is about a nonhuman trying to pass as human and invent its own better self along the way. You can root for a character like that. You want them to succeed ... But Fugitive Telemetry is also an oddity in Wells' canon...It's a story that takes place over the course of a single day — leaving little time for the usual moping around, media consumption and snarky commentary on human systems that makes Murderbot so charming. It hints at (but doesn't directly address) much of anything in the series' primary storyline (the actually-murderous GrayCris corporation, Murderbot's past or those in pursuit of it) and operates largely as a stand-alone story ... Still, one of Wells' superpowers has long been her ability to pack an epic's worth of material into a very small package. And here, she uses the condensed timeline and single location as a way to put Murderbot in a situation of constant moral reckoning ... Murderbot was made to be Murderbot. That will never change.The question is, can it choose to be more?

The deepening intricacy of interaction has a major benefit for the reader: the more accustomed to its setting Murderbot becomes, the more hilarious its narration ... It was only after a re-read that a piece of the plot made sense, because much like a cargo port (which Preservation Station is) this story has a LOT of moving parts. A LOT ... And the final scenes are so, so good, I clutched my own chest to keep my heart from flying out.

Hugo and Nebula Award–winner Wells brings her solitude-craving, media-loving killer robot protagonist another step closer to independence in the entertaining sixth entry in the Murderbot Diaries series ... Murderbot’s wry observations of human behavior are as humorous as ever and the mystery is thoroughly satisfying. This is another winning series installment.