Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When your buddy has a real chip on his shoulder

Murderbot Diaries All Systems Red by Martha Wells

by 4 Comments

cbr13bingo  Rec’d (by y’all) What can I say about Murderbot Diaries All Systems Red that has not already been said? I have nothing new to add to the conversation about Martha Wells series. Only (for those who have not read) this first novella deals with the idea of what is human and what is robot. It asks can a robot be “human” or at least human-like? Can one make that choice themselves or must someone or something validate them, make them “legitimate”? I told a […]

“Possibly I should just stop complaining like a human and get on with it.”

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

by 5 Comments

CBR 13 Bingo: Machinery Fugitive Telemetry fills the gap between the ending of the fourth Murderbot novella, Exit Strategy, and the follow up full length novel Network Effect.  As such it helps bridge Murderbot’s development, from the uncertainty of suddenly becoming a free individual to the more confident, and comfortable in their role, Murderbot of Network Effect.  Physically size wise, Fugitive Telemetry is on par with the other novellas, however, it felt more like a short story to me.  Perhaps that has to do with the action […]

“All I wanted to do was watch media and not exist.”

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) by Martha Wells

by 3 Comments

**30 Books in 30 Days** Book 13/30 I love Murderbot and I hope that I always will. What I love about these stories, beyond the immediate appeal of an outwardly misanthropic and antisocial being fighting its own feelings and personhood, is that as they go on, Wells seems to be showing that Murderbot is not just a one story kind of murder-construct (aka not that at all), but one that can play around in different genres. No one will convince me that the full-length novel […]

All systems meh

All systems red by Martha Wells

by 9 Comments

I believe All systems red is a favourite around these parts. It was one of the reasons I picked it up to begin with. Which makes this a hard review to write, because I didn’t love it like a lot of you did. Spoilers ahoy. Murderbot is a SecUnit, but it (she? he?) has hacked the governor module that’s supposed to, erm, govern it. So, as much as its current mission (to protect a group of people who are collecting data on another planet) will […]

Only nineteen pages but I’ll take every last one

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells

by 2 Comments

This actually ended up being my 100th reading challenge book, as it were. And I’m counting this as Pride!Reading as well–Murderbot is aro ace and non-binary, innit? FINALLY got my hands on this book, I have never bought something so quickly based on an email. I will read anything from the Murderbot universe, and basically live in misery that these stories aren’t longer T-T Here, for the first time, we’re seeing things from the perspective of Dr. Mensah, fresh off of her kidnap rescue in Exit […]

A welcome return to form

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

by 2 Comments

[Read as an audiobook from the public library] I got this one a lot sooner than expected, hooray! This was, for me, a welcome return to form for the Murderbot series after the longer and (for me) more confusing and annoying Network Effect. I’ve found that I’m happiest with Murderbot’s grousing on a limited basis — say, four-hour increments or so. Also, if I learned anything from The Mandalorian it’s that I’m highly susceptible to the Monster of the Week format when done well, and I […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo