Martha Wells is bringing Murderbot back whether it likes it or not! Murderbot has been Through A Thing recently and it is definitely not telling us about it. Until it has to ... to help its humans. Because that's what a scary SecUnit does. Dive into its emotional issues if it means being able to aid its favorite (and not so favorite) humans. LOVE

System Collapse picks up shortly after the events of Network Effect, the Hugo-winning Murderbot novel. Murderbot and its human allies are still dealing with the aftereffects of the alien contamination on a colony planet, as well as contending with the rival "rescue" team sent by the villainous Barish-Estranza corporation.
The revelation that the planet is home to a second, uncontacted colony sends Murderbot and its humans in a race to reach them before the corporate agents can, swoop in and force the colonists into indentured servitude. But Murderbot's functionality has been severely diminished by [redacted], and unless it can figure out what's wrong with it in time, the colonists are doomed.
What I just did there with [redacted] is how Murderbot itself refers to the incident that's diminished its capabilities, which serves both to heighten the mystery of what exactly is wrong with our favorite cyborg and is a brilliant means of portraying Murderbot's own reluctance towards self-examination. It's one of my favorite things about System Collapse, followed closely by the fact that Murderbot's obsession with consuming human media finally becomes plot relevant. Overall this is another great installment in the series that pushes forward both the overarcing plot and Murderbot's own personal growth. If you're already a fan, definitely check out System Collapse when it comes out in November.

It's so good to be back with Murderbot again! The voice and tone of the series is right on in this one, it is a page-turner with lovely/awkward moments of heart and a few laugh out loud scenes, and I love where Wells has set this up to go next. More please! And thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

“Ugh, I wish I felt like I was prepared for complication. Or prepared for anything.”

How action-packed space conflict between a bloodthirsty corporation, vulnerable planetary colonists, and the band of humans and bot-human constructs that defend them can feel so damn cozy is beyond me, but Wells never fails to make me feel the warm fuzzies with each new Murderbot installment. This full-length novel has more of all my favorite bits: sarcastic internal monologue, brave humans that Murderbot protects at all costs, snarky (aka affectionate) banter with ART, a new AI for Murderbot to work out a relationship with, and grudging introspection that I find immensely relatable - in this case propelled by [redacted], which has shaken Murderbot’s trust in itself. There’s always casual queerness (and this time more obscure genders and neopronouns too), and I loved the solution Murderbot comes up with to win over the colonists - it’s so perfectly Murderbot. Buckle up people, we have trauma to resentfully process and media to watch!

Content warnings: fighting, violence, injury

“So I’m here now and it’s fine, everyone shut up about it, okay.”

Spoiler alert – Murderbot is not fine. But that’s the whole point, right? Existence is learning how to be ok with not being ok. This installment of the Murderbot diaries explores what that means for a human-bot construct, featuring Martha Wells’s trademark mix of action, wry humor, and moments of surprising poignancy. SecUnit is still on the alien-remnants planet, dealing with fallout from the events of Network Effect, snarking with ART, protecting its humans, and generally being annoyed about it all. In other words, living its best life! As always, I appreciate Wells’s unflinching exploration of ethical dilemmas around consciousness and autonomy, but also her sly pokes at the absurdity of it all.

Fans of Murderbot will be thrilled to watch SecUnit take on new challenges with old friends, but newcomers will need to start at the beginning of the series. Which is no hardship. Watching our favorite grumpy human-bot construct take progressive steps toward self-actualization (making excessive use of profanity throughout) is one of the most rewarding reader journeys out there.

Picking up where Network Effect left off, ART’s crew and Murderbot are attempting to rescue the humans not infected, but first they have to find them, and find them before Barish-Estranza turns them into slave labor.

But something is wrong with Murderbot. It’s not infected, but it’s not functioning at full capacity either. In fact sometimes it just shuts down in crippling fear or indecision, and even the humans are starting to notice.

This full-length novel is another stellar addition to the Murderbot series. Full of heart and exasperation, Murderbot continues to show us what it means to be human.

I adore the Murderbot Diaries, so when I got the chance to read System Collapse as an ARC I knew I had to read it immediately! This book did not disappoint, and Murderbot continues to be my favorite sci-fi series to date.

This was my first time reading a visual edition of the series instead of the audiobook, so that was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me! I think that no matter what format you go with you'll have a great time, but I do think I’ll go back and read the audiobook as well.

System Collapse does start off a bit slow, and there’s a piece of plot info that’s reveal is a bit underwhelming, but once we got to the second half it was action packed and full of great character moments. I love that Murderbot it expanding its group of humans, and I’m so excited to see where it and ART go next!

Thank you to TorDotCom Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own!

I will share this review on Instagram 1-2 weeks before publication, and on Amazon on publication day.

