The latest in the Murderbot series explores what a construct (part organic human, part artificial intelligence) really is, as Murderbot deals with lingering trauma while trying to protect its new human friends and help broker a peaceful exit off the planet for stranded colonists. This installment develops the world further, while still leaving lots of questions for future books (what is the deal with the alien remnants?). The addition of the new characters is pretty seamless, and Murderbot's characteristically hilarious narrative voice also grounds the emotion well I really really enjoyed it.

Murderbot is in the middle of a lot right now. It's trying to save its own humans, ART's humans, humans it's never met, oh and it's also recovering from <redacted>. All while this is going on, it's confronted by other SecUnits that have properly functioning governor modules, and is Murderbot ethically obligated to do something about that? Who knows? Surely not Murderbot! Snarky, vulnerable, hilarious, and emotional, the Murderbot we know and love is back with all of its friends, trying to make its way around a planet that a cartoonishly evil corporation is trying to exploit for its own ends.

Book seven in Martha Wells’ phenomenal The Murderbot Diaries series, System Collapse follows on closely after the events of Network Effect, with Murderbot having to deal with ever-increasing numbers of awkward humans and some especially uncomfortable emotions. With the alien remnant infection largely dealt with, the combined group of ART’s university crew and the Preservation team have turned their attention to safeguarding the remaining colonists, attempting to persuade them not to agree to any shady ‘contracts’ offered by the ruthless Barish-Estranza corporates. The problem is, Murderbot’s traumatic alien remnant experiences have resulted in a noticeable drop in performance, which isn’t ideal…especially considering Barish-Estranza have their own SecUnits and aren’t afraid to play dirty.

We’ve previously seen plenty of Murderbot wrestling with the complexities of free will, a theme which continues here, but this time it’s a story about coming to terms with trauma (ironically, exactly what Murderbot was previously encouraging Mensah to do), and learning to cope in different ways. To begin with there’s quite a bit of jumping back and forth in the timeline, perhaps representing Murderbot’s chaotic emotional state, and it’s instantly obvious that you really need to be on your toes and clear about what happened at the end of Network Effect (a quick reread of the last few chapters does the trick). There’s a lot to keep track of, not least rather more characters than usual, but the payoff is a story that feels rich and rewarding, offering real development for both Murderbot as a character and the series as a whole.

Seven books in, it would be easy for Wells to coast and simply give readers more of the same – more action, more snark, more Sanctuary Moon, more Murderbot-staring-at-a-wall – in another straightforward, standalone adventure. All those things are indeed present and correct here, but Wells hasn’t just taken the easy option, instead opting for a slightly different feel to most of the other stories. This is a little slower and a little less action-packed, a more introspective story that shows Murderbot at its most vulnerable – physically and emotionally – and forces it into a situation that needs more than strength and speed to resolve. Don’t worry, Murderbot still does its fair share of fighting, but it has to learn to deal with people and events in different ways too, uncomfortable though that may be.

Billed as a ‘full-length novel’, really this is more of a short novel, falling in between the usual novella length and the heft of Network Effect, and somehow it feels like the best of both worlds. Despite the relative lack of action it feels every bit as tight and snappy as the novellas, just with a little more room to breathe. All told it’s another excellent story in its own right, providing yet more evidence that Murderbot is – despite being an artificially-created killing machine – one of the most relatable (not to mention badass and amusing) characters in modern science fiction. On top of that though, it feels very much like it’s setting things up for the start of a new arc, which promises to take the series and the characters in a welcome new direction. The only downside is that we have to wait for the next book to see where that direction takes Murderbot!

Picking up where Network Effect ended, System Collapse promises more of what made that novel so enjoyable: the crew of Perihelion (aka ART) and the scientists from Preservation Alliance working together to (1) stop bad guys, (2) rescue colonists from the clutches of corporate raiders (the aforementioned bad guys), and (3) make Murderbot uncomfortable by asking it to talk about its feelings. I reread Network Effect before starting the latest volume and, unfortunately, System Collapse suffers in the comparison. While Network Effect is overflowing with action, humor, danger, and excitement, System Collapse feels claustrophobic. We hardly see Mensah or other key Preservation characters. The primary plot device feels like a detour gone wrong: Murderbot, Ratthi, and a few of ART's crew travel to a distant outpost to save more colonists from being enslaved by Barish-Estranza and then... nothing interesting happens for a long time, then there's a big chase scene and the book ends. I didn't find Barish-Estranza to be an especially scary villain, and the whole plotline felt claustrophobic, not just because it takes place in underground caverns. Wells does deliver plenty of Murderbot's characteristic snarky humor, so System Collapse is still fun to read, but just doesn't rise to the high standard of previous works in the series.

