I didn't finish reading this book. I got through about 30%. I think I am done with the Murderbot Diaries. The last one was only okay. This one felt like more of the last one. I was having trouble following or caring what was going on. I have lots of other books I can read.

It could have been improved by having some kind of summary of what has happened in the series before this book. I am sure the book is good. I am just not looking for more of the exact same thing.

Although it won't be my last, this was my first Martha Wells. My partner filled me in on some details I needed to know and answered many questions because I read this book out of order. I am still glad I did! I enjoyed every page and am happy to say I finally see what the hype is all about. :) Looking forward to playing catch-up now and diving into every Martha Wells (and Murderbot) I can get my hands on!

System Collapse is the seventh MurderBot diaries book and it continues right after the events of the fifth book, Network Effect (book six, Fugitive Telemetry, was a skip back in time). SecUnit, ART the highly autonomic AI ship (or Asshole Research Transport), and their humans are still orbiting the planet that suffered from alien contamination. This time they’re trying to convince the colonists to evacuate—or at least not to accept the offer made by one of the horrid corporations, Barish-Estranza, as that would lead to slavery for them.

The story starts with SecUnit being in a funk of some sort, but it keeps redacting the explanation, like it often does with memory files it doesn’t want to handle. But the reader soon figures out it’s suffering from some sort of episode that is compromising it and its ability to make decisions, which isn’t good in a highly volatile situation where everyone relies on its ability to react fast. It takes a while before it’s ready to share with the reader what’s wrong with it.

SecUnit needs to pull itself together though, when it accompanies two of ART’s humans and Ratthi to an isolated colony they knew nothing about, hoping they get there before Barish-Estranza. They don’t. It’s time for SecUnit to save the day again, with the most SecUnit way so far.

This was a great book. SecUnit’s struggle to understand what is going on with its systems was real and relatable. The cast was small and things were kept tight, and while there were some action scenes, they didn’t take over. I had some trouble remembering who was who at the beginning, as no handy hints were given to the reader; I especially struggled to remember who Three was. But it didn’t matter for long. The ending was good, as SecUnit finally figured out what it wants to do next and who with. I simply must have more.

Another satisfying chapter in the life of my favorite Security Unit! I have read many books in the Murderbot universe but not every one. This can work for some series but I would not recommend in this case because important plot and setting points will be missed. Once I sorted out generally where the characters were in time and space (after missing out on the book directly before this one) I was easily swept up again into the world of this wonderfully sarcastic AI and his team of humans.

In book 7 the reader immediately understands that recent events have taken a serious psychological on our lead Murderbot. Specifics are "redacted" but we see his lack of certainty in his actions and as he grapples with human reactions to trauma with his computer brain. The theme of the humanity of AI which is present in all books of the series certainly comes to the forefront in this installment of the tale.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance reading copy of an excellent series.

This book was a little disappointing for me. I found it to be a bit dull compared to the others, and my mind was constantly wandering while I was reading it. There were moments in the other books in the series that would get a little dull, but this whole book was that way for me. I think what was really missing was Murderbot's snarkiness, the humor, and the action scenes. It was very mild here. Murderbot is dealing with PTSD in this one and it just didn't work for me. Like Network Effect, this was a full length novel, and I've found that I like it in shorter doses better.

For some reason I find the plot of this series hard to follow, and the books jumping all over the timeline doesn't help. This one is supposed to take place after Network Effect, but I can't remember a lot of what happened in Network Effect, so for me it was just a random story. I'll keep reading these regardless of how I feel about this particular book, but next time I'm going to wait for the audio. I think I enjoy listening to these more than reading them. Hopefully, next time we will get more of the snarky murderbot that I love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Very very good book. I was hooked and read it super quickly. Wells really has a way with words and I can't wait to see where she goes next with this world.

The murderbot books remain a favorite series and this next installment does not disappoint.

Murderbot is sarcastic and a delight, finding human emotion amongst his wiring.

A little long for me, but overall a well paced and engaging read.

