Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“For a being as sophisticated as you are, it is baffling how little understanding you have of the composition of your own mind.”

Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells

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Reviewing a re-read is always a bit of a stumper for me, and even though I’ve been systematically making my way through re-reading the Murderbot books over the past couple of years the idea of trying to have something new to say about Network Effect is a bit daunting. Even though it has been over four and a half years (ouch) since I last read this book it was still fresh in my mind’s eye, there was very little that I didn’t remember from last time. But there were things that flowed much easier for […]

My Second Tove Jansson and the Newest Murderbot

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Fair Play by Tove Jansson

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Platform Decay by Martha Wells At this point, the Murderbot books are basically comfort reads. If you’ve read enough of them, you have a general idea of what’s going to happen and how things will end up, always accompanied by a healthy dose of snark and sarcasm from Murderbot. In this one, we start off with Murderbot tagging along with Three, another “rogue” SecUnit, at the start of a rescue mission. Said rescue mission goes awry pretty quickly, because this is a Murderbot book. At this point […]

“Emotion check: Having someone else support your bad decisions feels kind of good”

Platform Decay: Murderbot Diaries Book 8 by Martha Wells

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This latest Murderbot installment is short (150 pages) but full of the snark and excitement one has come to expect from the series. It is missing the usual cast of characters (including my favorite ART) but it introduces some new ones and of course focuses on everyone’s favorite SecUnit. The action of Platform Decay occurs on a torus, that is, a space station ring surrounding a decaying planet. The torus is man-made and contains a variety of biomes, mining and farming zones, habitation areas and […]

Murderbot takes on a murder mystery

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

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CBR 17 BINGO: Black (see cover) I’d taken a short hiatus from reading Murderbot, but watching the Apple series put me in the mood again. Apparently it did the same for many fans, and probably generated a bunch of new ones, because when I went to my local library almost every Martha Wells novel had been checked out. Fortunately, I had plenty of other BINGO books to read while I waited for my turn to borrow Fugitive Telemetry. This time around, SecUnit is brought in […]

Now I’m Sad Because I’ve Finished Murderbot

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Network Effect by Martha Wells

System Collapse by Martha Wells

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cbr17bingo – work for Fugitive Telemetry Although Fugitive Telemetry is the 6th book in the series, I read it 5th because that’s chronologically when it takes place and is often the recommended reading order. Murderbot is still on Preservation Station and seems to have been spending a lot of its time guarding Mensah. Then security comes across a dead body, and Murderbot contracts with them to help solve the case, primarily because it wants to make sure the murder isn’t related to GrayCris. The goal is partly […]

Holiday Reads, a.k.a. I get more reading done in a tent

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Other People's Houses (DC Ffion Morgan #3) by Clare Mackintosh

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Whiteout by R.S. Burnett

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I don’t know why, but I do.  Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton) *** I’ve always loved the movie, so I wanted to read the book too. I was struck by how different it was both in plot and in tone; some characters that make it out in the film don’t survive the book and vice versa, and some of the characters have been conflated or split up. Lex and Tim, as characters, are incredibly irritating and flat in the book (Lex’ entire personality is ‘annoying child’. […]



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