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed by this story from the Murderbot Diaries. It began almost were "Network Effect" left off, picking up on one of the most compelling and unique narratives of the series. Had the entire book been of the quality of the first chapter, I'd have been pleased to say that this was another funny, exciting, and moving addition to the diaries, but by the end I was so bored it took me a day just to read a single chapter. For such a (relatively) long entry to the series, very little actually happened in the book: 1) They discover the existence of a lost colony, 2) They travel to the lost colony, 3) They suffer some minor inconveniences, 4) They make their escape. That's it. Hardly any of the humor we're used to. Few exciting scenes to keep us engaged. Practically none of the moving emotion that we see Murderbot develop. Almost the entire story was a nothing sandwich. The most compelling carrot dangled in front of us the entire time was the "false memory" experienced by Murderbot that caused issues throughout the book, but we got so little of that it had me wondering why it was mentioned at all. The short story "Compulsory" that Martha Wells wrote for Wired had me excited for this book, but to be brutally honest, it felt like Wells was phoning it in more than anything. I hope this doesn't begin a dip in quality for the series.

Another fabulous installment of the Murderbot Diaries. This book takes place immediately after Network Effect. After the havoc on the planet Murderbot is not at the top of their game and it is seriously affecting their performance. ART(peri) is trying to save the colonists but Barish-Estranza is in the way again.

I find the Murderbot series to be a little uneven, but System Collapse is a great addition to the series. One of the reasons this one resonated so much with me is that we, of course, get our usual Murderbot shenanigans, but Something has happened and the story takes an emotional turn. I am a sucker for non-humans exploring humanity, so System Collapse was right up my alley.

“So the next time I get optimistic about something, I want one of you to punch me in the face.”

Another Murderbot book, another instance where I relate to a robot that feels too many emotions and doesn’t want to! This one was just as fun as the others—and to be fair, one of my favorites!!! There was a lot of mental health woven into the plot this time and it was interesting to see how Murderbot dealt with it. It clearly wants to redact everything and pretend it didn’t happen.

Same, Murderbot, welcome to the human condition.

Plus, the Alien drama in this one was exciting! I just love the way Martha webs the plot of these books so easily while remaining true to the vibe Murderbot exudes. I always go into these books thinking I’m just gonna be laughing at Murderbot’s internal dialogue and then I realize there’s an intricate plot Martha is carrying, too. The technical speak of these books makes me wonder what she’s researched or knowledgeable on to be so realistic with it all, without making my brain hurt either. Murderbot is such a fun outlet to explain things in layman’s terms. It just flows so well!

Murderbot’s friendship with ART will never not amuse me. I love the way they interact with one another, and I find immense amusement in the way Murderbot pretends to hate ART. We all read and know ART does things for Murderbot because it cares, and vice versa. Dumbasses. Both of them. Just like us humans.

“And I am aware of the irony, since I know exactly how hard the question “what do you want” can be when you don’t have a fucking clue what you want.”

Murderbot has much to learn, even going forward, and I am excited to see what journey it takes us on next!!! I wonder what else Murderbot will find itself catching feelings for! Watch it befriend a dog or something.

Thank you NETGALLEY and Tor Publishing Group for providing me an eARC!!

Our favorite SecUnit is back and this time is trying to save a colony from being taken as pretty much worker slaves by the Barish-Estrenza cooperation, since they could not have the whole planet. Our murderbot friend is here to make sure that doesn’t happen, but there is something wrong and she can’t figure out what it is. She is on her own as everyone else is working on the colony and colonist.
This is a good book with tons of action and suspense, it will have you up past your bedtime seeing what is going to happen next. I love this series and I think it is even better as a audio if you like that route. Either way I is a book you won’t want to miss.

SecUnit is not ok. I am also not ok. System Collapse, the seventh in the Murderbot Diaries series is stressful. Amazing, but stressful as heck.

You cannot read System Collapse if you haven’t read Network Effect. The action picks up not long after Network Effect ends. ART is still repairing its worm hole drive, the Preservation crew and the University crew are working together to create a charter that will give the colonists (formerly known as the Targets) control over their planet and their future. Barish-Estranza is there still trying to stake a claim on the planet and its inhabitants. The alien remnant contamination continues to be a problem. More than at any other point in the series, Murderbot is struggling with trauma. On top of the ever present danger posed to its humans by other humans, unknown threats from planetary flora and fauna, corporations, and alien remnant contamination, Murderbot thinks it might be a danger to its humans.

The Murderbot Diaries have always been about being disposable in a private corporation dominated universe. Many of us fell in love with SecUnit (Murderbot if you are in the know), its struggle to make a place for itself outside its former owner’s control, and its entirely relatable desire to be left alone to watch the entertainment feed. It’s easy to identify with Murderbot as we live through this slow rolling apocalypse wondering if we will have to work until we drop dead, and we watch the illusion of autonomy get stripped away. Murderbot can hack systems and shoot things while grumpily trying to make the most ethical choices possible in a way that we can’t. While trauma has been a constant undercurrent in the series, in System Collapse trauma movies to the forefront. Murderbot suffered multiple traumas and though they have an external support system for recovery, its internal coping mechanisms are not robust. It must overcome the internalized message from its former owners that it is only worthwhile if it can perform its job.