System Collapse by Martha Wells


We all love Murderbot, right? Murderbot is one of the absolute best characters to come out of SF in years. I remember when I read the description of Martha Wells’s All Systems Red and thought to myself “I’ve got to put that on hold at the library!” And I was right - it was excellent. I have eagerly awaited each new Murderbot book and also have been reading some of Ms. Wells’s other fantasy books. The Witch King was good, but my heart belongs to Murderbot.

So I was very excited when NetGalley and tordotcom gave me an eARC of System Collapse, the new Murderbot book, in exchange for an honest review.

This was stellar. Before this, Fugitive Telemetry was my favorite Murderbot book, but this one surpassed it. I was so excited to see the fallout from Network Effect and to see what else was going on on that planet. And more ART is always appreciated. This book moved the story forward while simultaneously giving us a close look at Murderbot’s emotional state and it was very satisfying.

This book is a must buy!

Another excellent Murderbot book! Fast paced, with a solid Murderbot-protects-the-humans plot that builds off of and complements the previous installment. As we get deeper into the series, I am enjoying Murderbot's increasing familiarity with the Preservation team and ART and ART's crew (and vice versa) -- there is an added level to Murderbot's interactions that are extremely satisfying, as it builds meaningful relationships and trust for the first time. Murderbot's trauma, and its effects on it, are huge in this book, much more than past Murderbot books (and that's saying something!). Wells has added a new level of depth to an already creative conceptualization of what trauma and mental illness could look like in a construct like Murderbot, providing a second layer of tension and emotional investment. Enjoyable, suspenseful, and drily funny, System Collapse lives up to and builds on the hype of the previous Murderbot books.

listen ,,,, this is book seven y'all, if you're still scrolling through looking for serious reviews then idek what to say to you 😂

if you're looking for quotes tho, lemme help:

I'm fine, Ratthi. Don't get any closer to the tentacle.
It's a growth simulator, Ratthi said. You don't have to rush, we're fine.
You're not fine, Ratthi, for fuck's sake. (For however many corporate standard years, all I got from humans was "Run in there now no matter how likely you are to get blown to tiny pieces when a quiet tactical approach has a higher percentage of success" and now it's "Oh no we're fine, we can hang out in this objectively terrifying immediately hazardous situation for however long.")

You're stalling, ART-drone said.
I am not. I can stand here and be useless without any ulterior motives, thanks.

You're upset, ART said. I had already started for the quarters section.
I was supposed to "check in regularly with my emotions" which I pretended was a thing I had any intention of doing. Yes, this is upsetting, I told it. I am upset. Are you happy now?
Delirious, ART said.

When the comm call ended, ART-drone tapped our private connection and said, SecUnit. It didn't need to tell me what it wanted, I could hear the "fucking do something" tone.

It wasn't dead, it was just catastrophically damaged. (I know, who isn't?)

ART-drone reached out a limb to Iris. My function is impaired, Iris. So is SecUnit's.
Will you shut the hell up? I said.
You shut up, it replied.


also, p.s.
this book takes place immediately after Network Effect (and I mean immediately lol). if it's been a hot minute since you read Network Effect, maybe revisit that book first, or speed-read the last twenty pages for a quick refresher.


rep - agender (it/its) mcs, achillean & queer side characters, polya bg characters
thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc ✨

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook version of System Collapse by Martha Wells. This review is my honest opinion.

I love the Murderbot character. Martha Wells have delivered a wonderful series here. I've read each book and enjoyed seeing how the universe has expanded with more and more intriguing characters added in along the way. System Collapse is an extremely satisfying additional entry to this series and I've enjoyed the character development. I highly recommend this book to fans of science-fiction, especially fans of robot stories.

‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’ pretty much sums up where we are in System Collapse, book 7 in Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries series.

