Book Review: Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) by Martha Wells
Cover art by Jaime Jones
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Series: The Murderbot Diaries (Book #6)
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 176 pages (Kindle Edition)
Word count: 39,000 words
Published: 27th April 2021 by Tordotcom
This is quite likely an unpopular opinion, but I found Fugitive Telemetry to be a big step-down after Network Effect
“It had been such a stupid question, I had forgotten not to have an expression.”
Fugitive Telemetry is the sixth installment in The Murderbot Diaries series. The premise is a murder mystery. 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?). As a fan of murder-mystery stories, I thought I would enjoy this one as much as the previous titles. Evidently, it wasn’t the case.
Actually, I do not think it is far-fetched to say this is an incredibly unpopular opinion. On Goodreads, at the time of posting this review, only 1% readers/reviewers gave it a rating of 2 stars or below. I am, unfortunately, one of them. It felt pointless to be reading Fugitive Telemetry after Network Effect. Despite being published after Network Effect, the story takes place before the events of Network Effect. Usually, I don’t mind this. But in this title, a return to novella format as well, despite having an intriguing murder-mystery premise, Fugitive Telemtry did not add anything substantial or memorable to the series for me. After reading the previous five titles in The Murderbot Diaries series and finding myself enjoying the heck out of Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry felt like a filler title or spin-off. It might actually be better to read this book before you read Network Effect, and that’s what I will recommend future readers to do.
“Yeah, good luck with that. Trying to get humans not to touch dangerous things was a full-time job.”
There isn’t much else to say beyond this. The book is super short. It’s always a good time to be back reading about Murderbot and its struggle to understand humanity in its process to become more human. If you’re reading this book only to read whatever Murderbot is up to, even if it’s something unimportant, then this book should work for you. But I need something more beyond that. If it’s a murder mystery, then I need an exciting and compelling murder mystery story with a rewarding payoff. Or at least, a great character development rather than having Murderbot curse much more than usual. Overall, I am disappointed with this one. On the plus side, there’s a good chance the TV show adaptation can adapt Fugitive Telemetry magnificently when the time comes. I look forward to that day. For now, I can only say this is the weakest installment of the series so far.
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