If Murderbot’s dry, self-deprecating quips kept you grinning even while it was dragging Amena through firefights and arguing with ART’s compromised systems, you’ll love the janitorial crew of the spaceship EMCS Pufferfish. In Terminal Alliance, Mops and her team survive disasters by mixing ruthless competence with gallows humor—think Murderbot’s "I’d rather be watching media" vibe transposed to cleaners who have to save the galaxy between unclogging recyclers. The balance of banter, action, and reluctant heroics hits that same sweet spot as Murderbot rescuing ART from alien remnant contamination.

You liked living inside Murderbot’s head while it triaged threats, hacked systems, and narrated every messy step of saving ART and the kidnapped colonists. The Martian gives you that same intimate access: Mark Watney’s first-person logs are a constant stream of practical fixes, bleak jokes, and razor-edged tension. As with Murderbot jury-rigging ops during the wormhole abduction and alien remnant crisis, Watney lays out the how and why behind each risky solution—equal parts competence porn and survival thriller, delivered with a voice you can’t stop reading.

If you were hooked by Murderbot unraveling who hijacked ART and why colonists were disappearing around that alien remnant—while navigating shady corporations and weaponized tech—Lock In scratches the same itch. Rookie FBI agent Chris Shane investigates a murder tied to neural tech and profiteering, with crisp pacing and smart, tech-grounded twists. The way Murderbot digs through logs, hacks systems, and pieces together the conspiracy echoes Shane’s methodical, high-stakes investigation.

If the heart of Network Effect for you was Murderbot’s grudging care—for Amena, Dr. Mensah, and especially ART—this is your comfort read. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet centers a patchwork crew whose relationships matter as much as the voyage. Like Murderbot discovering it will absolutely cross the galaxy for its people (and ship), you’ll find that same found-family warmth, quiet character beats between moments of danger, and the sense that home can be a vessel full of weirdos who’ve got your back.

Murderbot’s fierce attachment to ART—the way it bristles, bickers, then will risk everything to save that not-a-human friend—maps beautifully to the core of Project Hail Mary. Stranded scientist Ryland Grace forges a deep, problem-solving partnership with an alien companion, and their evolving trust carries the book. If ART’s compromised state and Murderbot’s determined rescue hit you in the feelings, Grace’s collaboration and genuine friendship with his non-human ally will do the same, with clever science puzzles and big-hearted payoff.