Book Review: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

See my review of volume one here, volume two here, and volume three here.

Murderbot the SecUnit heads home (sort of) now that it has collected incriminating data on GrayCris Corporation, the company that tried to kill Muderbot's group in the first book. It's on its way to Dr. Menseh, the head of the first group who has been in the center of the anti-GrayCris lawsuits. She also bought Murderbot to keep the company from finding out that it is a defective SecUnit. The defect is a hacked governor unit that is supposed to keep Murderbot from acting independently. Murderbot uses its free will to help people...and to watch lots of serial dramas. On its way to Menseh's homeworld, Murderbot discovers that she's gone missing, most likely kidnapped by GrayCris in an attempt to cover up corporate wrongdoings. Murderbot to the rescue!

As always, the science fiction universe and the action-packed drama are fun. The most interesting part is seeing Murderbot developing as a person, learning to adapt to situations and, more importantly, to deal with those pesky emotions that often lead humans into making the bad tactical decisions. Murderbot is always complaining about. It also figures out how to deal better with eye contact and physical contact (there's a funny scene where Murderbot realizes someone needs a hug and goes so far to say that she can hug it). The struggle to understand its own humanity is another great example of the sci-fi tradition of Spock, Data, and Odo. Who doesn't love those guys?

Highly recommended--these first four short volumes make one extended story. A longer novel has been published and I am sure to read that soon.