CBR16 BINGO: Cult, because Murderbot fans are a little cult of our own
Exit Strategy, entry #4 in the Murderbot Diaries, picks up pretty much where Rogue Protocol left off, with a bunch of humans trying to kill Murderbot. It seems like humans either want to kill our SecUnit hero or make friends with it, and it’s difficult to say which option horrifies it more.
Although I was less enamored of the third entry in the series than I was of the first two, I was looking forward to Exit Strategy because it promised a reunion between Murderbot and his favorite human, Dr. Mensah. What should have been a meeting to deliver the evidence SecUnit had collected against GrayCris Corporation turns into a rescue mission, as Murderbot deducts that Dr. Mensah is being held by someone or something connected to the evil company. . . but for what purpose?
Tracing back over recent events, Murderbot realizes that GrayCris must be under the impression that Mensah had sent it to Milu specifically to gather evidence of their evil deeds. What’s worse, it realizes this is a natural assumption given the sequence of events, meaning Murderbot is to blame. In its own words, “Obviously, GrayCris thought Mensah had sent me to Milu to fuck them over. Oops.”
The anticipated reunion is as wonderful as I expected and as uncomfortable as SecUnit fears. When it first makes the connection to Mensah’s implant and announces its presence, “She didn’t respond for 3.2 seconds and I had that long to wonder if she didn’t want to talk to me. That would make this rescue 100 percent more awkward.” After some amazing action/rescue sequences, Murderbot even offers to give Mensah a hug, which, in its own words, “wasn’t entirely awful.”
As this series progresses, Murderbot continues to change–I don’t want to say “evolve” or “become more human,” because I think it would consider that offensive. But it does contemplate human connection with maybe .000001 percent less horror than it did at the beginning of All Systems Red. I enjoyed the action sequences in this book also, maybe because I was able to visualize them better this time, but also because of Murderbot’s internal motivation. It wants to win, and it has to adjust the definition of what exactly “win” means as the situation transforms. It’s also fun to see Murderbot reconnect with its first human crew in Pin-Lee, Ratthi, and Gurathin. In some ways I think Gurathin is one of the best human characters in the series, because he represents something that humans commonly experience, but that Murderbot may have trouble accepting–you can dislike someone and still work with them. Put another way, someone can be an asshole but still be part of your crew. It’s one of the uncomfortable realities about being successful in the workplace.
Exit Strategy feels like it could have wrapped up the series, but of course that’s not the case. There’s more Murderbot to come, and I’m curious where the series is going. While I love the character, I hope Wells has something new in mind for its continuing adventures.