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Stats
Started: 2026/05/17
Finished: 2026/05/21
Last Updated: 2026/05/21
Current Status: Read Fugitive Telemetry
Started Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory: 2026/05/17
Finished Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory: 2026/05/17 - 0.3h
Started Fugitive Telemetry: 2026/05/17
Finished Fugitive Telemetry: 2026/05/21 - 3.5h
Thoughts
[Free write thoughts here]
So this is first the short story and then the actual book
This is also the first time im doing a major book report (malazan 3), so the first couple of days is probably going to be reduced workload so to speak. Im thinking that i should try to do like maybe 50 actual epub pages per day for each book. thats kinda what i did for malazan basically. maybe on reduced load like 20? I guess. idk yet.
but yeah. a return to murderbot. its been a while because of malazan and the mtg book and the other shorter books after the last murderbot lol.
Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
Just a short story sort of offering the Humans' perspective of murderbot. honestly, doesnt change that much. its sorta what you would expect.
is it a human? is it a bot? its dangerous! but its also sapient! Ok.
Also i was kinda confused during it about what they were talking about because i hadnt read book 4 for a while. honestly, I probably should have read 4.5 after 4 instead of before 5.
Fugitive Telemetry
Am i just bad at reading? What are these other guys seeing? Man. Maybe im just not a sci guy. It was a fine book.
📖 Book Report
Summary
In 2–4 sentences, what is the book about? Pretend you're explaining it to a friend who's never heard of it. No plot summary padding — just the core of it.
Murderbot, a sapient, jack-of-all-trades security robot, is tasked with solving a murder. The investigation takes multiple turns as it is revealed to be connected to a human smuggling operation, while we shoft between suspects. Assassin? Master Hacker? Or inside-man?
Setting
Where and when does this take place, and why does it matter? How does the time, place, or world actively shape the events and meaning of the story? Would it work anywhere else, or is the setting inseparable from what the book is doing?
Takes place on the independent colony (technically its a whole planet/station) Preservation. Essentially a socialist utopia. People are free to come, free to live, free to leave. This setting is largely intertwined with the book itself. The primary suspects are largely derived by potential enemies of the state, or people who would be "against" the state or its values.
It also drives a lot of the themes and relationships between the characters, as the people in this sovereign, while accepting, are not necessarily... used to.... sapient ..... murderbots. But they can learn :)
Conflict
What is the core conflict — and what kind is it? (person vs. person, vs. society, vs. themselves, vs. something larger?) Is there more than one major conflict at play? Does the protagonist actually overcome it, or just survive it, or fail entirely? Was that the right outcome?
Its a murder mystery. You know
Okay but truly there are multiple
Bot vs person (the murderer) - overcomes
Bot vs society (the preservation perception of it) - i would say survives. But its definitely a start
Society vs society (preservation vs the nation ordering the murder) - overcomes
Themes & Ideas
What ideas kept surfacing? What do you think the author was actually trying to say, beneath the surface plot? Did they say it well, or fumble it?
- Identity
- What makes a "human"
- Communication
- Trust/Importance of Trust/Creation of Trust
Symbols
What recurring images, objects, or motifs stood out? Did they feel earned and woven in naturally, or did they feel like the author underlining their own point too hard? What did they add that plain prose couldn't?
Honestly, did not know how to catch many. I mean i guess you could say the robots are a symbol. a symbol of what? probably an alienated but very much tolerated group.
What Worked
What did you genuinely admire? Be specific — not just "the writing was good" but why, and where. A scene, a structural choice, a character dynamic.
Wells is good at her little quippy or sarcastic writing. I feel like its not overly annoying. And shes good at the whole stream of consciousness sytle of thinking that comes off of the murderbot. At one point, it used nested parentheses which was kinda funny to me. bro is just constantly in a loop of thinking!