Martha Wells writes about such terribly human things while also giving us a banger of an adventure. This installment hit me particularly hard because I learned that my father died recently and our estrangement was directly related to issues of trauma, (the lack of) coping skills, and (the lack of) external support for healing.

It would technically be fiction, but the kind of fiction that was true in all the ways that mattered.

I love you, Murderbot, but not in a weird way.

CW: trauma, violence in past and on page, attempted murder, physical and emotional injury.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Tordotcom and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Murderbot's back and better than ever, folks! Well, that's not strictly true, is it. Murderbot is actually experiencing [redacted]. And as much as it wishes it could go watch some media in a bunk, there's human-saving to do. And this time it involves… a home movie?? You'll have to read it to believe it. I absolutely loved returning to the world of Murderbot and picking up where we left off after Network Effect. I read this installment across the span of a single travel day, getting a few pages in here and there on two planes and three airports. I already can't wait for the next entry in the series!

Are we surprised? Honestly, Wells is a master of her work.

Murderbot continues to grow and develop as a character. The side characters and the experiences continue to build. I am beyond thankful to read this book prior to the pub date, and thank NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity.

Jumping in from book 5 (Network Effect, the full length novel) this story moves a mile a minute. I definitely recommend a reread prior to jumping into this one on the simple basis that I can't remember shit, and probably you can't really either. If you love Murderbot's sassy stupid humans banter, best practices for avoiding feelings -and leaking- you'll enjoy this book.

I knew this was a series but I didn't realize it was the seventh book in the series which meant I had to do a little bit of back reading before I got into it and I'm very glad I did. The world and the characters and writing were just so interesting; I'll definitely be reading more.

The short version is that if you've loved Murderbot for the first six books then this continues the best things from the earlier stories while giving a chance to get acquainted with ART's crew in slightly less dire circumstances (at least for them). I was completely immersed in all the best ways, don't miss SYSTEM COLLAPSE!

As a sequel, this covers the next steps of Murderbot and ART's crew dealing with the colonists whom they met in NETWORK EFFECT. It doesn’t precisely wrap up anything left hanging, but that’s mostly because there wasn't a distinct sense that more follow-up was needed on that planet. The main thing teased was the idea that Murderbot would continue to travel with ART, but in this book they aren't quite ready to begin other journeys. Instead the opening chapters form full link between that story and this one. Because they change locations on the planet, this gets to be a mostly new storyline, despite having ties to a prior entry. Once they knew they had to change locations, it becomes much more about what’s happening now, rather than the group they left behind.

This introduces and resolves the fate of the second colony on the planet. It’s not the last book and it specifically establishes the next thing that Murderbot wants to do in a way that most of the other books really couldn’t. This is a pretty direct follow-up to events in NETWORK EFFECT, and would be much less satisfying for anyone who tried to start here without having read the previous books. Because its direct predecessor, FUGITIVE TELEMENTARY, takes place out of sequence with NETWORK EFFECT and SYSTEM COLLAPSE, technically, I guess you could skip that book, but the rest are essential in terms of plot. All of them are very important for character development. The heart of the story is Murderbot's internal journey of figuring out autonomy and personhood, including how attached it feels to either of those ideas with relation to itself. This means that character establishment is pretty quick in each of the books. Murderbot's whole deal is very understandable from just a few snippets . Its character development happens much more slowly, as figuring out what it wants distinct from, but not necessarily separate from other beings is a long process that has had room to breathe over the volumes. As to the specific story, there was a lot to clean up on the planet after NETWORK EFFECT. Early in this book, ART's crew is made aware of a complication that requires their attention. This complication is significant enough that dealing with it is the focus of the rest of the book.

SYSTEM COLLAPSE has a lot of very cool worldbuilding related to the other colony, but done in a way that reflects those differences through the things that Murderbot cares about, specifically, communication and media. One of my favorite bits is that we actually get some background for one member of ART's crew because there are some ways in which his former training is closer to Murderbot than to his fellow researchers. Those few similarities end up reinforcing the gap between what Murderbot can do and what even the best-trained human is capable of as far as combat and tactics.

This series gripped me from the start. It was inventive, clever, funny, and just the right cocktail of sci-fi, entertainment, and action. However, somewhere along the way the balance seemed to tip and it became hard to follow along in the story. With the previous book being a full scale novel, this felt like it dragged on too much. Sadly, I just wasn’t able to focus on the story or feel moved by murder bot’s continued journey.

