“The lethal but good-hearted security robot that narrates Wells’s Hugo and Nebula award–winning Murderbot Diaries series returns, alongside friends old and new, for its wildly entertaining eighth adventure (after System Collapse). On a high-stakes extraction mission, Murderbot guides fellow SecUnit, Three, to sneak onto a Corporation Rim station and trigger a distraction. Meanwhile, Murderbot, hidden inside a cargo module, slips through the station’s heightened security. To Murderbot’s dismay, successfully played for laughs, the station is built to look like an elaborate planetary landscape, with shops and offices built into man-made cliffs and caves. Despite this rocky terrain, Murderbot reaches the safe house holding Farai, one of Murderbot’s dear friend Dr. Mensah’s two marital partners; their daughter, Sofi; and Farai’s mother, Naja. There, Murderbot encounters another unexpected obstacle: Supervisor Leonide, a higher-up in the Corporation Rim, who convinces the reluctant robot to help her family, sending it on a long and dangerous quest to rescue five more humans. This spectacular journey, punctuated with satisfying combat scenes, takes on an epic flavor grounded by Murderbot’s sardonic voice and Well’s exploration of mental health and physical well-being. Equal parts action packed, humorous, and heartfelt, this proves the series shows no signs of slowing down.” — Publishers Weekly

Murderbot: Season One (by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz (Apple TV+)) is a finalist for The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation!

“Murderbot volunteered for this rescue mission because it’s certain that they have the best odds of accomplishing this poorly planned operation. They’re not wrong, but they underestimate how long and stressful the trip will be and how fast and often it’s going to go wrong. The plan to rescue members of Dr. Mensah’s family from the evil Barish-Estranza corporation goes immediately off the rails, while Murderbot’s supposed assistant goes rogue, and the journey turns into a long walk through grim places by a ragtag group of refugees keeping it together because they are together. It’s Murderbot’s internal journey that conducts this story from peril to peril, as their paranoia increases and they realize that it’s good to receive help and support from others. It’s fascinating to watch Murderbot grow as a sentient being without any desire to be human, and it’s always terrific to watch them save the day yet again.

VERDICT Murderbot’s legion of fans will be thrilled by Wells’s latest series installment, and readers who love a good, snarky internal monologue will be glad to know that Murderbot is back in fine fettle after their self-doubt in the previous book, System Collapse.” — Library Journal, Starred Review

“The newest Murderbot novel (after System Collapse, 2023) has our titular (not really an anti) hero aided by Three, the newest rogue SecUnit, on a stealth mission in a planetary ring habitat to retrieve members of Mensah’s family, who’ve been kidnapped by the Barish Estranza Corporation in retaliation for her role on the plague planet. Along the way, an unexpected ally complicates the mission, and somehow the corporate mercs seem to know they’re coming. The plot starts off in the middle of the action and doesn’t let up until the very end. It’s an incredibly satisfying ride, and one of the funniest installments in the series: After their false memory issues, Murderbot installed an “emotion check” subroutine and it’s a perfect vehicle for the sarcastic, cynical humor readers crave. Perhaps most intriguing is a small side plot that teases a change with potentially huge implications. Wells returns to form with this one, offering a setting and cast that feels smaller and more intimate, more like her earlier novellas. At the same time, she sets up exciting possibilities for where this universe could go next. The family dynamic adds real poignancy, providing one of the most emotionally resonant Murderbot tales yet. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The success of the Apple TV series only adds to Murderbot’s popularity, and readers have patiently waited several years for the next installment in the series.” — Booklist, Starred Review

The Washington Post names Murderbot as one of the top 10 TV shows of 2025!

“It’s fun when slight little shows — especially comedies — overperform by improving on a silly premise. In Apple TV’s goofy space dystopia, “Murderbot,” Alexander Skarsgard plays a crabby, semi-obsolete “SecUnit” (or “private security construct” — sort of a computer with human tissue) that started the series by quietly rebelling against its overlords. Specifically, it hacked its “governor module” to watch a bunch of movies and TV, and it must now hide its newfound sentience (and fandom) from the incompetent humans it’s forced to protect. The series was one of the year’s weirder and more successful television experiments. Created by Weitz brothers Paul and Chris (who also made “American Pie” and “About a Boy”) the show, an adaptation of the first book of Martha Wells’s “The Murderbot Diaries,” makes extraordinary — and original, and very funny — use of Skarsgard’s almost inhumanly handsome and distant screen presence.” — Washington Post

“Eric Mok returns to narrate this sequel to WITCH KING, bringing back all of his wonderfully varied British accents for the large cast. The narrative jumps back and forth between two timelines: In the past, immortal demon Kaiisteron and Prince-heir Bishasha advance against the powerful, subjugating Heirarchs; years later in the present day, long after the war is over, Kai and his found family investigate whether any Heirarchs might still survive. While some close listening is required to keep the two timelines straight, Mok ensures that each character, past and present, is instantly recognizable. Listeners are rewarded with a sweeping, immersive story full of fascinating details and studded with small, intimate, moving moments between characters we come to care deeply about.” — Audiofile Magazine (on audio edition)

“Witch King (2023) introduced readers to Kai and his crew of disgruntled witches and other assorted enemies of the former Hierarchs. Wells continues their story here, recounting how scholar Dahin has a theory that means they need to go to the archaeological site of the Hierarchs’ origin, and quickly. Meanwhile, an accompanying time line from the past tells a story of Bashara and Kai and their journeys together in the older war, before the events of the first novel. New threats rise up to bring the old world’s violence and pain coming back to the fore as Wells sets up for a series climax. Readers will benefit from having learned the breadth of world and character details in the first volume and, without the need to study here, will blaze more easily through the action and politics….Fans of character-rooted high fantasy will enjoy this series led by a demon with a surprisingly soft heart.” — Booklist

“The second book in The Rising World series (a sequel to Witch King) continues to recount the trials and tribulations of Witch King Kai in dual timelines. In the past timeline, Kai’s breaking of the death-magic-corrupted Hierarchs brings forth a world-spanning rebellion that is hurtling toward a precipice of disaster, while in the present timeline, Kai and his found family travel to the ends of their world to prevent a second rise of tyranny. The past timeline shows heartbreak and triumph going hand in hand, while in the present, catastrophe and despair run headlong toward a likely shattered future—no matter who wins or what is lost. Witch King Kai and his heart-sister Queen Demon Ziede try to outrace potential disaster twice over. In the past, they saved the world; in the present, they do their best to keep their old enemies from rising again to tear their work apart.

VERDICT This epic fantasy adventure of found family, lost love, and promises kept, even after death, is a quest for long-buried truths that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish with its high-stakes adventures.” — Library Journal