The third novella in the Murderbot Diaries is as entertaining as its predecessor. It combines science fiction, a wonderful sense of humor, and action beats as we join Murderbot on his continued journey of self-discovery, which seems to constantly deliver him into trouble.

And Rogue Protocol is no exception.

Seeking more information about the corporation that mucked his assignment over in the first story, Murderbot is on his way to a remote station to gain more information on them. But he has to do it secretly, finding his way to the station by tricking a pilot-bot of a shuttle.

Unfortunately, he finds out too late that he’s not the only on aboard. It seems a group of humans are headed to the station to help close it down and shut it out. But they are from a competing company, and GreyCris isn’t going to let anyone get any of their information off the station.

So thee humans, and murderbot, walk into an attack. And all of a sudden our sarcastic robot, who along with wanting to nail GreyCris to the wall while avoiding all humans only wants to kick back and enjoy his serials, soon finds himself fighting combat bots, and trying to save humans.

Humans, he often feels, are too stupid to make decisions for themselves.

These books are entertaining, delightfully funny, have great action sequences, and have a character that is human and relatable, despite not being one, and not desiring to be the other.

Once again, this novella is just a short entry in a much longer over-arching story, but the size of these installments seem perfect. They are not overly long, are massively entertaining, and never seem to overstay their welcome.

I find myself loving each foray into Murderbot’s life, enjoying his commentary on those around him, his opinion on things, and his growth from story to story. And the way this one ends, we are left to wonder exactly what he discovered in the files, and what that meeans for the story going forward.

Wells has created a great character, which gives a unique perspective on humanity, and also has created a sprawling universe in which it exists. And that means there are countless stories that this universe may hold.

Let’s see what Murderbot gets up to when I explore the next story in the series, Exit Strategy. Damn these are fun and quick reads, add em to your To Be Read pile!