System Collapse

, #7

eBook

English language

Published Nov. 13, 2023 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.

ISBN:
978-1-250-82698-5
Copied ISBN!
Goodreads:
70021719

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (25 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.

2 editions

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

You know what you’ll get

4 stars

It’s been long enough between books that I looked up a recap of where we last left Murberbot. Glad I did, because then I was able to just enjoy this one. It’s more of the same, which is what it’s felt like for a while with Murderbot, but that’s OK! Very incremental character development on their part, but the character is interesting enough that I’m happy to spend more time with them.

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

I love me some Murderbot.

4 stars

Same Murderbot confusion about how the world works (and emotions), then same gripping action. My palms sweat when the fights start.

I think I'm going to have to binge these again because it takes me half the novella to remember who everybody is. I suppose I have that to look forward to.

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

💗 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.

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

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,

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

Always fun to visit our friend the MurderBot

5 stars

I'll be honest - I can't remember much from the previous books, especially not any details about the many human characters. But MurderBot is such a fun person to listen to talk, it doesn't really matter.

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

S.E.C. unit continues to grow into what it means to be both human and free

4 stars

This one picked up right where the last one left off. I always enjoy Martha Wells, this one is no different.

I defs needed that deadpanned Murderbot wittiness in a detailed world build... It's what keeps me reading this series!

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

System Collapse

4 stars

I deeply enjoyed System Collapse--it was a nice followup book to the events of the previous one and I don't think could stand alone. Murderbot has certainly been through a lot, but the last book was particularly intense and it makes sense that there's lasting effects from it. It felt like a smaller and more internally-focused book with less snark and more trama, but I am here for that.

To me at least, Murderbot and its series feels like the embodiment of vulnerability avoidance: handwaving, the first few books seemed like Murderbot coping with learning it cared and people caring about it; Network Effect was about """relationships"" (with ART and 2 and 3); this book in particular explored the vulnerability of trauma and being partially human (or at the very least having some fleshy parts). I think it helps to better situate Murderbot as a construct--not a bot, not human, …

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

A great followup to "Network Effect".

4 stars

An enjoyable episode in the Murderbot Diaries, this one continues from where "Network Effect" left off, with a colony left on a world contaminated with alien material that can infect both humans and AI and constructs. In the book, Murderbot and its friends continue to talk to the colonists, hoping to convince them that life with the corporation that is coming to claim their planet is not good (think bonded slavery). Then they learn that there was another colony established and now their job just got twice as tough (or harder).

As if this wasn't enough, Murderbot is suffering from a personal "redacted" problem that is affecting his efficiency. It is only later in this story that the nature of the "redacted" problem becomes clear, and it is something that can also affect humans, which makes Murderbot feel more human (ugh).

The first half of the book is more about …

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

Another fun novel in the Murderbot Diaries universe

4 stars

Overall, this was a fun book, albeit a bit shorter than it's predecessor. It's still a fun ride with the usual cast of characters we've come to enjoy. A relatively simple plot with plenty of action and high-stakes moments and a recognizable setting with hints of more complexity in Murderbot's psyche. I recommend it for folks that are already reading the Muderbot Diaries at it continues its story.

For a full spoiler-free review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2023/12/book-review-system-collapse-by-martha.html

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

Reaping territory

4 stars

This was a delight, as is usual with Murderbot. I enjoyed the treatment of trauma recovery as a confusion of "why can't I just keep using my old coping mechanisms" "what the actual fuck is my brain doing, this is not helpful" "if you do not schedule time for maintenance, your systems will schedule it for you, and their timing will be antagonistic".

Noticeably less snappy than the earlier books though -- it was easy to lose focus in descriptive stretches, and I wound up reading it twice to see if I could catch the things I missed the first time around.

reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

I may be reaching my limit with this series

3 stars

This will probably be the unpopular minority opinion, but here goes...

This book was still enjoyable, but the first half was extremely slow. It picked up once we got into the action, but it was somewhat more subtle this time around. There is nothing wrong with the book, but it feels like Wells thinks she needs to do more to evolve this character, but doesn't really know what, so we just get tiny bits.

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