Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (Book Thoughts)

Well – I have completed my Murderbot read through and have no regrets. There are more stories coming in the MB franchise – I am not sure when or if I will read them, but I enjoyed this quite a bit.

Hate to end on a sour note but by and by far Fugitive Telemetry was my least favorite of all the stories for multiple reasons. I’ll be brief!

Bookish Quick Facts:

• Title: Fugitive Telemetry
• Series: The Murderbot Diaries #6 (chronologically it’s 4.5)
• Author: Martha Wells
• Publisher & Release: TorDotCom, April 2021
• Length: 172 pages
• Rate & Recommend: 🌟🌟🌟 if you decide to read it, do so between Exit Strategy and Network Effect

Here’s the synopsis via GoodReads:

No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!

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My thoughts

I got off to a bad and confused start with this one because I thought it would have taken place after Network Effect. I was expecting something wildly different and was excited to see if MB took ART’s job offer.

All I wanted to do was watch media and not exist. I said, “You know I don’t like fun”

That said, Fugitive Telemetry falls chronologically as book number 4.5, after  Murderbot brought Mensah home and apparently took some contracts with Preservation Security before it went on the survey with Amena and Art and co.

I do only plan to read future installments if the storyline picks back up after Network Effect

So what’s this one about? It was like one of those locked door type who dunit mysteries, with the main conflict being Murderbot trying to fit in on Preservation as a SecUnit without scaring anyone.

No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall, for fuck’s sake

Favorite side character this time…. Goes to Pin-Lee of all people!

Pin-Lee had promised, “Don’t worry, I’ll preserve your right to wander off like an asshole anytime you like.” (I said, “It takes one to know one”)

The mystery was interesting enough but I didn’t love the new side characters, and the culprit just did not make sense to me at all.  I honestly don’t know what the heck happened, 20 or 40 years or whatever seems like a long time for a program to lie dormant and what, just wait there incase there were fugitives? Who ever even set it off? I am so confused.

Also the action was a lot weaker and I wasn’t feeling the banter as much either, although the food particles bits were funny. Murderbot  really hates when humans touch everything and leave their food trash lying around.

Trying to get humans not to touch dangerous things was a full-time job

3 stars for this one and I feel like that is generous but it did explore my favorite sci-fi theme, which is where AI fits into society ethically