System Collapse

The Murderbot Diaries #7

by Martha Wells, Martha Wells

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published Nov. 13, 2023 by Tordotcom.

ISBN:: 9781250826978

View on OpenLibrary

(3 reviews)

Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.

Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is… not going to work.

3 editions

el dang reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells

💗 Murderbot 💗

5 stars

I continue to love the Murderbot series. By this point, the action parts have lost impact because there's too much precedent for how they're going to turn out, so I think it's wise of Wells to play that part down a bit in this book, in favour of a story more about persuasion and trust building. And the ongoing saga of Murderbot learning about both its limits and capabilities continues to be one of the most relatable arcs in SF/F.

norb reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells

Another Great Murderbot Story

4 stars

Content warning Maybe a little bit of a spoiler ahead but probably not much. Nothing to ruin the plot anyways,

Once again, Martha Wells spins out a fun Muderbot tale.

I've enjoyed the journey that Wells has taken us on in regards to Murderbot's progress to more "humanity."

In many ways, Murderbot is often the most humane of characters in these stories as it is always putting itself in danger before the "real" humans.

I enjoyed that as these books have progressed, SecUnit has had to become more human for survival, but also apparently for it's own self improvement. As it ran out of more and more drones in this story, it even commented on how being a human must be terrible.

I'm always impressed with Wells' ability to put the reader into the shoes of something that is inherently not human, but yet still shows us a better side of humanity.

Marek

rated it

Nov 13

Subjects

Fiction
Science Fiction