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Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5

by Martha Wells

eBook, 32 pages

English language

Published April 19, 2021 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-83886-5
OCLC Number:: 1246671121
Goodreads:: 57623348

(9 reviews)

“Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” is a short story set in the world of Martha Well’s bestselling and Hugo award-winning series, “The Murderbot Diaries.”

Told from the perspective of Dr. Mensah, the events of “Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” occurs just after the fourth novella, Exit Strategy.

3 editions

technicat@bookwyrm.social reviewed Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)

nice murderbot snack from a different perspective

No rating

This is my third murderbot short story (are there more?) and my favorite one so far. It's one of the two out of three that are not in the traditional murderbot first person narrative, which I still have trouble getting used to (it takes me a few pages to realize this is not murderbot talking) but I like this use of short stories to bring in different POVs. This story more clearly serves as a fill-in-the-blank between novels and has some more emotional heft than the others (humans have feelings, too), but I like all these murderbot appetizers.

enne📚 reviewed Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)

Home

4 stars

This is a short story that can be read online. The most notable part about this for me is that it was the first story not from Murderbot's point of view, but from Mensah's instead.

This viewpoint shift works for me because Mensah's trauma around being abducted on TranRollinHyfa comes through much more clearly in her own voice. It functions similarly to Rapport in that getting to see the other side of a relationship strengthens your understanding of both sides.

Her feed notifies her of a message packet, addressed to her and Bharadwaj. It’s a link to some sort of catalog weapons supply service. Ayda sighs, mostly amused. “It’s listening to us right now.” It must be hard to respect other people’s privacy when you’ve had to fight and scheme for every minute of your own. Hard not to be paranoid when you remember all the times your paranoia …

This is a short story that can be read online. The most notable part about this for me is that it was the first story not from Murderbot's point of view, but from Mensah's instead.

Her feed notifies her of a message packet, addressed to her and Bharadwaj. It’s a link to some sort of catalog weapons supply service. Ayda sighs, mostly amused. “It’s listening to us right now.” It must be hard to respect other people’s privacy when you’ve had to fight and scheme for every minute of your own. Hard not to be paranoid when you remember all the times your paranoia was justified.

But I also quite enjoy seeing how (and why) Murderbot is always compulsively invading everybody's privacy. Mensah clearly understands and (mostly) feels cared for by it. And also it's awkward and invasive too, and I don't think that we'd be able to get all of that without being in Mensah's head.

73pctGeek reviewed Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells

Packs a lot into a short story

4 stars

Short story set just after Exit Strategy, showing a tiny slice of Ayda Mensah’s life as she struggles with the traumatic events she’d just lived through.

In a break from the rest of the series so far it’s seen from Mensah’s point-of-view, with Murderbot’s interactions mostly, but not exclusively, via the feed.

Though succinct, it brings added depth to the burgeoning friendship between Mensah and Murderbot. I really liked it.

Flauschbuch reviewed Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)

Good

4 stars

A short, interesting look into the mind of Dr. Mensah who's understandably struggling with all the things that happened to her in the 4 previous novellas. We also get a tiny look into the inner workings of Preservation station and the alliance. Should best be read right after "Exit Strategy" as it's more of an epilogue. Could have been longer and explored some of the themes a bit more but I assume that'll happen in "Network Effect".