And the characters are gernally witty and talk back to each other, but it wasnt that annoying to me. I draw a good amount of comparisons to sanderson because I audiobooked a lot of his books, but I hate like all the sarcastic & witty & quippy females that he writes because they are SO ANNOYING. And they constitute like 80% of the females. the other 20% are just men basically. brick wall personality for the other 20%. But I do think wells does that sort of dialogue and writing well. and she better because its baked into the entire series lol.
What Didn't Work
What fell flat, frustrated you, or felt like a missed opportunity? Was it a flaw in execution, or a flaw in concept? Would a different author have pulled it off?
I love murder mysteries. whodunnit. detectives. I feel like opening the book with a murder mystery sort of sets the tone incorrectly. this is not a murder mystery. This is a mystery story, with a murder attached. And honestly, a lot of the meat and bones of this investigation was more political or communicative than investigative. Asking for permissions to the systems, asking for permission to go and investigate here. persuading the humans to trust murderbot.
And, admittedly, it doesnt try to be a sherlock holmes agatha christie murder mystery! But I just feel like the conceipt being a murder and investigating whodunnit sets up the tone of the book incorrectly, and I think that is part of what disappointed me with the story.
Favourite Moment / Passage
A scene, line, or image that stuck with you. Why did it land? What made it earn its place when other moments didn't?
Maybe not a moment/passage, but the general point when murderbot started to realize that first, he was wrong (?) about the hack, and then second when he was wrong wrong about the hack and that it was actually an inside job. First, I do like inside jobs that fun and second, its nice seeing the hero flounder a bit and not just be permanently perfect. And the detective switiching their theory on a murder/case is always just a fun moment. As Poirot (or was it Sherlock? I think its Poirot), if the facts don't fit the theory, throw away the theory!
Character Notes
Who stood out — for good or bad reasons? Did the characters feel like people or functions? Were they static or did they change — and if they changed, was it earned? Did their inner lives match their outward actions, or was there interesting tension there?
The main characters here were Murderbot and Indah. The other characters from past books, and some other side characters showed up, but those were mainly just setpieces. All the side characters still do have their own personalities, just they dont necessarily do anything interesting in the context of the story. because they are side characters of course. Im not complaining about that to be clear.
But for Murderbot and Indah. Honestly, a good character arc from the two of them learning to work together. Indah learns that maybe she can trust sapient beings like murderbot with all its capabilities, even if its not human. Murderbot learns that maybe it should just... communicate. One of the lines that I liked (I guess I could have mentioned it above lol) was
"I had to get Indah to trust me.
I could start by talking to her, I guess, I had actually not tried that yet, really."
Like that in itself is really fun! thats one of the major changes murderbot goes through in this book. and I feel like that was the reason for the whole "no hacking" rule. its so murderbot would "have to" or maybe better put, have a justification to, talk to people. communicate! Ask questions to people instead of reading data to get around that.
Craft & Structure
How was it written, not just what. Pacing, POV choices, prose style, chapter structure. What did the author do technically that you noticed — admiringly or not? Why do you think they chose this point of view, and did it pay off?
I think... I think its literally all just first person from the Murderbot. No yeah it definitely is thats like the entire point lol. As I think I said before, very stream-of-consiousness. almost explicitly thats the whole point. "How does robot think"? Is it truly just a robot, or is it more human than it seems? But human in its own way.
Huh. i guess those are the craft notes. at least for pov.
im not too keen on picking up prose style tbh. idk. maybe thats the stream-of-consciousness? Idk honestly.
Foreshadowing
Were there hints planted earlier that paid off later? Did you see them coming, or only in retrospect? Was the foreshadowing subtle and satisfying, or telegraphed too obviously? Did the author use it well, or lean on it as a crutch?
its a murder mystery. im still dense at them. The only thing I picked up was the inside job at some part. basically because murderbot was talking about ho rare the jammer is and how well the hack had to be done, but also I think it was done pretty well because it was all still feasible all the other options. and like the inside job is like a "but i dont want that to be correct, but it makes sense" sort of twist and foreshadowing for that twist. I also think the culprit being that bot was foreshadowed. but like i literally didnt remember that bot because it came up like once so i kinda was just sitting there like "ok. i guess its him".
so good and bad with the whodunnit foreshadowing.
