The lethal but good-hearted security robot that narrates Wells’s Hugo and Nebula award–winning Murderbot Diaries series returns, alongside friends old and new, for its wildly entertaining eighth adventure (after System Collapse). On a high-stakes extraction mission, Murderbot guides fellow SecUnit, Three, to sneak onto a Corporation Rim station and trigger a distraction. Meanwhile, Murderbot, hidden inside a cargo module, slips through the station’s heightened security. To Murderbot’s dismay, successfully played for laughs, the station is built to look like an elaborate planetary landscape, with shops and offices built into man-made cliffs and caves. Despite this rocky terrain, Murderbot reaches the safe house holding Farai, one of Murderbot’s dear friend Dr. Mensah’s two marital partners; their daughter, Sofi; and Farai’s mother, Naja. There, Murderbot encounters another unexpected obstacle: Supervisor Leonide, a higher-up in the Corporation Rim, who convinces the reluctant robot to help her family, sending it on a long and dangerous quest to rescue five more humans. This spectacular journey, punctuated with satisfying combat scenes, takes on an epic flavor grounded by Murderbot’s sardonic voice and Well’s exploration of mental health and physical well-being. Equal parts action packed, humorous, and heartfelt, this proves the series shows no signs of slowing down. —Publishers Weekly

Murderbot volunteered for this rescue mission because it’s certain that they have the best odds of accomplishing this poorly planned operation. They’re not wrong, but they underestimate how long and stressful the trip will be and how fast and often it’s going to go wrong. The plan to rescue members of Dr. Mensah’s family from the evil Barish-Estranza corporation goes immediately off the rails, while Murderbot’s supposed assistant goes rogue, and the journey turns into a long walk through grim places by a ragtag group of refugees keeping it together because they are together. It’s Murderbot’s internal journey that conducts this story from peril to peril, as their paranoia increases and they realize that it’s good to receive help and support from others. It’s fascinating to watch Murderbot grow as a sentient being without any desire to be human, and it’s always terrific to watch them save the day yet again. VERDICT Murderbot’s legion of fans will be thrilled by Wells’s latest series installment, and readers who love a good, snarky internal monologue will be glad to know that Murderbot is back in fine fettle after their self-doubt in the previous book, System Collapse. —Library Journal