Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells Narrator: Kevin Free
Series: Murderbot Diaries #3
Published by Recorded Books on August 7, 2018
Genres: Science Fiction
Length: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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SciFi’s favorite crabby A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah’s SecUnit is.
And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.
Rogue Protocol began in the same hilarious manner as the previous two novellas in the Murderbot Diaries series. I began listening on the way to work, which is at most a 5 minute drive, and I was laughing before I got there. Murderbot and its views on humans are priceless. It has picked up a hysterical way of expressing itself. I suspect too many episodes of Sanctuary Moon!
It decides it must collect evidence against GrayCris and sets out to get it. The plan is a stealthy, unnoticed visit to gather computer data and then send it to Dr. Mensah to help her. Of course, Murderbot finds humans in danger of being murdered per usual.
Murderbot’s running commentary is delightful. Its plans remind me of the A-Team style of Face, complete confidence in execution even when you’re totally fucked. There is always plenty of action and technology which I also enjoy.
I just LOVE this SO much! Rogue Protocol was twice the length of the first two novella, still about half a regular book, and I want more. Exit Strategy is next, being released October 2 and is about the same length as this one. I’ve included some of the quotes which made me giggle, hopefully they will work for you, even though out of context.
This is my surprised face.
Telling the truth was.. sort of… working out for me.
Why yes, I did want to disengage the safety protocols. Thanks for asking.
Narration:
I’m so happy with the narration and love the voice for Murderbot. It had that straightforward style with lack of emotion one would expect for a droid but the words contradict this at times. The timing and style play the humor perfectly for me. I’m collecting the whole series on audio. I listened at my usual 1.25 speed and LOVED it.
Listen to a clip:
About Kevin Free
Kevin R. Free has appeared on national television in commercials and on NBC’s Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU. New York audiences have seen Mr. Free Off-Broadway, creating the role of Memphis in From My Hometown both for Amas Musical Theatre and at the Gramercy Theatre, for which he was nominated for an Audelco Award. He was also seen Off-Broadway at the York Theatre in Taking A Chance On Love, and as Bubber Brown in The New Federal Theatre’s acclaimed The Conjure Man Dies. He has been featured in concerts with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and with the education department of Symphony Space.
Mr. Free has performed regionally in many places, including his home state of North Carolina at Charlotte Repertory Theatre (Belize in Angels in America, Paul in Six Degrees of Separation) and at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ariel in The Tempest). Other favorite roles in the musical theatre include Dromio of Ephesus in The Boys From Syracuse at CENTERSTAGE, Nemur in Chasing Nicolette at Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia,Milton in Avenue X at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Gift Guy in Adventures In Love at the Ordway in St. Paul, MN, and Flick in Violet at Stage One in Wichita, KS and at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, for which he was nominated for a Barrymore Award.
About Martha Wells
Martha Wells has written many fantasy novels, including The Books of the Raksura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads), the Ile-Rien series (including The Death of the Necromancer) as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, media tie-ins (for Star Wars and Stargate: Atlantis), and non-fiction. Her most recent fantasy novel is The Harbors of the Sun in 2017, the final novel in The Books of the Raksura series. She has a new series of SF novellas, The Murderbot Diaries, published by Tor.com in 2017 and 2018. She was also the lead writer for the story team of Magic: the Gathering’s Dominaria expansion in 2018. She has won a Nebula Award, an ALA/YALSA Alex Award, a Locus Award, and her work has appeared on the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award ballots, the USA Today Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. Her books have been published in eleven languages.
She has had short stories in the magazines Black Gate, Realms of Fantasy, Lone Star Stories, Lightspeed Magazine, and Stargate Magazine, and in the Tsunami Relief anthology Elemental, The Other Half of the Sky, Tales of the Emerald Serpent, Mech: Age of Steel, and The Gods of Lovecraft.
She has essays in the nonfiction anthologies Farscape Forever, Mapping the World of Harry Potter, Chicks Unravel Time, and The Kobold Guide to Magic.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2018 Audiobook Challenge
- 2018 New Release Challenge
- COYER BSBB
I’m not a big SF reader but everyone is loving her books so I’m curious!
Well, not everyone but there are many who have enjoyed it. I like technology and the humor here is great!
Ha! That’s great that it took you less than five minutes to be entertained so much. I will get to these at some point. 🙂
That’s one of the reasons I love it so much! Humor is always the icing on the cake for me.
I just picked up the second and third books from the library yesterday and hope to start the series this weekend. I love that there is humor worked into the story. I have the first book downloaded and read the first couple of paragraphs and can tell that it is going to be a fun read!
It is fun. They are all short so it makes for easy and happy reading.
I have never heard of these. It’s science fiction with a droid and a mystery and the droid is funny? That’s not something I would usually read, but the humor sounds really good. I am glad you are having fun with these!
It is science fiction / space opera. It is not just a droid but AI – artificial intelligence. But yes, the humor and view of humans is great!