paperback, 352 pages
English language
Published March 29, 2021 by Tor.com.
Murderbot returns in its highly-anticipated, first, full-length standalone novel.
You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you're a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you're Murderbot.
Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.
Such a fun read! Action-packed, almost breathlessly so, with much less of the exposition that I think slowed down the later novellas, still plenty of humour, but also deeper relationship-building. Murderbot (aka 'SecUnit', when it wants to be less, I don't know, murderey) remains easily the most relatable character in today's fiction.
I was a little disappointed with "Fugitive Telemetry" which was written after this book but is set before it. But in "Network Effect" Wells is on form. As good as the first 4 novellas. The longer format gives the whole story a space opera feel. The beginning on the water planet reminded me of the Culture novels. What stands out to me in the Murderbot series is how Wells manages to give established sci fi narratives and tropes a little twist, simply by writing them through the eyes of "the help", i.e. bots and computer systems. Not only is ART back and we learn a lot more about the relationship between it and Murderbot but again, the unique type of connection that Murderbot can have with other systems and bots plays a pivotal role in saving the day. I also really like how alien tech and its effect on humans …
I was a little disappointed with "Fugitive Telemetry" which was written after this book but is set before it. But in "Network Effect" Wells is on form. As good as the first 4 novellas. The longer format gives the whole story a space opera feel. The beginning on the water planet reminded me of the Culture novels. What stands out to me in the Murderbot series is how Wells manages to give established sci fi narratives and tropes a little twist, simply by writing them through the eyes of "the help", i.e. bots and computer systems. Not only is ART back and we learn a lot more about the relationship between it and Murderbot but again, the unique type of connection that Murderbot can have with other systems and bots plays a pivotal role in saving the day. I also really like how alien tech and its effect on humans is depicted in this novel (and the other novellas in the series). It's different from what I'm used to in other sci fi. There's also a lot of snark and action, as usual. An entertaining read.
Content warning spoilers!
I came for some Murderbot investigation but stayed for the robot romcom. The relationship between Murderbot and Mensah is also comforting and well written. Also, it's a 350 pages book so two times more of Martha Wells.
A great Murderbot novel that shows Murderbot continues to mature as an organism with free will and learning to deal with his emotions with his 'clients' while discovering new things about them and what they are willing to do for him.
The novel starts with Murderbot doing what it does best: protecting its clients. But this turns out to be a prelude to the start of a situation where Murderbot gets kidnapped along with his clients and ends up with a situation involving a former bot friend and possible alien technology contamination at a forgotten colony world. Of course he has to get out of it, with his clients intact.
But more than just the 'pew-pew' stuff (which Murderbot is obviously good at), this is also a detective story as he has to figure out the reason why it and his clients were kidnapped, how the alien contamination occurred, how …
A great Murderbot novel that shows Murderbot continues to mature as an organism with free will and learning to deal with his emotions with his 'clients' while discovering new things about them and what they are willing to do for him.
The novel starts with Murderbot doing what it does best: protecting its clients. But this turns out to be a prelude to the start of a situation where Murderbot gets kidnapped along with his clients and ends up with a situation involving a former bot friend and possible alien technology contamination at a forgotten colony world. Of course he has to get out of it, with his clients intact.
But more than just the 'pew-pew' stuff (which Murderbot is obviously good at), this is also a detective story as he has to figure out the reason why it and his clients were kidnapped, how the alien contamination occurred, how to save his bot friend (and clients) and how to overcome his opponents. But along the way, he will discover new things about himself, and also about what his clients really think about him and what they are really willing to do for him.
Enjoyable, but I got bogged down in the middle for a good while: I suspect I prefer this kind of story at novella length.
It turns out I've been up all night finishing off this book, thank Murderbot it's still lockdown.
Was it worth pre-ordering? Yes. Did it blow my expectations? Totally.
Having the three narratives at one point took a tiny bit of adjustment, but for me it genuinely made the action come more to life. I've also noticed that things tend to be described just enough that you're able to set your own visuals along with the series.
I certainly hope there is another Murderbot novel in the works, as I've been sucked in deep to this series
