A review by ghosthermione
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I had so much fun reading this audiobook! It's once again narrated by Kevin R. Free (who also played Kevin in Nightvale), and the snark is oozing through as always. This one is a bit different from Murderbot's previous adventures, though, because it's a murder mystery. 

You read that right, Murderbot, armed with a nonnegligible amount of crime serials in its memory archives, attempts to solve a murder. The novella references previous events from the series but I'd say it's mostly a standalone. Yes, all your favourite characters are there, like Mensah and Pin-Lee (I f*cking love Pin-Lee!). You'd probably need some context from the earlier novellas, but not necessarily the novel, if you've not read it yet. 

Murderbot's trying to get integrated into society and, well, other security people don't really like that, on account of it being a SecUnit. So as it tries to solve this issue with/despite them, there's a lot of entertaining internal conflict, in true Murderbot fashion. Humans are just so, so stupid! The usual references to media tropes, the usual snark and Depressed-Bot remarks. I just love it! 

It was fun to read a Murderbot murder mystery, as it were, and made me realise I'd read any genre with Murderbot (except romance! it'd object to that!) and I'm happy to read as many Murderbot books as Wells will write. As many as there are episodes in Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, if she's willing!