Murderbot Diaries reading order: 6 award-recognized books
Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries follow a security android that hacked its own controls and would rather watch TV than protect its clients. Read them in publication order; the books are short and build on each other.
If you read just one: All Systems Red by Martha Wells, because it is where the series starts, and it is short.
In reading order
1. All Systems Red
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2018) ·
Murderbot protects a team of surveyors on a planet when another team goes silent.
2. Artificial Condition
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (2019) ·
Murderbot goes looking for the truth about its own past, with help from a sarcastic transport ship.
3. Rogue Protocol
Finalist for the Locus Award (2019) ·
An abandoned terraforming station, a cheerful robot and evidence against a ruthless company.
Good to know: Book four, Exit Strategy, comes next. It is not listed here because it was not an award finalist.
4. Network Effect
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2021) ·
The first full-length novel: Murderbot and its humans are kidnapped, and an old friend returns.
5. Fugitive Telemetry
Won the Locus Award (2022) ·
A murder mystery on Preservation Station.
Good to know: Published after Network Effect but set before it; either order works.
6. System Collapse
Won the Locus Award (2024) ·
Picking up after Network Effect, Murderbot helps a colony while dealing with what happened to it.
How we chose
Every book in this guide won or was a finalist for at least one of the Hugo, Nebula, Locus or Arthur C. Clarke awards. Each book page lists its full award history with sources. Page counts come from English print editions and vary by edition. 6 books in all.