The Murderbot Diaries 1 to 4 by Martha Wells

The first four books in Martha Wells’ brilliant sci-fi series The Murderbot Diaries comprise the novellas All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy, all published by Tor.com between 2017 and 2018. Across the four stories they tell the tale of a rogue SecUnit which calls itself Murderbot – a part-human, part-machine android designed and created to be hired out to anyone who needs security and can pay its parent company’s fees. Unlike most SecUnits, Murderbot has hacked its governor module to give itself freedom from company control, and is largely content to pay little attention to its actual job, and instead consume endless hours of media via its data feed. It’s also distrustful of humans, low-key sassy and emotionally vulnerable in a remarkably relatable way.

All Systems Red opens with Murderbot providing security for a group of mild-mannered scientists, a job which turns out to be much more dangerous than anyone expected. As the hapless scientists look to Murderbot for safety and treat it with unusual compassion and humanity, the largely misanthropic android – who finds interacting with humans stressful at the best of times – finds itself unexpectedly warming to its charges, especially their leader Dr. Mensah. There’s a mystery at play which resolves over the course of the novella, but the core characters are established here, along with Murderbot’s ongoing attempts to understand what exactly it wants to make of itself. If the ending feels a little hurried and not fully satisfying, that’s a small price to pay for the introduction to a character with a truly unique voice and viewpoint on what it is to be alive.

Artificial Condition carries on immediately after All Systems Red and begins to explore both Murderbot’s past and what its future might look like, as the android embarks on its first ever solo journey under its own steam. Hitching a ride on an automated ship with another strong personality, Murderbot heads to an abandoned mining facility in search of answers to the question of why it really went rogue in the first place. It’s essentially more of the same (with a more satisfying plot structure and pace) just with a broader scope…but when the protagonist is so good, there’s nothing wrong with that! There’s a real satisfaction in watching Murderbot take its first tentative steps towards a future in which it has agency of its own, which comes with both freedoms and constraints, as it builds new relationships and makes decisions which are going to have long-lasting implications.

Rogue Protocol sees Murderbot begin to loop back around to where things started in book one, growing in confidence but finding that with freedom and agency come responsibilities and the possibility of caring about other people. For the first time it’s faced with the realisation that its actions might have consequences for those it cares about – like Dr. Mensah – and that it could do something to help, so the journey this time is to another distant facility in search of valuable information which requires decisive action and a challenging degree of tact to acquire. As with Artificial Condition, this introduces new characters – both human and otherwise – for Murderbot to profess not to have any feelings about only to actually grow to like (something which it would probably prefer didn’t happen), while digging deeper into the links between the various mysteries which connect the books.

The fourth novella, Exit Strategy, ties all four stories together beautifully while demonstrating that Murderbot is beginning to understand a little more of what it wants to be, even while constantly surprised at its own ability to change and grow. The information it gathered last time around promises to make a considerable impact if put to good use, but with Dr. Mensah in danger Murderbot is forced to risk its newfound freedom for the sake of its friends – which means going up against its most dangerous enemies yet. This feels like the culmination of both the emotional journey and the overarching narrative (or at least this phase of it) of the four books, with the backdrop of corporate greed and accountability established in All Systems Red now very much in the foreground.

Each novella would work as a standalone story in theory, but they’re unquestionably best enjoyed as a whole – and as they’re very much short and sweet, they’re satisfyingly easy to binge! With pacy narratives to suit the novella format, each one is full of excitement and gritty, visceral action, but the focus is always on character – Wells builds a vivid picture of the universe in which these stories take place but the stakes always remain personal, centered around Murderbot. This is an android designed solely for violence, which has hacked its own programming only to hide all signs of its independence from everyone around it, but who panics when invited to step beyond its normal role and be treated as an equal. With a voice that’s brutally honest, full of snark and dry wit, it’s both relatable and regularly laugh-out-loud funny.

Murderbot might be an android, but its problems are tremendously human. Its lack of gender spectacularly fails to get in the way of the emotion (read a few more reviews and see how many readers self-identify in spite of everything), and for all its machinic construction and abilities this feels like such a human journey that Murderbot’s emotional and psychological challenges regularly, consistently hit right in the feels. So much world building and, more importantly, character building has gone on in these four novellas that the prospect of a full novel in Network Effect is likely to fill you with joy. If you’re at all interested in character-focused science fiction which blends smartly thought-out action with a unique look at the human condition, this series is for you.