This story follows immediately after the events of Fugitive Telemetry, when our favorite telenovella-loving, risk-averse snarky SecUnit had *just* *again* saved the hapless humans from certain doom. But the danger isn’t over. The Barish-Estranza Corporation is determined to extract whatever value they can out of the lost colony planet, and if there’s nothing else, indentured labour can be coerced from the planet’s denizens. As usual, intrigue ensues, and because humans can’t help being their emotionally and physically fragile selves, it falls on Murderbot to soldier on keeping them out of harm’s way.

The only problem is, there’s something going on with Murderbot’s files and memory, something that is causing them to lose memory files and become dangerously unstable. As the situation with Barish-Estranza reaches a boiling point, our hero is going to have to reckon with the trauma of recent events in a way they have never had to do before.

I never imagined it would be possible to identify more with an unnamed, nongendered, nonhuman robot protagonist than with many of the human protagonists of other books. But I’m not alone in that, if the legions of Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries fans are anything to go by. It’s hard to say that any of the books in this incredibly excellent series was less than the others, but if I had to pick a favorite, System Collapse would be it. Martha Wells dials up the intense action in this book but gives Murderbot plenty of room for the character growth she so skilfully explores.

SecUnit’s detestation of confrontation, their nihilistic worldview, their reluctance to deal with their emotional issues are all things most of us can identify with. And if this bot can teach us anything, it’s that despite the problematic world it’s still possible to live with authenticity and find our own niches in society. It doesn’t hurt that that Murderbot serves us this lesson wrapped up in a whole lot of entertaining badassery as well.

With gratitude to Tor Publishing and Net Galley for the e-ARC of this book.

Also posted on Goodreads and on Facebook.

Okay, well, did I have any real idea about what was going on in this one? Not really. This wasn't helped by a week-long reading hiatus after being 40% in so yeah some of that could be chalked up to forgetfulness of where we were and what had come before but really do we ever actually know what's going on in these books outside of Murderbot bemoaning its existence and humans humaning around it? Not generally. At least I don't. I can barely remember what goes on in the background of Murderbot's surroundings except it involves being on planets and evil corporations and possibly some alien activity and way too many supporting characters I can't keep track of.

At this point I'm really just reading these books for the wee moments of banter (and ART) and silliness amongst all the rest. And we had some good amounts of that in this one. Plus a weird little side issue with Murderbot's memory which is concerning.

Will I read on? Of course. Will I ever generally know what is happening plot-wise and where things might be going? Of course not. And I'm good with that.

This is the seventh book in the MurderBot series and the first that I have read, rather than listened to. While the book is every bit as good as the others, I do recommend the audio versions. Kevin R. Free (the reader) does such a perfect job as the “voice” of MurderBot — it really adds to the experience. Luckily, after listening to him for the first six, I can hear his voice as I read anyway.

MurderBot is not quite itself as a result of his memory splintering and his frequent reboots after the disastrous events (alien contamination writ large and gooey) of the last book — Network Effect. Nevertheless, he has a big part to play when a separatist group is found on the planet (having removed themselves before the contamination took hold of *some* of the settlers) and the Barish-Estranza corporation has come to “offer” all settlers an employment contract (read opportunity for slave labor) off planet. What could go wrong?

I love the bot-humor — ART (the supremely intelligent and capable bot pilot with a fierce attachment to his “humans” and MurderBot’s “friend”) is deliciously sarcastic. I love MurderBot’s continually evolving understanding of himself — the weird part organic / mostly inorganic construct designed to kill. Funny, good action, well-paced, and full of constantly applicable ethical dilemmas such as arise when naivete meets evil. I love the new (to me and I think to the world) portmanteau term “argucussion” from argument + discussion. I think we all have a few of those.

This installment of the Murderbot Diaries follows on from the events of Network Effect. In this installment, Murderbot begins to reckon with its trauma. It gets to know ART's humans and finds new ways of working together. I enjoyed exploring ART's iterations and seeing Murderbot on a planet (it's right not to like planets). It took me a minute to get into this one, but once the characters settled into place, it was an excellent adventure. Thanks for Netgalley, Tordotcom and Martha Wells for the advanced copy

If you love the murderbot series then you’ll be happy to know not only is there a new installment to continue the story coming out next month but it’s going to be another full sized novel. This one takes place right after Network Effect, and Murderbot is dealing with the fallout/trauma from that. Doing my best to be vague for those of you who aren’t caught up or haven’t started this series yet. These are such fun bite sized scifi stories, they are fast paced, funny, heart warming most of the time. Highly recommend there very easy scifi to digest and perfect for fantasy readers.