The Ending
Was it earned? Did it feel like a natural consequence of everything before it, or did it feel imposed? Was there catharsis — emotional release, resolution, weight? Or did it leave you cold, confused, or cheated? What would you have done differently?
uhm. i mean murderbot busting into the room with the malicious bot and confronting it was earned. The final fight where murderbot wins becasue the bot shuts itself down.... idk. and then all the other bots come to murderbots aid (well technically more like to antagonize the combat bot) but only when it doesnt matter. idk. the ending played out kinda weird in my head. The "it was you" to the bot was nice though, thats a classic whodunnit.
The Author's Argument
If this book is making a case for something — about people, the world, how stories should work — what is it? Do you buy it? Push back if you don't.
you got me. idk
i guess some basic stuff like we should respect people's identities since we really dont know how much it means to them. and its like important that we see people as humans and treat them as equals and with respect even if they are committing the "crime" of not agreeing with us. also that making an effort to communicate and build trust is what propels us as humans and have way more benefits than downsides, if only we can jump the hurdle of starting the conversation. Murderbot is verymuch a people driven story. its less about the world or society (although their socialist utopia does sound nice) and much more about relationships and how just being human and using those human connections are even more powerful than being a superrobot who can compute everything at the blink of an eye. doesnt help to be able to do everything if you cant get the prelimiary data since you are too scared to ask!
i guess I can buy it. but also like.... yeah. its life. thats how life works. I would be weird if i disagreed with it.
How It Compares
What does this remind you of? Not just genre — in ambition, in failure, in style. Did it do what those comparisons couldn't, or fail where they succeeded?
of course, it reminds me of Poirot. Sherlock. Murder mystery. but, I already commented on this in what didnt work for me. I think drawing on the comparison to those murder mystery whodunnits sets expectations for a different tone of book than this is. The book itself works! I think it does the mystery well. Its just.... not a murder mystery whodunnit. and having expectations of sherlock poirot, it really sets this non-whodunnit up for failure in my perception unfortunately.
What It Changed (Or Didn't)
Did this book shift anything for you — an opinion, a feeling, a way of seeing something? If not, why not? Was that the book's failure or yours?
I will never change!!!
Would I Recommend It?
To whom, specifically? In what mood? And what would you warn them about first?
Sci fi mystery fans. but i would also recommend it only after that book 4 (not even that you need to read the previous 3, just book 4). I remember thinking that book was pretty good on its own. Its also just hard for me to recommend it when it didnt click for me unfortuantely. I would not say that its "not recommended" though, just I wouldnt recommend it out of the blue.
Lingering Thought
One thing you're still chewing on — a question the book raised but didn't answer, something that unsettled you, or something you wish you could ask the author directly.
uhm... i guess... why was that bot just standing there mentally afk for like 43 years? was it not sapient like murderbot? did it not get bored because it had the directive to be a sleeper agent basically? murderbot would have gotten bored even with that directive. and how did someone just "find the codes" to the combat bot? and also, that feels less like an "inside job" and more like "hacking an internal system externally". Like i get that the "codes" arent hacking, but if you stole the password to my bank account and withdrew money in my name, I wouldnt call you a "knowledgable insider to my money", I would call you a hacker.
Reading Log
2026/05/17
Chapter 2
A murder mystery! but with politics to start.
It feels like its just establishing the themes
Identity
What makes a "human"
Communication
Boom those are the themes and generally the themes from the other books. Murder bot is struggling with its identity (ok, admittedly a lot less now after 4 books), but more importatnly for this one people are struggling to understand its identity and acknowledge it as a sapient being that isnt just a blind killing machine.
and then some like communitcation themese too. with people opening private comms during meetings and unspoken communication and murderbot liking to look at people through cameras to see their faces but without having to manipulate his expression or whatever. yeah. themes and such
idk about the symbols or whatever though. i mean its a murder mystery so like. we see. lets not try to get too side tracked on the whole book report. okay maybe we should? idk.
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