The Murderbot Diaries Reading Order: Complete Guide (2026)

Murderbot has eleven books now, three short stories, and a timeline that stopped matching publication order somewhere around book five. If you're trying to figure out where to start, or where Rapport and Fugitive Telemetry actually fit, this is the guide.

The recommended reading order for The Murderbot Diaries is: All Systems Red → Artificial Condition → Rogue Protocol → Exit Strategy → Fugitive Telemetry → Network Effect → System Collapse → Platform Decay. Three short stories (Compulsory, Rapport, and Home) slot into specific points in the timeline. This chronological story order, updated for Platform Decay's May 2026 release, is the most complete reading guide available.

Why Reading Order Matters for This Series

Most book series are straightforward. Read them in the order they came out and you're done. Murderbot is different.

Martha Wells published the novellas and novels between 2017 and 2026, but the publication order doesn't match the story's internal timeline. Fugitive Telemetry came out after Network Effect but takes place before it.

Three short stories are scattered across magazines and literary websites with no obvious home. And with Platform Decay dropping in May 2026 as the eighth main entry, plus the Apple TV+ show pulling in readers who've never touched the books, the "what order do I read these in?" question has never been more relevant.

I've read every book in this series. Here's the order I'd recommend, and why.

The Complete Reading Order (Chronological)

This is the story-timeline order. I recommend it for new readers in 2026 because it follows Murderbot's arc without any jumps backward or forward. Each book builds on what came before.

1. "Compulsory" (Short Story, 2019)

Where to find it: Originally published in Wired Magazine, December 2018 (January 2019 issue)

Set before All Systems Red, this short story follows Murderbot shortly after it hacks its governor module. It's brief and sharp, but optional for a first read.

If you want to jump straight into the main series, skip this and come back later. If you want the full chronological experience from page one, begin here.

2. All Systems Red (Novella, 2017, 144 pages)

This is where most readers should start, and where the series hooks you.

Murderbot is a SecUnit, part organic, part machine, assigned to protect a team of scientists on a planetary survey mission. It has secretly hacked the governor module that controls its behavior. All it wants to do is watch soap operas in peace.

Then people start dying, and Murderbot has to decide whether caring about humans is worth the inconvenience.

The novella won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. It's 144 pages. You can finish it in an afternoon, and you will, because the last 30 pages don't let you put it down.

Read my Review: Rediscovering 'All Systems Red' by Martha Wells

3. Artificial Condition (Novella, 2018, 160 pages)

Murderbot travels back to the mining facility where it once "went rogue" (or so it's been told), trying to piece together what actually happened. Along the way, it meets ART, a deep-space research transport vessel with an AI that is simultaneously the best and most insufferable character in the series.

ART is pushy, brilliant, and deeply invested in Murderbot's wellbeing whether Murderbot likes it or not. Their dynamic is the backbone of the later novels. This is where it starts.

4. "Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" (Short Story, 2025)

Where to find it: Published on Reactor (formerly Tor.com), 2025

Told from ART's (Perihelion's) perspective, this short story picks up shortly after Artificial Condition. Perihelion and its crew take on a mission at a corporate-controlled station mid-hostile-takeover, and you get to see ART operate without Murderbot around to annoy.

Most reading guides skip this one or place it later in the timeline. It belongs here, right after Murderbot and ART part ways.

5. Rogue Protocol (Novella, 2018, 160 pages)

Murderbot takes on a freelance investigation to expose the corporation that nearly killed its former clients. This entry introduces Miki, a bot that follows its clients around, tells them it cares about them, and can't fathom why Murderbot won't do the same.

Murderbot spends the whole book irritated by Miki. By the last chapter, you understand that the irritation was never really about Miki.

→ Read my review: The Murderbot Diaries: An Exploration of 'Rogue Protocol'

6. Exit Strategy (Novella, 2018, 176 pages)

The first four novellas form a single arc, and this is where it pays off. Murderbot reunites with Dr. Mensah and the original survey team to take down GrayCris, the corporation behind everything that's gone wrong.

The climax isn't a fight. Murderbot makes a choice about Mensah, quietly and without weapons, that it couldn't have made in All Systems Red.

After Exit Strategy, the first arc closes. Murderbot survived and escaped. The rest of the series asks a question Murderbot doesn't want to answer: now what?

→ Read my review: Murderbot's Journey: An 'Exit Strategy' Review

7. "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" (Short Story, 2020)

Where to find it: Originally published May 2020 as a Network Effect pre-order bonus; freely available on Reactor (formerly Tor.com) since April 2021

Told from Dr. Mensah's perspective, this story explores the aftermath of her kidnapping by GrayCris and her evolving relationship with Murderbot. It's the only main-series entry told entirely from a human character's point of view.

Mensah has been "the good human" for four novellas. This is where she gets to be a full character with her own arc.

8. Fugitive Telemetry (Novella, 2021, 176 pages)

Here's where reading order gets tricky, and where most guides fail you.

Fugitive Telemetry was published after Network Effect, but it takes place before it. A dead body shows up on Preservation Station, and Murderbot reluctantly works with station security to solve the case. It's a murder mystery with a protagonist who is technically a weapon and socially allergic to cooperation.

Read it here, before Network Effect, for the smoothest character progression. The novella fills in the relationships and dynamics on Preservation Station that make Network Effect's opening land.

9. Network Effect (Novel, 2020, 352 pages)

The first full-length novel, and a turning point. The GrayCris arc is done. For the first time, Murderbot gets to choose what it does, and the choices reveal more about it than four novellas of obligation ever could.

ART is back, the stakes go wider than anything in the novellas, and the story goes to places I did not expect. The pacing runs different from the novellas, more layered and deliberate, but the payoff justifies every page.

