Martha Wells’s Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling series, The Murderbot Diaries, comes to a thrilling conclusion in Exit Strategy. Murderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right? Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous … galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah–its former owner (protector? friend?)–submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.
But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?
And what will become of it when it’s caught?
“I love Murderbot!” –Ann Leckie
The Murderbot Diaries
#1 All Systems Red
#2 Artificial Condition
#3 Rogue Protocol
#4 Exit Strategy
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
more
This is novella four in the Murderbot Diaries series. It wraps up an overarching storyline but leaves plenty of possibilities to continue following the exploits of the delightful, if antisocial and introverted, Murderbot. I enjoyed the episodic structure of this series, but it does pay a price in the form of slow starts. Author Wells is forced to cover background events and some repeat worldbuilding in order to catch up new readers, or readers who have paused in between novellas.
Like “Rogue Protocol,” “Exit Strategy” takes some time to get into the action. The redeeming quality is that the stories are told in first person and Murderbot has a fun, snarky, dry sense of humor that makes the background and setup less painful than it otherwise might be. And once Murderbot arrives at the belly of the beast (GrayCris’s Headquarters), the story flies. Here Murderbot must use all it’s smarts, hacking skills, and combat skills to rescue Dr. Mensah, a human that seems to have wiggled their way under Murderbot’s hard exterior.
I continued to enjoy watching this non-typical hero — a part-human cyborg that would probably be classified as autistic in our culture. Author Wells is clever and consequently, so is Murderbot. So, we endup with a snarky introvert, that is a tactical and technical genius, and can kick some serious butt! While the deck is continually stacked against our hero, you’ll never doubt its ability to outsmart the enemy, but this confidence in the outcome doesn’t seem to hinder the excitement of the ride at all.
I appreciated the ending, there is somewhat of a price to pay, and there’s a clever tie-in to Murderbot’s fascination, nay – obsession with sci-fi soap opera serials on the entertainment feed. Wells has already released a full-length follow-up novel, titled “Network Effect”, that I look forward to. I’m happy Wells went with a full novel, rather a series of smaller novella, as I was tiring from the inevitable slow starts.
Another sluggish start, but quickly turns into an action-filled romp and a fitting end to a fantastic series with a most memorable main character. Four and a half stars for “Exit Strategy.”
Murderbot is headed on a mission to rescue Dr. Mensah and three of the other humans it had helped previously. This rescue holds quite a bit of danger, but Murderbot is getting better all the time at blending in and working the system to locate and help its friends. Turns out GrayCris is ready and waiting, which makes its task even harder. I love how Murderbot is learning and growing all the time, but still wants nothing more than to watch its media, which it bribes bot pilots with whenever it needs a ride. Murderbot is still searching for what it wants to do with itself, and I can’t wait to go along for the ride on further adventures.
The entire MurderBot series by Martha Wells is fabulous, witty, clever, laugh-out-loud funny and I just devour them within days!! Reading #5 now, loving it!!
I gave this book four and a half stars!
Man oh man was this a great read!
After the events of the first three books, things come full circle as our beloved Murderbot sets its sights on helping Dr. Mensah and her team from the first book against the evil corporation GrayCris and their horrible plans.
Armed with damning evidence against the corrupt GrayCris, Murderbot has to piece together the impossible puzzle of figuring out what happened to its former allies, but also what it may have to do if they’re in danger.
Will Murderbot be able to stop GrayCris while ensuring its allies’ safety, or will its plans need a serious reboot?
I just have to say, I loved this book.
First off, we are given a great temporary ending to the Murderbot story. These first four books were a great story arc and there’s been so much personal development for Murderbot along the way. This time is no different.
The characters shine brilliantly. Murderbot obviously takes the cake because it has to deal with the conflicting emotions that it fled from in books one and two and make a decision. It was also nice getting reacquainted with familiar characters from previous books and seeing their personalities come through effortlessly.
The plot had me hooked from the first page. Obviously GrayCris has had this coming for a long time, and I had to know that justice would be served to this horrible corporation who thinks they can get away with pretty much anything. I’m not going to say if they actually got what they deserved or not, but I was happy with the plot and its conclusion.
The only thing that took away from my experience was the technical jargon used. From time to time, I would get confused by what was being said and have to reread a couple times to grasp it. On the other hand, reading this book was like enjoying a nice, rich piece of cheesecake. You have to digest it slowly and savor it.
Ultimately, this was a stellar novel and great ending to the first story arc for Murderbot, and I am so hopeful and excited for the next book!
This is the final book of The Murderbot Diaries, a wonderful series of “small” books (around 160 pages each). Each book is told from the point of view of the delightful SecUnit Murderbot (as it has named itself). This construct was created to protect humans, yet it really doesn’t like them and doesn’t like being around them. This conflict, set up from page one of book one, endures throughout the series and makes the protagonist very endearing as he works hard to save “his” humans even though he would rather be doing anything else. Kudos to Martha Wells who stays true to the first person POV throughout and never cheats by slipping in a third person POV chapter in order to feed the reader information. It’s becoming rare to see this kind of disciplined writing, where the author doesn’t take the easy way out. Each of these books can be read in one or two sittings. All are wonderful.
Out of the four books in this series, this one is my favorite which is a feat in itself because normally I struggle trying to decide which book in my favorite in a series. Murderbot is such a fascinating character who many consider to not being a feeling being but proves to the public just how wrong that statement is.
Murderbot is smart, sassy, funny, awkward around humans, fiercely protective of humans in its care and full of surprises. It’s been such a pleasure to see Murderbot grow in a variety of different ways and become more confident not only in itself but in hacking systems when needed which is needed quite a bit in this latest book.
This story is a wild ride practically from beginning to end. I was on the edge of my seat, eager to find out what next would happen and see how Murderbot would get out of the tricky situations it often found itself in.
I’m sorry to see this particular book end but also happy that Murderbot was finally given a name it could have and was able to be reunited with people who treated it as someone who is different but also accepted.
This was everything I wanted in a futuristic book centered around an AI and I can’t wait to see what next Martha has up her sleeve in 2020. Hopefully there will be more cameos of this rather endearing AI.
Can’t say enough great things about this series! I’m crushing on Murderbot a little. 🙂
The entire Murderbot Diaries series of novelettes is great. The stories move right along and the main protagonist is great as a cyberbeing trying to understand and cope with humanity.
one of the best writers, no a fan of novette’s, but i pay to read her books
This is the final book in the Murderbot series, and I recommend reading them all. Murderbot is funny, cynical, sarcastic, and just a plain joy to read for all sci-fi fans.
Have fun, read some Murderbot!