4.5/5⭐

I think this is my favorite Murderbot adventure since All Systems Red. Not that there's ever been a bad Murderbot book, but after coming off of the most "fine" installment in the series, Fugitive Telemetry, it's nice to be really excited about the direction this story is moving in again.

System Collapse picks up shortly after the events of Network Effect, so if it's been a while since you read that one, you might want a refresher before jumping into this one. Murderbot, ART, and their respective humans are trying to help the colonists of a partially-terraformed planet avoid becoming indentured to a corporation called Barish-Estranza, but not all of the colonists know who to trust or what exactly it is that they want for themselves.

Meanwhile, Murderbot is not doing okay. But good luck getting it to talk about its emotions.

I love what Martha Wells is doing with the character of Murderbot. A sarcastic construct that wishes to not be perceived could end up being so one-noted and repetitive, but Wells is allowing our snarky SecUnit to grow in such a beautiful way, even if it resents that growth every step of the way.

Pretty minor complaint, but the weakest part of this series for me has always been the human characters (Mensah aside), especially since Murderbot spent a few books jumping around from place to place. I'm glad this installment had it stay with the same group of humans as Network Effect for the most part, as I feel like I actually got to know some of them beyond just their name. Obviously, Murderbot is the heart of these books, but its love for its humans really adds a lot to its character. So I think actually getting to know those humans better enhances the reading experience.

Absolutely loved this installment and I can't wait to see what's next!

System Collapse is the newest installment of the Murderbot Diaries Series. We are picking up where Network Effect ends. B-E is not happy that Peri and the crew have halted their opportunity of taking over the planet so now they are after the people instead. Murderbot and its humans are desperate to keep the colony from signing their lives away into slave labor but Murderbot is a little distracted with its own problems. This was a pretty solid installment in the Murderbot Diaries. I fully enjoy getting to hear that sentient robot’s inner monologue. ART is by far my favorite secondary character and I love the continued friendship that unfolds in this book. If you haven’t already started this series, there’s still time to catch up! All of the books are fast paced and easy to get sucked into; this one included!!

Another great addition to the series! I do recommend rereading Network Effect before picking this up, or at least reading a recap online, since this does pick up right after that story.

I didn't reread anything lol so it took me a little white to situate myself back into this world and what was going on. Murderbot really goes through it in this one in regard to mental health and trauma and having to process and come to terms with everything that has happened in previous installments. I really enjoyed how Martha Wells explored that and how that particular subplot developed throughout the book.

The first half was a bit slow to start, but things soon picked up and the usual tension and danger made themselves known. I loved loved loved the second half here, how it progressed, and the twists and action bits along the way. Murderbot interacting with the team and ART was wonderful as usual and there were quite a few scenes where the stakes were high and they all had to work together.

This latest full-length book in the must-read series is seriously entertaining. SecUnit is shown working more and more within the teams of humans and as a contributing team player. He is valued and appreciated and held in great esteem among his colleagues (who would have guessed?). He continues to have his hero moments that display his character and loyalty - which confound him being only a human-robot construct but which delight his colleagues and reading audience.

I give this book 4.5 stars because some of the narrative portions (setting the scene, explaining the context) seem wordy and slow, as if there were a word count that was required to "finish" the story.

That said, I would not miss a single chance to enjoy MurderBot / SecUnit's story - the series is excellent and without parallel in my decades of reading experience. SecUnit is evolving in each story and strengthening th0se relationships with humans (ugh!) - to the delight of the readers. The action is well-designed and at times, intense. A satisfying read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the advance digital copy. Pub date is November 14, 2023. I already can't wait for the next!