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Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries Series) Audio CD – December 15, 2018
Martha Wells (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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- Print length1 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRecorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing
- Publication dateDecember 15, 2018
- ISBN-10166446686X
- ISBN-13978-1664466869
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Martha Wells is the author of a number of fantasy novels, including The Cloud Roads, The Wizard Hunters, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer. Her short stories have been published in Black Gate, Realms of Fantasy, and Stargate magazine, and in several anthologies. She is also the author of the media tie-in novels Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary and Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement and a Star Wars novel, Empire and Rebellion: Razors Edge.
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Product details
- Publisher : Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (December 15, 2018)
- Language : English
- Audio CD : 1 pages
- ISBN-10 : 166446686X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1664466869
- Item Weight : 5.1 ounces
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,517,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #47,839 in Books on CD
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Martha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, The Death of the Necromancer, the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, The Murderbot Diaries series, media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, and Locus Awards, and her work has appeared on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot, the BSFA Award ballot, the USA Today Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. Her books have been published in twenty-two languages.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2018
Top reviews from the United States
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$10 for a newspaper article....
All Systems Red was fantastic and priced appropriately. When I bought Artificial Condition I didn't mind paying $10 because I thought it was a novel. Rogue Protocol was more of the same and when I finished it I felt I'd been ripped off rather than entertained. So I'm done.
None of my future purchases will be from Macmillan, and we'll wait and see about Martha Wells.
I’ll start by saying that I’ve read and reviewed the first two books in the series – starting with “All Systems Red”. It’s a book I enjoyed but wasn’t as enthusiastic about as most of those who’ve read it. I've also read and reviewed “Artificial Condition”. I actually thought this was the better of the two and it left me optimistic about the direction in which the story was heading.
Then comes this one and I’m left shaking my head a bit. I’m going to start with this post where I ended my review of “Artificial Condition”:
--------------------------------------------------
“I honestly have only one complaint and it has nothing to do with the book itself. I don’t like the way Martha Wells and the publisher are commercializing the work – hence the Razor / Blades quote. The story is being sold as 4 separate novellas:
All Systems Red – 2017
Artificial Condition – May 2018
Rogue Protocol – August 2018
Exit Strategy – October 2018
They’re sold separately as hardcovers at the price of $16.19 and as e-copies for $9.99. In reality, these are 4 sections of one book – obvious as you read through each separately – and could easily have been published in one volume. The fact that they were all released within an 18 month period only confirms that the Author and the publisher made a pretty crass commercial decision to break the book into four pieces and sell them separately to maximize revenue.
Instead of paying $25 for a single hardcover volume, I’m forced to purchase 4 separate novellas for a combined cost of ~$68.00 in hardcover or ~$40.00 in digital format. Before you say it, I will – shame on me – no one forced me to spend the money – I know I’m being played. Nevertheless, I’m really enjoying the books and I want to get my hands on them as they become available. It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and it makes me wonder about Wells’ attitude towards her fans and readers. Wells and her publisher gave me the Razor but she’s selling me the blades – one at a time – at a pretty high price.”
--------------------------------------------------
The further I progress into the series, the more this frustrates me. This volume picks up immediately upon the end of “Artificial Condition” – almost seamlessly. It’s obvious that Martha Wells wrote this as a single volume and it should have been published as such. I do feel exploited and a bit betrayed – not by the publisher – I understand and accept their business decision – but by the Author who could have forced a decision more in keeping with the interests of her readers. There – I’m done – last time I’ll say it – until the 4th book is released.
If that were the only thing, we’d be fine. It was an entertaining story and we get more of the same Murderbot that so many people seem to have fallen in love with. Martha Wells serves up another type of Bot to serve as both ally and foil for Murderbot. It’s a quick, easy, enjoyable read. Even with all that, I can’t escape the feeling that something’s going a bit wrong with the story – and I think the problem – at least for me – is Murderbot.
In each Novella, Murderbot grows and his personality develops. He defines himself through contact and cooperation with both new groups of humans, new types of Bots and new Machine Intelligences. Murderbot really started to grow on me in “Artificial Condition”. I enjoyed watching him rationalize his actions and I appreciated the way he connected with and related to both his human and machine acquaintances. To be honest, I found him to be a little annoying in this book. The personality traits he manifested made him feel to me like an odd combination of a grumpy old man and a spoiled teen. I’m sure many – likely most – will find this to be intriguing and lovable. It didn’t work as well for me.
I had a second, more wonkish problem and it’s one that’s been creeping up on me across all three novellas. Murderbot doesn’t define very well for me as an entity. There are many different categories of personhood in the book – humans, augmented humans, machine / human hybrids (like Murderbot), true bots (Miki and the Combat Bots) and artificial intelligences like ART from “Artificial Condition. I’m struggling to find a rationale for the creation of an entity like Murderbot. I continue to ask myself what the advantages of a hybrid entity like Murderbot actually are – incorporating biological vulnerabilities – particularly after the acknowledgement in “Rogue Protocol” that there are also Sec Bots that are even more formidable than Combat Bots. Bots like Miki seem to have to capability to relate to and connect with humans. Combat Bots and Sec Bots seem to be far more formidable combatants than Murderbot. The only thing that really seems to separate Murderbot from augmented humans is the governor module that Murderbot has managed to hack. I just don’t see how he fits in the larger scheme of things – what unique quality a SecUnit like Murderbot with a functioning governor module brings to the table. There has to be a functional rationale for creation of an entity as complex and obviously expensive as Murderbot and I just don’t see it.
I know this won’t bother most but it stands out as a non-sequitur for me. It doesn’t keep me from enjoying the stories – I have. It just keeps me from enjoying them to the same degree as other readers seem to – like an annoying itch that can’t be scratched.
Overall, this is a fun book and I suspect most will see it as a great addition to the story. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s enjoyed “All Systems Red” and “Artificial Condition”. I’m certainly going to buy and read the final installment – “Exit Strategy”. I guess all this means is that the series is not going to make it to my top shelf and I don’t know how much staying power it’s ultimately going to have.

