"Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, 4)" by Martha Wells
https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Strategy-Murderbot-Martha-Wells/dp/1250191858/
Book number four of a seven book series of science fiction novellas,
short stories, and full length novels. I read the well printed and well
bound hardcover published by Tor in 2018 that I bought new from Amazon.
The first novella in the series won the 2018 Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and
Locus awards. The series won the 2021 Hugo for the best series also. I
have the next two books in the series.
Murderbot is a SecUnit, similar to a T-800 Terminator with a cloned
severely modified human head. There is a human brain in there but it is
run by the AIs embedded in its genderless torso. There are lungs, there
is a blood mixture with a synthetic, there is human skin over the entire
body, there is a face. Everything else is machine. Somehow, the blood
is enriched with electricity as there is no stomach or intestines. But,
there are arteries and veins to keep the skin and brain alive. All of
the major arteries and veins have clamps to stop bleeding in case of
damage. There is a MedSystem computer with an AI, a HubUnit computer
with an AI, and a governor module that can force the SecUnit to follow
orders using pain sensors in the brain. It has a energy gun in each arm
and several cameras, all directly wired to the brain. The SecUnit can
sustain severe damage to everything but the head and still survive.
Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance
with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no
longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It
prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as episodes of "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon". Even though it has a
face, it does not like to interface with humans, yes, very introverted.
It will follow human orders if it see fit to do so.
Murderbot has been called a rogue SecUnit by the news feeds. It has
been hitching rides with AI Bot Cargo and Transport spaceships by
sharing it's 35,000 hours of downloaded media. It has researched its responsibility in the deaths of 57 miners on a remote moon and decided
that somebody else caused the deaths and then blamed it. It has
researched GrayCris Corporation's behavior in banned alien artifacts and
the murders of several research scientists. And now GrayCis has
kidnapped Murderbot's best friend, Dr. Mensah, and is holding her for
ransom.
Warning: The violence is graphic and extreme. Books one through four
are a series of novellas, not regular length books. There is a short
story "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" between books four and
five. Book five is a regular length novel, book six is back to the
novella, and book seven is a full length novel. You can buy collections
of the first four hardbacks or all six currently available hardbacks.
https://www.tor.com/2021/04/19/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/
The author has a website at:
https://www.marthawells.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (17,158 reviews)
Lynn
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