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booking_along's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
After the disappointing read that was network effect, I have to say I went into this with extremely low expectations.
So I don’t know if that was what made this one of the better books in this series or if the author needed to come back to novellas and that worked.
The plot in this was different and interesting and unpredictable (especially compared to the previous books) and I enjoyed that s lot.
Also murderbot was back to its snarky ways in this one, so that was fun too.
I don’t know if the pacing in this was actually better than in network effect or if the noticeable lack of length (160 pages compared to the 350 pages of network effect) just made the pacing better, but this didn’t drag, had a nice fast pacing and a good mixture of investigation and action.
This was fun and entertaining and made me enjoy the series again, which yes repeating myself again, I didn’t expect after that last book at all.
Well done, Martha wells! Let’s hope the next one will be a bit different and a similar pacing ad well, so that it is kept interesting and more unique and makes this sierra worth while to read just like this novella did!
So I don’t know if that was what made this one of the better books in this series or if the author needed to come back to novellas and that worked.
The plot in this was different and interesting and unpredictable (especially compared to the previous books) and I enjoyed that s lot.
Also murderbot was back to its snarky ways in this one, so that was fun too.
I don’t know if the pacing in this was actually better than in network effect or if the noticeable lack of length (160 pages compared to the 350 pages of network effect) just made the pacing better, but this didn’t drag, had a nice fast pacing and a good mixture of investigation and action.
This was fun and entertaining and made me enjoy the series again, which yes repeating myself again, I didn’t expect after that last book at all.
Well done, Martha wells! Let’s hope the next one will be a bit different and a similar pacing ad well, so that it is kept interesting and more unique and makes this sierra worth while to read just like this novella did!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
indeedithappens's review
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Cursing, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Stalking, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Trafficking, Abandonment, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
mothiver's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Gun violence
Minor: Police brutality
lazydazey's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Trafficking
breezer's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking and Slavery
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is basically a whodunnit. SecUnit has been outed and now the humans on Preservation Station know that a free SecUnit is cohabiting with them. It's time to SecUnit to try and make some friends to gain some favour with the locals, but that might mean doing things other than watchin media... which is annoying.
When SecUnit is called in to help investigate the untimely demise of a "dead human" (can you just refer to "the victim"?!) it first has to figure out if this person had any connection to the GrayCris corporates who have been threatening his human companion, Mensah. Although SecUnit has only been given limited permissions to access security systems on the station, it has been offered payment for its services and it now has to figure out a locked room mystery in which a corpse has been moved from a murder scene without anyone being caught by the security sensors.
I actually found this a little more fun than the previous book, probably because the pace is easy and there isn't a lot of combat. In fact, when it looks like we might be winding up for a huge fight-scene it THANKFULLY doesn't eventuate. I always feel like going to sleep when we get into blow by blow battles.
When SecUnit is called in to help investigate the untimely demise of a "dead human" (can you just refer to "the victim"?!) it first has to figure out if this person had any connection to the GrayCris corporates who have been threatening his human companion, Mensah. Although SecUnit has only been given limited permissions to access security systems on the station, it has been offered payment for its services and it now has to figure out a locked room mystery in which a corpse has been moved from a murder scene without anyone being caught by the security sensors.
I actually found this a little more fun than the previous book, probably because the pace is easy and there isn't a lot of combat. In fact, when it looks like we might be winding up for a huge fight-scene it THANKFULLY doesn't eventuate. I always feel like going to sleep when we get into blow by blow battles.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation
Moderate: Xenophobia
karin_goodreads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I got a little messed up chronologically: this book takes place before "Network Effect" (the first full novel that has a continuation), but that didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. This time around we get to meet Detective Murderbot and its struggles with the local Security. Murderbot helps them solve an abnormal murder while having to prove itselves intentions and deal with even more humans than usual.
I know a “fuck off” when I hear one. So I fucked off.
The annoyance and sarcasm was palpable in this one. It was so fun to see Murderbot from this angle, kind of "fuck it, I'll just do it" energy. Murderbot really transformed into a detective, going on clue hunts with its restricted access (I can't imagine keeping the promise to not hack when needed, but more power to you). Murderbot had to be clever and get information the "right" way... Murderbot did get to to show off ;)
Senior Indah (head of Preservation Station Security) and everyone else was super skeptical and untrusting. I kept alternating between pissed and sad - the way Murderbot was treated was just not it, BUT it did get better by the end. Everyone got me banging my head on a table while Murderbot had to deal with human stupidity. One exception will be Gurathin and Ratthi who became Murderbot's little sidekicks.
All I wanted to do was watch media and not exist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Gun violence, and Cursing
Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail
picotly's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Least favorite of the Murderbor series. Didn't fully understand why we had to have such a pro-cop story......
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Trafficking, Police brutality, and Gun violence
Minor: Murder
Imagination of a "good" police force still does the work of "some good cops" which is 😐😐tiredcreature's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Murderbot investigates a murder
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Slavery
sofipitch's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
This was another fun installment! These always end with Murderbot going "an hopefully no more work/dangerous missions for a bit ✌️" which is always funny given how that isn't going to happen. Some of the developments in the series have had me wondering if anyone is gonna do something about a lot of the unethical treatment of bots and humans by various corporations but I'm willing to give Wells a pass with a Watsonian explanation of "you meet a lot of other characters whom that is likely their job, not Murderbot's". I also do think it would be unrealistic, given the real world, to have an ending where everything is magically fixed
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Murder, Trafficking, and Slavery