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2018
I’ll start by saying that I’ve read and reviewed the first two books in the series – starting with “All Systems Red”. It’s a book I enjoyed but wasn’t as enthusiastic about as most of those who’ve read it. I've also read and reviewed “Artificial Condition”. I actually thought this was the better of the two and it left me optimistic about the direction in which the story was heading.
Then comes this one and I’m left shaking my head a bit. I’m going to start with this post where I ended my review of “Artificial Condition”:
--------------------------------------------------
“I honestly have only one complaint and it has nothing to do with the book itself. I don’t like the way Martha Wells and the publisher are commercializing the work – hence the Razor / Blades quote. The story is being sold as 4 separate novellas:
All Systems Red – 2017
Artificial Condition – May 2018
Rogue Protocol – August 2018
Exit Strategy – October 2018
They’re sold separately as hardcovers at the price of $16.19 and as e-copies for $9.99. In reality, these are 4 sections of one book – obvious as you read through each separately – and could easily have been published in one volume. The fact that they were all released within an 18 month period only confirms that the Author and the publisher made a pretty crass commercial decision to break the book into four pieces and sell them separately to maximize revenue.
Instead of paying $25 for a single hardcover volume, I’m forced to purchase 4 separate novellas for a combined cost of ~$68.00 in hardcover or ~$40.00 in digital format. Before you say it, I will – shame on me – no one forced me to spend the money – I know I’m being played. Nevertheless, I’m really enjoying the books and I want to get my hands on them as they become available. It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and it makes me wonder about Wells’ attitude towards her fans and readers. Wells and her publisher gave me the Razor but she’s selling me the blades – one at a time – at a pretty high price.”
--------------------------------------------------
The further I progress into the series, the more this frustrates me. This volume picks up immediately upon the end of “Artificial Condition” – almost seamlessly. It’s obvious that Martha Wells wrote this as a single volume and it should have been published as such. I do feel exploited and a bit betrayed – not by the publisher – I understand and accept their business decision – but by the Author who could have forced a decision more in keeping with the interests of her readers. There – I’m done – last time I’ll say it – until the 4th book is released.
If that were the only thing, we’d be fine. It was an entertaining story and we get more of the same Murderbot that so many people seem to have fallen in love with. Martha Wells serves up another type of Bot to serve as both ally and foil for Murderbot. It’s a quick, easy, enjoyable read. Even with all that, I can’t escape the feeling that something’s going a bit wrong with the story – and I think the problem – at least for me – is Murderbot.
In each Novella, Murderbot grows and his personality develops. He defines himself through contact and cooperation with both new groups of humans, new types of Bots and new Machine Intelligences. Murderbot really started to grow on me in “Artificial Condition”. I enjoyed watching him rationalize his actions and I appreciated the way he connected with and related to both his human and machine acquaintances. To be honest, I found him to be a little annoying in this book. The personality traits he manifested made him feel to me like an odd combination of a grumpy old man and a spoiled teen. I’m sure many – likely most – will find this to be intriguing and lovable. It didn’t work as well for me.
I had a second, more wonkish problem and it’s one that’s been creeping up on me across all three novellas. Murderbot doesn’t define very well for me as an entity. There are many different categories of personhood in the book – humans, augmented humans, machine / human hybrids (like Murderbot), true bots (Miki and the Combat Bots) and artificial intelligences like ART from “Artificial Condition. I’m struggling to find a rationale for the creation of an entity like Murderbot. I continue to ask myself what the advantages of a hybrid entity like Murderbot actually are – incorporating biological vulnerabilities – particularly after the acknowledgement in “Rogue Protocol” that there are also Sec Bots that are even more formidable than Combat Bots. Bots like Miki seem to have to capability to relate to and connect with humans. Combat Bots and Sec Bots seem to be far more formidable combatants than Murderbot. The only thing that really seems to separate Murderbot from augmented humans is the governor module that Murderbot has managed to hack. I just don’t see how he fits in the larger scheme of things – what unique quality a SecUnit like Murderbot with a functioning governor module brings to the table. There has to be a functional rationale for creation of an entity as complex and obviously expensive as Murderbot and I just don’t see it.
I know this won’t bother most but it stands out as a non-sequitur for me. It doesn’t keep me from enjoying the stories – I have. It just keeps me from enjoying them to the same degree as other readers seem to – like an annoying itch that can’t be scratched.
Overall, this is a fun book and I suspect most will see it as a great addition to the story. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s enjoyed “All Systems Red” and “Artificial Condition”. I’m certainly going to buy and read the final installment – “Exit Strategy”. I guess all this means is that the series is not going to make it to my top shelf and I don’t know how much staying power it’s ultimately going to have.

