Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on April 27, 2021 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Normally I spend the first paragraph of my reviews talking about why I was interested in checking out the novel/novella I'm reviewing, but Fugitive Telemetry is the 6th Murderbot story (5th chronologically), so I really shouldn't have to explain much. Murderbot, the socially awkward construct/SecUnit who just wants to watch media in peace and ends up having to save stupid humans and maybe feel feelings, has taken the genre world seemingly by storm, and well, it's pretty well deserved. I'll honestly be shocked if the most recent Murderbot novel, Network Effect, isn't nominated for a Hugo.
And well Fugitive Telemetry is more Murderbot, which is to say it's pretty great, featuring an adventure in between the original novellas and the novel, as Murderbot gets involved with Preservation security to investigate a mysterious murder. Needless to say, snarky internal dialogue ensues, as Murderbot deals with humans who don't know how to deal with it and have their own opinions and emotions as it tries to figure out the mystery, which once again has to deal with corporate scummery. Still, while the dialogue and action and plot is classic Murderbot, Fugitive Telemetry is a bit of an oddball - coming in between stories it can't really develop Murderbot's own character and feelings too much, and thus doesn't quite have the same impact of any of the other 5 stories.
Plot Summary: Murderbot's stay on Preservation has been contentious - Mensah and her crew have fought for Murderbot to be treated like practically any other person, but many others in Preservation leadership see it only as an untrustworthy weapon. But when a murder occurs on Preservation Station, an event pretty much unheard of, Murderbot is forced to team up with a senior security officer who once argued against Murderbot's presence to solve the mystery. And so Murderbot once again has to help humans who don't know enough for their own good, all while trying to follow the rules limiting what it can do on Preservation territory....but it might not be enough to solve the mystery once it becomes clear that Corporation Rim interests are involved....
Thoughts: Fugitive Telemetry is on one hand a classic Murderbot story. You have Murderbot dealing with humans who don't trust it out of silly prejudice/paranoia, and trying to help them despite their best efforts. You have Murderbot's incredibly fun internal dialogue, which continues here, as it awkwardly tries to deal with it all along with the attention that it absolutely hates. You have a creative mystery featuring Murderbot's trademark action and hacking skills, complete with interactions with other non-human beings - bots of different kinds in this case - which Murderbot isn't quite comfortable with. And you have the contrast between Preservation - a fairly socialist and idealistic future society - and the Corporation Rim, where capitalist corporations care only about money and anything, including people, can be for sale. All of this works really well and is written in a very fun way that is hard to put down.
On the other hand, Fugitive Telemetry is kind of lacking in some of the best parts of the Murderbot stories - Murderbot's own character development. I'm sure a lot of this is due to this novella's placement between Exit Strategy and Network Effect, as Murderbot can't have character development that doesn't fit where it was in the novel that takes place after this story. But no matter the cause, the mystery and humans involved here don't really provide much grounds for Murderbot's own personality and interactions with people to develop as much as humans we've never met before learn to deal with it. Adding to this problem is that one part of the mystery - the culprit behind the murder - that is clearly meant to deal with some of that emotional investment just kind of falls flat, since the culprit is a character without much time in this story for us to get to know them. And the result is that this Murderbot story, unlike the other four novellas and the novel, doesn't quite have the emotional impact as the others - there's no Murderbot dealing with humans who know what it is and want to help it moment, no Murderbot on its own for the first time dealing with humans begrudgingly, no Murderbot dealing with another bot that wants to be helpful to humans moment, no putting it all together moment, etc.
Again, I don't mean to sound too negative - it's still plenty fun and I devoured it pretty damn quickly because well, Murderbot is still great and its (Wells') writing is still tremendous. But the series has just set such a high bar, that this one can't quite clear.
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