System Collapse

I am such a fan of this series, and it's 7 books deep - anyone else that wants to read this book is probably in the same shoes. If you've got this on your radar/tbr just go ahead and read it.

This picks up right after Network Effect. I mean RIGHT AFTER Network Effect. It took me a second to orient myself, and I think anyone that read Fugitive Telemetry during the gap in publishing should probably scan over a recap before jumping in.

This is probably the most “inward” the narrative has gotten so far, as Murderbot deals with the aftermath of redacted events in the last novel. Bot has added a fresh helping of trauma to their already traumatic existence-that's it, that's all i'm going to say about the plot of this novel.

Murderbot is changing, both the character and the series as a whole. Prior to NE the series had been a collection of action-packed survival-based romps across the corporation rim, but in these last few releases the focus of the narrative has shifted inwards. I thought NE was a touchstone for the series; it ushered in the next phase of the story now that Murderbot has so many human friends that it has to classify them by group. It seems to me that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs also must apply to bot-human constructs because now that ‘Bot's physiological and safety needs have been met the story is moving its focus further up the pyramid.

I've always been a fan of the human exploration elements of this series, and I am really happy with the direction that Martha Wells is taking this project. That isn't to say I want less dry wit and explosive action scenes, it's just that the most interesting aspects of Murderbot the character are the things that it doesn't want to talk about. Watching this character change as the series progresses is gratifying, and I wager that further entries in this series are going to expand on the exploration of the “human” aspects of Murderbot's physiology and psychology.

TL;DR: Another solid entry in the series, progressing the narrative in all the ways you want it to. Minus 1 star for a confusing beginning.