Review: Rogue Protocol, by Martha Wells

Russ Allbery eagle at eyrie.org
Thu Dec 19 19:55:47 PST 2019


Rogue Protocol
by Martha Wells

Series:    Murderbot Diaries #3
Publisher: Tor.com
Copyright: August 2018
ISBN:      1-250-18543-2
Format:    Kindle
Pages:     150

This is the third Murderbot novella. It could probably be read on its
own, since each is a self-contained story, but reading in order will
add some depth via the increasing thoughtfulness of Murderbot's
motives.

  There needs to be an error code that means "I received your request
  but decided to ignore you."

Murderbot is trying to get out of the Corporation Rim. Its former
owner, GrayCris, is entangled in litigation over its sketchy actions
(told in the previous novellas), including a failed terraforming
attempt outside of the Corporation Rim. This is a convenient
combination. Murderbot can get out of the Rim and away from potential
pursuers while looking around the terraforming attempt for evidence
that could hurt GrayCris. And possibly also give its primary rescuer
from All Systems Red less justification to be fighting dangerous
corporations and more reason to go home where she will be safe.

That's how Murderbot ends up as unexpected passenger security on a trip
to HaveRotten station, giving rise to the above quote (and several
other great moments).

Starting at HaveRotten station, Rogue Protocol follows a similar path
as Artificial Condition: Murderbot picks up some humans on the way to
its objective (in this case, the team from the company that took over
the failing terraforming station and is surveying it), can't resist
trying to protect them, and ends up serving as security because, well,
someone has to. This time around, that comes with irritated and
disgusted criticism of the failings of the human security that is
supposed to be doing that job. That was the best part of the book. The
situation isn't quite what it appears to be on the surface, of course,
which leads to some tense and exciting tactical maneuvering on an
abandoned station against daunting odds.

The new element of Rogue Protocol is Miki, another humanform robot. I
had mixed feelings about Miki. I think this was intentional — Murderbot
also has mixed feelings about Miki — but I'm still not sure if I liked
the overall effect. It is more naive and simple-minded than Murderbot,
but is the friend of one of the humans. Murderbot, and the reader, are
initially suspicious that "pet" may be a better word than "friend," but
that's not quite the case. It's a disturbing look at another option for
sentient robots in this universe other than simple property, one that's
better in some ways, and which seems to work for Miki, but is
nonetheless ripe for abuse.

Miki is central to the emotional thrust of the novella, and I can't
argue this didn't work on me. I think the reason why I have some
lingering discomfort is that Miki is right on the border of a slave who
wants to be a slave, belongs to someone who doesn't quite treat it like
one (but could), and (unlike Murderbot) is probably incapable of
deciding to be something else. I'm sure this was intentional on Wells
part; a primary theme of this series is the nature of
self-determination in a universe that treats you like property. It's
also a long-standing SF theme that's fair game to explore. But it still
bothered me the more I thought about it, and I'm not sure Miki's
owner/friend, or this novella, fully engages with the implications.

That element bumped my enjoyment of this entry of the series a little
lower, but this is still solidly entertaining stuff. Murderbot's
internal critique of other people's security decisions is worth the
price of entry by itself, and I'm still delighted by its narrative
voice. I continue to recommend this whole series.

Followed by Exit Strategy.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Reviewed: 2019-12-19

URL: https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/1-250-18543-2.html

-- 
Russ Allbery (eagle at eyrie.org)             <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>


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