A review by caughtbetweenpages
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Easiest 5 star of the year. I'm completely obsessed with Murderbot. As a finale to the original quartet of novellas, Exit Strategy was fantastic. It escalated upon the plot elements/conflicts of the earlier books, connected their loose ends, and reached an emotional catharsis that had me fully crying for the last 35 pages of the book. And the book only has, like, 170 pages in total. 

I love that MB is still struggling with

figuring out who they are and what they want to do, even with being relatively safe on Preservation with Mensah and the others

by the end of the story. It leaves enough ends open for the series to continue, while also feeling like an appropriate conclusion to (this part of) their character arc. I was really surprised when, after The Big Fight/Climax, they basically had to

relearn and relive their life up until that point

, but in the best possible way. Their decision during that fight mirrored Miki's decision from earlier in the series in a way that would have had me worried if I didn't know there would be more books coming following MB. The forever back-and-forth between programming and wants, organic and mechanical, is the beating heart of this series for me, and I'm so glad to have explored it with MB. I'm very much looking forward to continuing on with this series.