The Murderbot Diaries, Volume 2: Emotions can be hard to deal with

Everybody's favorite neurodivergent robot returns for more action and personal growth.

The Murderbot Diaries, Volume 2
By Martha Wells
Published by Tordotcom, 2025
Buy it

With her Murderbot series, Martha Wells has really come up with something special. One could say that she has stumbled across an interesting idea (robot who struggles to comprehend human emotions continually becomes involved in schemes that require lots of action and adventure while forcing him to face situations that make him uncomfortable), but it’s clear that the quality of this series isn’t an accident. Being able to convey the types of ideas that this series covers in a manner that is easy to understand while still being engaging and providing interesting character development takes skill, and if anything, Wells is showing off how good she is at it.

Wells has a real facility for exciting writing that combines traditional action-movie stuff (running, shooting, narrow escapes, and the like) with more abstract ideas that take place on an invisible level (hacking into computer systems, spying on people through security cameras, taking control of drones and robots, etc.). Every story in the series is fast-moving, dragging readers along through one bit of exciting action after another while making us worry about how the main character and those he cares about are going to survive. I haven’t watched the Apple TV+ adaptation of the series yet, but I doubt it’s going to be able to convey what is happening while getting viewers to care about the characters anywhere near as well as Wells does through her writing.

This volume collects the third and fourth of the initial Murderbot novellas, all of which are standalone stories but have an overarching plot. When we left Murderbot at the end of the last volume, he had solved a mystery about his past and wasn’t sure what to do next. But he has figured it out by the beginning of “Rogue Protocol;” he’s going to help out his former employers, a group of humans from a system known as Preservation whom he had saved from being killed due to the murderous devices of an evil corporation. Said corporation, GrayCris, had been engaging in illegal activities and had tried to kill people to cover them up, and Preservation is involved in litigation with the company over the incident. So Murderbot has decided to travel to an out-of-the-way space station where GrayCris was also doing illegal stuff and gather some evidence that could be used against it.

Murderbot’s reasons for doing this aren’t fully clear, even to himself. He has been granted his freedom by Preservation, so he’s able to go anywhere and do whatever he wants, but all he has known has been providing security for humans, so he seems to feel a need to try to help others out and protect them whenever he can. Plus, he seems to feel some guilt about the way he left Preservation, escaping from their custody without informing them in order to avoid being treated like a pet robot of theirs. These people treated him with kindness and acted like he was a person rather than a piece of equipment, and even though he has trouble admitting it to himself, he wants to try to return their kindness, while also striking a blow against the types of corporate overlords who treat both robots and humans as things that can be controlled and manipulated for profit.

It’s a testament to Wells’ skill that all of this is inferred rather than stated outright. Murderbot often complains about emotions, including the irrational, emotion-driven decisions that humans often make, as well as the way his own emotions sometimes get in the way of being able to act as quickly and efficiently as possible. He doesn’t like to admit to himself that relationships with others are important to him, but his true motivations become clear through his actions.

So, when Murderbot tags along on a mission to what seems to be a derelict space station, hoping to remain hidden as he obtains the information he’s looking for, he can’t help but spring into action to protect people when a sudden, unexpected threat arises. He does his best to come up with a plausible explanation for why he’s there and the reasons he’s helping, but it’s obvious that he’s not a cold, unfeeling robot; he has to do something to prevent innocent people from being killed.

While this whole adventure is very exciting, it also provides Murderbot with some more emotional turmoil. The humans are accompanied by a helper robot named Miki who could be described as their pet, but they treat it like a real person and friend, and it responds in kind. Murderbot was sure that he didn’t want to be in a similar position, but seeing the positivity of this relationship leaves him thinking that maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

And maybe he’ll get a chance, since the fourth novella, “Exit Strategy,” sees Murderbot mount a rescue operation after he learns that the leader of Preservation, Dr. Mensah, has been abducted by GrayCris and is being held for ransom. Once again, he engages in a gripping series of exploits that are full of chases and shootouts, with the climax forcing him to stretch his processing powers so far that he nearly destroys himself, which is a testament to how much he actually cares about the people he is hesitant to describe as his friends.

As I’ve mentioned before, the action may be one of the primary focuses of this series, but the character development is where it really shines. Murderbot spends a lot of his internal monologue trying to remain cold and dispassionate, which makes the moments where real emotions break through despite his best efforts hit especially hard. He has trouble explaining why he’s so attracted to dramatic TV series, but it seems like they provide him with some context for his emotions while giving him at least a little bit of understanding of the appropriate ways to react to other people. While he tries to avoid opening himself up to others, the moments when he does so are surprisingly touching as he learns that maybe positive human contact isn’t so bad.

So yes, this series is really something special, providing a perfect mix of sci-fi ideas and action along with storytelling that emphasizes the importance of human connection and positive relationships. I’ve referred to Murderbot as neurodivergent, and I would hope that people who fall on that spectrum can find him to be a kindred spirit, someone who has recognizable characteristics and who learns about the benefits of community. Really, that’s something that everyone could benefit from, and I’m glad that Wells is here to show it to us.