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A review by maeverose
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
3.75
Ahh I have mixed feelings. Mostly positive. I love Murderbot. It’s possibly my favorite book character. I love that even though it’s an autistic coded robot (cyborg), it subverts the usual stereotypes of that character. It has a personality, an attitude, emotions, social anxiety, and a special interest. I relate strongly to Murderbot and I just love it so much.
This book especially made me ship Murderbot and Mensah, though I’m still waiting for the whole ownership thing to be resolved…
The thing that has me conflicted is the very tech heavy language. This is a me issue, and has been an issue for me with every book so far. My (likely adhd) brain really struggles to focus when a book has a difficult writing style or uses a lot of terms I don’t understand. I will just automatically start daydreaming or drifting off into some random thought without wanting to. It’s like it’s too much effort to read through all the confusing stuff so my focus just gives up. This type of book requires more focus than I have. I’m still gonna continue in the series, because I love Murderbot and the other characters too much not to, but every book just has me wishing it were written in a way that was more compatible with my brain.
Quotes:
“How humans decide what to do with their arms on a second-by-second basis, I still have no idea.”
Me neither, Murderbot.
“SecUnits are never allowed to sit down or use human furniture whether on or off duty, so I sat in one of the chairs and put my feet on the table. Then I took my feet off the table because it wasn’t comfortable.”
“I was in my best casual pose.”
“But I was the only one here, so I braced myself and made the ultimate sacrifice. “Uh, you can hug me if you need to.””
(“I don’t want to be a pet robot.”
“I don’t think anyone wants that.”
That was Gurathin. I don’t like him. “I don’t like you.”
“I know.”
He sounded like he thought it was funny. “That is not funny.”
“I’m going to mark your cognition level at fifty-five percent.”
“Fuck you.”
“Let’s make that sixty percent.”
“The ship didn’t have any cameras so I couldn’t see anybody. No, wait, I could use my eyes.”
This book especially made me ship Murderbot and Mensah, though I’m still waiting for the whole ownership thing to be resolved…
The thing that has me conflicted is the very tech heavy language. This is a me issue, and has been an issue for me with every book so far. My (likely adhd) brain really struggles to focus when a book has a difficult writing style or uses a lot of terms I don’t understand. I will just automatically start daydreaming or drifting off into some random thought without wanting to. It’s like it’s too much effort to read through all the confusing stuff so my focus just gives up. This type of book requires more focus than I have. I’m still gonna continue in the series, because I love Murderbot and the other characters too much not to, but every book just has me wishing it were written in a way that was more compatible with my brain.
Quotes:
“How humans decide what to do with their arms on a second-by-second basis, I still have no idea.”
Me neither, Murderbot.
“I don’t think anyone wants that.”
That was Gurathin. I don’t like him. “I don’t like you.”
“I know.”
He sounded like he thought it was funny. “That is not funny.”
“I’m going to mark your cognition level at fifty-five percent.”
“Fuck you.”
“Let’s make that sixty percent.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Stalking and Blood
Moderate warning for temporary memory loss as well