P.S.One caveat-the pricing of the Murderbot novellas is predatory and leaves me feeling violated, if they were not such good reads I would be out of here in a flash. See Glinda Good's review for a beautifully reasoned breakdown on the high pricing of the Murderbot series.
Top reviews from other countries

The central character is highly original and robots have never been characterised so well since Iain Banks. He is a human/robot construct who should be under control from his programming but has managed to hack the program to have some free will in his decisions. He goes on to have a different adventure in each of the 4 stories and save people from the evil, stop-at-nothing-for-profit, mega-corporation, making some decent friends with people/bots that he meets on the way. If you like hard SF with realistically-drawn future technology then you will like this.
Wait until the price goes down before buying and read “Sea of Rust” or “Windup Girl” or any of Bank's Culture Series books (such as “Player of Games” or “Excession”) in the meantime. These are all excellent full-size books which contain well-characterised drones/robots and they are all sold at a reasonable price.

That said I’d advise avoiding this until the price of the four books is the same as the average length novel they will then represent. I will certainly not be buying any more Martha Wells at this kind of price (just under £6 each) in future. And that includes further outings, if any, for the murderbot.
Your mileage may vary of course, but I’m not encouraging this kind of pricing with my money.

Unfortunately, this one has left a really bad taste in my mouth because not only is it expensive but it is also rather average. There is minimal to no characterisation for the non-Murderbot characters, the action is by-the-numbers with no real sense of peril and the plot is extremely predictable.
Even when there are consequences to actions, it's hard to care because the characters are just weakly developed ciphers.


Fast paced, in a world that's well built and dangerous, but safer when your secunit is holding your hand, and the rest of your shaking body.
Of course knowing it's fully capable of tearing that arm off and beating you to death with it just adds spice to the serial entertainment feeds.
Populated with a growing AI cast, and villains and idiots wearing flesh, it's a superb read.
Too short because it's so good.
Treat yourself, adopt a murderbot today.
Part three of what promises to be a timeless classic, even better than the rise and fall of sanctuary moon.
Dexter and Obi Wan meets the expanse, and creates relationship counselling tensions in blood and sharp weapons.