4/5 stars

*Initial thoughts*

Another excellent entry in the Murderbot Series. Set right after the events of Network Effect, this story follows Murderbot, ART, the University team, and the Preservation team as they try to save the colonists from becoming the B-E Corporation's slaves. This story is on the darker side of things due to the nature of the conflict with B-E Corp and due to Murderbot's understandable emotional trauma after the events of Network Effect (anxiety, self-doubt, depression, etc. - Murderbot is not having a good time emotionally in this book). However there were still plenty of lighter found family and friendship feels (especially between ART and Murderbot), which are something I really enjoyed in the previous books. There is also some exciting action sequences and the snarky Murderbot and ART asides and conversations that we know and love from the previous books.

*eARC provided by Netgalley and Tordotcom Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review*

Murderbot is back! After the events of Network Effect, Murderbot and ART are still on the planet of the creepy alien remnants, trying to keep the human settlers from being conscripted as slave labor by Barrish -Estranza. Murderbot is suffering from what looks an awful lot like PTSD, feeling like it is failing its humans while being unable to get past the horrors it witnessed. When the settlers tell Murderbot that there are still some people left at a hidden site, Murderbot, Iris, Ratthi, and Tariq go to rescue them - or maybe get killed by alien-contaminated humans, Murderbot isn't sure. Murderbot's sarcasm is pulls back somewhat, leaving room for vulnerability and the heroism it would deny if asked about. It's relationship with ART continues to be a delight - they've accepted that they care about each other, but still snipe back and forth delightfully. This is a can't-miss installment for fans of the Hugo-winning series.

Oh, MurderBot. What a ridiculous concept - - robot created for violence that gains sentience and just wants to chill watching soap operas - that had grown into a poignant depiction of what it means to be human and to love. Yes, I said it- a murderous robot is often a keen observer of human nature and interactions in these novellas.

Throughout the series, the novellas I enjoyed the most always involved Murderbot coming to some personal realization and building attachments to others whether human or artificial. Unfortunately, neither of these truly land on the mark.

System Collapse is a full-length novel, which I do think isn’t hugely advantageous. It is somehow too long and too short at the same time. I didn’t love the plot device of MurderBot having a malfunction, but did love the moments of it fighting to maintain people who it loves. I spent a fair amount of the story confused and I don’t love that. So without spoilers, most of what I can say is it was… alright.

My thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of System Collapse in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Murderbot has definitely Been Through A Thing and definitely does not want to talk about what that Thing was, but it is going to have to if it wants to save its humans. And no matter how much Murderbot has been through, it will always try to save its humans.

System Collapse wasn’t quite what I expected, but I LOVED it. It was an excellent installment in the series and develops the characters (especially SecUnit and ART) even as they careen from ill-fated adventure to ill-fated adventure in classic Murderbot style. Wells excels at balancing action with character building, description with dialogue, and reason with emotion. This is certainly the most contemplative book in the series, but satisfyingly so, given the preceding events of Network Effect.

Were there even more loose narrative threads from the previous novel I wish Wells might have tugged? Yes. For instance, I’d have loved a few more glimpses of Three. But leaving your readers wanting more rather than wishing for less is always a good thing, and the Murderbot diaries remain focused while implying a tantalizingly vast world beyond. I can only hope for further installments. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to fans, but would definitely suggest reading Network Effect before System Collapse for anyone unfamiliar with this fantastic series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! System Collapse, by Martha Wells, is the seventh installment in The Murderbot Diaries, though only the second full-length novel in this series (and even at that, it's still short!). Wells' latest installment was easily another five-star Murderbot diary entry for me.

We pick up after the events of Network Effect, with Murderbot, ART and our combined Preservation/University/Colonist crews royally stuck. ART's wormhole drive is still out of commission, Preservation back-up ships haven't arrived, and our current corporate-villain Barish-Estranza is attempting to subvert their efforts to free the colonists and/or set them up for independence (by instead attempting to convince the colonists to sign away their own freedom as contract, read: slave, labor). And on top of this giant mess, we have a highly traumatized Murderbot still coping with the final events of Network Effect.

Throughout the first half we know something significant happened that has divided Murderbot's sense of self into before and after, but the event itself is redacted from Murderbot's entry. Our generally sarcastic but self-assured Murderbot is now deeply uneasy, compulsively checking its risk assessment module and performance reliability, frequently drifting into thought and forgetting its surroundings, and, most shocking, doubting its ability and worth at every turn. For anyone who has lived experienced with panic attacks or panic disorder, Murderbot's distress is painfully real. It spends a majority of the book's mission attempting to function while processing past events. Each installment in this series manages to explore a new facet of personhood, belonging and self-awareness, and this was perhaps the most emotional journey yet. Ultimately, System Collapse is a deeply satisfying conclusion to the events of Network Effect and I highly recommend to all Murderbot readers.