Book Review: 'The Murderbot Diaries: Book 3 - Rogue Protocol' by Martha Wells

Cover art by Jaime Jones

SecUnit, the introverted and sarcastic Security Unit murderbot with anxiety issues, is back in the third instalment of 'The Murderbot Diaries' series by Martha Wells, 'Rogue Protocol'. Still on the hunt for information on GrayCris, a shadowy corporation that is collecting alien remnant artifacts and getting rid of anyone who gets in their way, although instead of trying the save the day, SecUnit would much rather be watching entertainment serials instead!

Now masquerading as an augmented human to try and disguise themselves, thanks to ship bot ART in the last book, SecUnit has picked up the clues and finds themselves on Milu, an abandoned terraforming facility and crosses paths with a small inspection team. As things take a turn for the worst for the team, SecUnit reluctantly steps in to help the team.

The build up in the narrative up as SecUnit hacks their way across the galaxy on the trail of GrayCris was well done, setting things up nicely, and as soon as they arrive at Milu, the story picked up the pace again and was quite an exciting ride to the end as they try to escape the facility.

The addition of another bot in this series, Miki, was excellent foil for SecUnit. Not quite at the same level as ART from the second book, and not as technically sophisticated or as intelligent as our favourite cranky cyborg, Miki appeared more childlike and soon came to refer to SecUnit as 'friend', much to their annoyance.

With their decision making and empathetic understanding of certain situations, SecUnit seems to be becoming more human than robot the further the series continues. Their quirky personality has been a real highlight, making the cyborg very relatable indeed.

Overall, 'Rogue Protocol' is a great read in what's been a really enjoyable and fun series so far with one of the best lead characters I've read for a while too.

Available from Waterstones, Audible Audiobooks and all good bookstores.