I have been devouring the Murderbot books, and this one is absolutely no different! I just love Murderbot so much, and the snark of him interacting with ART and it’s humans?! It’s priceless! I loved the descriptions of the planet and the cavern system of the separatists colony. Also the little bit of action that we saw was really great!

It also seems like there might be even more for Murderbot in the future, and I absolutely hope so!! A five star read and something I will continue to highly recommend to patrons.

Typical Murderbot. Concern for his humans being his first concern. Lots of problems keeping them safe and alive. Great addition to series.

Murderbot continues to be their snarky, fabulous self. If you've enjoyed the prior books of the series, you'll enjoy this one as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

I was primed to adore this installment of Murderbot, which picks up immediately where Network Effect (book 5, the full-length novel) leaves off. While the action is slow to start and Murderbot is enmeshed in internal turmoil, once the activity starts, it doesn't let us. Fans of the ensemble cast in previous books will be satisfied by their reappearance, and ART is a star player. Highly satisfying!

Ah, I'm really conflicted about this series now. The plot is fine and I like the continued development of the character, but this story jumps back in time and picks up after the book 5. It seems more and more that there isn't a plan for this series that the author and publishing team are making it up as they go along, stuff'll keep rolling out as long as someone will spend money on it.

3.5 stars for the book itself, 2 stars for how it fits (doesn't fit) in a series that's starting to jump all over the place.

eARC from NetGalley.

I just can’t get enough of Murderbot. I really hope this series continues for a long, long time. It’s so easy to identify with Murderbot’s journey of learning how to interact with humans; it’s like an introvert learning how to get along in a world of extroverts. I’m along for their ride and would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction.

How. How does Martha Wells manage to keep making these books better, it is actually incredible.
If you like this series, walk don't run and preorder this one. If you haven't read any of Murderbot books before, I beg you read them, they are the very best Sci-Fi writing out there at the moment!

Martha Wells does it again with an intriguing an entertaining update of Murderbot's story. Recovering from trauma, Murderbot is with its humans, just trying to do an honest day's work. Enter corporate soul-suckers, the ethics of withholding free will, ART (ish), and the entertainment feed. As ever, Wells does a lovely job of entertaining while asking all the right sci-fi questions about the human (and construct) condition. One can only hope the audio book is narrated by the same performer when it arrives.

It’s essential that these books be read in order. Don’t miss the novel preceding System Collapse or going in you will be wondering what is happening. This is another solid story that finds our favorite killing machine suffering the fallout of caring too much and not completely sure what to do about it. After trauma, humans react in predictable ways and can benefit greatly from emotional support. But what about Murderbot? How does it cope with the messy truth that fear and pain are horrible and leave scars? Like you’d expect. In other words, not well. But we get more insight into what it wants for its future and how it wants to live. Although this story rockets forward with nonstop action and leaves little time for the characters to reflect on anything other than surviving the next five minutes, it still delivers.

Recommend book which is well writtten and enoyable. A fan favourite for sure and a great addition to your Wells library.

A new installation in Martha Wells’ Murderbot series is cause for celebration, and System Collapse was no exception. Even though this doesn’t release until November, I dropped the other books I was reading because I was need of a fun comfort read.

System Collapse included the series’ signature action-packed plot, SecUnit sarcasm, and snarky but endearing cast of teammates / begrudging friends. System Collapse began a bit slowly, but ended up being one of my favorite books in the series because of its focus on character development. For all that Murderbot is socially awkward and finds most of his team bewildering, he is also part human; much of this book centers on Murderbot grappling with his human side – to Murderbot, a source of vulnerability, but also perhaps an unexpected asset?

If you’ve already read the first six books in the Murderbot Diaries, then I can’t imagine I need to convince you to pick up System Collapse. And if you haven’t tried the first book in the series, know that the last time I recommended it, I was walking down the street, and a stranger overheard me and yelled out that they loved Murderbot too!

Huge thanks to Tordotcom and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy!

Fun fact: this is not a novella like the earlier Murderbot books, so if you’re wondering how Wells is going to wrap everything up, there’s at least another 50 pages. As always a great installment and I still love Murderbot. It might help to refresh yourself on what happened in the previous book. I had to go read a summary because it’s been awhile and this is a continuation of some of those plot lines.

This series keeps getting better and better (and it was amazing to begin with).
Excellent plotting, well-paced and full of action and twists. I love the world building of the Corporation Rim, and the expansion of the particular history of planet we’re on for this book.
Most of all, though, I love murderbot. This whole series has been such a unique and engaging exploration of self-identity, interpersonal relationships and personal growth. System Collapse extends that exploration as MurderBot deals with (or doesn’t deal with) trauma in its unique way.