→ Read my review: Network Effect Is Where The Murderbot Diaries Starts Over

10. System Collapse (Novel, 2023, 256 pages)

Murderbot is dealing with trauma. Not in a dramatic, cinematic breakdown, but in the way trauma actually works: avoidance, cognitive shutdown, the inability to process while still being expected to function. Wells shows it through the gaps — conversations Murderbot cuts short, memories it routes around, moments where it stops processing but keeps working anyway.

System Collapse is the most emotionally demanding entry in the series. It's also the one that elevated it, for me, from "fun sci-fi" to something I keep thinking about months later.

11. Platform Decay (Novel, 2026, 256 pages)

The newest entry, released May 5, 2026. Murderbot volunteers for a rescue mission and finds itself stuck with a group of humans it doesn't know, including children. Already a New York Times, USA Today, and National Indie Bestseller in its first two weeks.

Watching Murderbot try to handle children — something no amount of combat training or system hacking prepared it for — gives the book a texture the series hasn't had before.

This is where the series stands as of mid-2026. Martha Wells has a ninth book contracted, so the story isn't over yet.

Publication Order (And Why It Still Works)

If you'd rather read the books in the order Wells released them, here's that sequence:

1. All Systems Red (2017)

2. Artificial Condition (2018)

3. Rogue Protocol (2018)

4. Exit Strategy (2018)

5. Network Effect (2020)

6. Fugitive Telemetry (2021)

7. System Collapse (2023)

8. Platform Decay (2026)

Publication order is perfectly fine for a first read. The main difference is that you'll hit Network Effect before Fugitive Telemetry, which means a minor timeline jump backward. You'll also skip the short stories unless you track them down separately.

For readers who want to grab the books and go without hunting for short fiction online, publication order is the path of least resistance. For the fullest experience, chronological is better.

Where Do the Short Stories Fit?

This is the section most guides either skip or get wrong. Three short stories exist in the Murderbot universe. None of them are collected in the main novels.

You have to find them separately.

"Compulsory" (2019) sits before All Systems Red in the timeline. Available in Wired Magazine's online archive. It adds texture to Murderbot's early days as a rogue SecUnit, but you can skip it without losing any plot threads.

"Rapport" (2025) is told from ART's perspective and is set right after Artificial Condition, before Rogue Protocol. Published on Reactor. If you care about the Murderbot-ART dynamic (and after Artificial Condition, you will), this short story deepens it.

"Home" (2020) is told from Dr. Mensah's perspective, set after Exit Strategy. Available on Tor.com (now Reactor). This is the most worthwhile of the three, and it transforms Mensah from "the good human" into a character with her own arc.

All three are optional but rewarding. If you're reading chronologically, they slot into positions 1, 4, and 7 in the full order above.

The Apple TV+ Show: Book-to-Screen Guide

The Murderbot TV series premiered on Apple TV+ on May 16, 2025, starring Alexander Skarsgård as the titular SecUnit. Season 1 (ten episodes) adapts All Systems Red. The show was renewed for Season 2 in July 2025.

If you watched the show and want to continue with the books, you have two options. Pick up Artificial Condition (book 2) and continue from where the show left off.

Or start with All Systems Red anyway, because the book's first-person narration gives you access to Murderbot's internal monologue in a way the show can only approximate with voiceover and facial twitches. The novella is 144 pages. It won't take long, and experiencing Murderbot's voice on the page is worth the time.

Omnibus and Collector's Editions

If you prefer fewer, chunkier volumes, several collected editions are available:

The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1 (2025): All Systems Red + Artificial Condition

The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 2 (2025): Rogue Protocol + Exit Strategy

The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 3 (2025): Fugitive Telemetry + System Collapse

These 2025 omnibus editions collect the shorter entries into convenient two-in-one volumes. Network Effect, the first full-length novel, is available as a standalone trade paperback.

Subterranean Press Collector's Edition (2021): The first four novellas plus "Home," with cover art and illustrations by Tommy Arnold. Limited print run, currently at collector's prices.

The Murderbot Diaries: Books 1-4 Box Set (2020): Individual hardcovers of the first four novellas in a slipcase.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I read Fugitive Telemetry before or after Network Effect?

Before. Fugitive Telemetry takes place on Preservation Station before the events of Network Effect.

Reading it first gives you a smoother character arc and better context for the character dynamics in the later novels.

Do I need to read the short stories?

You don't need them for the main plot, but "Home" changes how you read Mensah in every book after it. "Rapport" is worth it if ART is your favorite character. Skip "Compulsory" on a first read and come back to it later.

Is Platform Decay the last Murderbot book?

Not yet. Martha Wells has a ninth book contracted. In interviews, she's mentioned having "vague ideas" for it and has said it may be the final entry.

But nothing is confirmed beyond the contract existing.

Can I start with the Apple TV+ show instead of the books?

Yes. Season 1 covers All Systems Red, so you can jump to Artificial Condition after watching.

That said, the books are narrated entirely from Murderbot's internal perspective, which the show can only partially replicate. Reading All Systems Red after the show isn't redundant. It's a different experience of the same story.

What about "Obsolescence"?

Obsolescence is a Martha Wells short story set in the Murderbot universe but not following Murderbot directly. It provides background lore about the setting. It's not part of the main reading order and can be read at any point without affecting your experience of the series.

Start Here

If all of this feels like too much, the simplest possible answer is All Systems Red. It's 144 pages.

If Murderbot's first internal monologue doesn't hook you, nothing will. And if it does, you've got ten more books and stories waiting, and now you know exactly what order to read them in.