Rogue Protocol: Best Murderbot Book Yet

Rogue Protocol Is Very Much Another Sequel

I fear repetition in my review of Rouge Protocol. At this point, it’s clear that the series is a continuous stream of one-offs. SecUnit goes to a place—usually to find out the answer to something—and meets some humans and is then pushed into an action scenario where SecUnit has to save those humans. There are usually a few twists, a few cool action moments, and some snark. The pattern is just that set.

My complaints appear just as set, too. Rouge Protocol has the same issues that all the books do: relentless technical jargon, and flat descriptions of events. I realize SecUnit is literally a machine, but the procedural nature of the prose grated on me in multiple places. I spent the first while just going, “Yep, yep, got it, please get to the fun parts.”

But, also once again, the fun parts are a lot of fun. And different this time, too. Instead of SecUnit primarily learning to empathize with humans, this time SecUnit has got to learn to empathize with a bot named Miki—as well as some humans. And though Miki is very obviously written to be the cute and helpful robot that you can’t help but fall in love with—that trick still works all the same. Miki’s clear narrative function does, however, somewhat contradict the in-universe (valid) point about how humans treat robots poorly. There are enough moments that talk about Miki’s obvious autonomy, as well, but the whole subject in Rogue Protocol is a bit muddled.

The part that does absolutely work narratively is how it affects SecUnit. It’s emotionally complicated for a MurderBot to witness humans continuously caring about a robot and effectively progress SecUnit’s overarching character journey.

The Books Have A Fantastic Narrative Throughline

The other cool change is tonal. There’s a shift toward science fiction horror so deliberate that SecUnit calls it out. And, if the prose in Rogue Protocol wasn’t so dry, it would’ve been quite a tense book. It’s still mildly tense just from good tone-setting and strong characterization. When SecUnit is concerned about something, it’s difficult not to also be worried. I won’t spoil what exactly the threat is in Rogue Protocol, but I loved how there were a few possible options, and how the ending picks one and runs with it.

I also love the ending in general. There were a few moments that broke immersion, but, once the story started playing with all the toys it had set up, the adventure was great. I don’t think I fully appreciated how often SecUnit uses cool tactics to overcome challenges in previous books, but Rouge Protocol really highlights SecUnit’s problem-solving skills.

And I think those mild additions and variations actually really improved the series for me. Way more than I would have thought. It’s cool seeing SecUnit not have the upper hand in fights, make mistakes, and struggle with emotions. It keeps things interesting. Even this series’ propensity for rushing endings once the action is done didn’t bother me as much. It’s just a clear improvement in writing. Rouge Protocol is the best book in the series so far.

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