Another great Murderbot story. This one takes place right after Network Effect, and Murderbot is dealing with the fallout/trauma from that. It changes the tone of the story (can't really give details without spoiling it) but the characters and functions and world are what we've come to love from the series. I enjoyed the outside conflict as well as Murderbot's internal conflict and I recommend this one if you enjoy the series!

In the latest entry in the Murderbot diaries, our favorite SecUnit is dealing with a lot of <redacted>. It will take you until halfway through the book until the sudden use of <redacted> in Murderbot's account is explained in any way, which adds an interesting and suspenseful element to the story. In the end, we find Murderbot is more relatable and even...human?...than ever, which, naturally, Murderbot will absolutely HATE.

I'm always thrilled to be back in Murderbot's head. I do wish I had paid more attention to the fact that this book follows the events of Network Effect, book #5 in the series, rather than the more-recent #6, Fugitive Telemetry, which confusingly takes place chronologically between books 4 and 5. I think I would have enjoyed this book even more if I had refreshed my brain with the details of Network Effect, but this was still a really fun ride through Murderbot's evolving personality. SecBot and its humans are up against the corporation Barish-Estranza in the race to save the colonists on a planet in peril. Murderbot is not quite up to snuff after the events of the previous novel, and I really enjoyed its struggle to keep everyone safe while dealing (or not) with its issues. The last third or so of the novel is especially riveting; I couldn't put it down. Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group/Tordotcom for a digital review copy.

This book follows the events of Network Effect and therefore Murderbot is not running at optimal performance. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are trying to help the colonists understand that the newly arrived corporation is not as helpful as they pretend to be. Murderbot needs to figure out what is wrong with itself in order to save them all…

Another fantastic installment in a series I cannot get enough of.

Murderbot is still its hilarious, media-loving, sarcastic self—but recent trauma has forced it to process more emotions than ever before.

I love how vulnerable, emotional, and human these stories are, when SecUnit (aka Murderbot) is a construct, not human at all.

Highly recommend this series!

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC.

NEW MURDERBOT!!! As soon as I heard it existed, I headed over to NetGalley to request a copy and here we are!

This book takes place just after Network Effect, which is where I wanted to be, more on that later. Here we find our favorite, freed SecUnit and its working with ART. However, Murderbot seems to be having some issues other than the task which they have set their mind to. Murderbot is experiencing things like self-doubt and anxiety and it is a pleasure to behold. Not that I'd wish anything bad would happen to it, it's just that I love its human qualities and I'm glad to see more of them.

That's all I'm going to say about the plot. It's fun and fast-paced with some humming tension as the situation seems to get more dire by the second. With its addiction to Sanctuary Moon and other media still intact, it's not startling to realize that Murderbot seems to be taking some behavior clues from these shows, all in a bid to learn how to better deal with itself, really KNOW itself. I think this aspect is the thing I love most about Murderbot.

I found this a much better story than the previous entry, Fugitive Telemetry, which felt like a tale told completely out of order. I expected to see Murderbot working with ART as that was the situation we left them in at the end of Network Effect. Sadly, that was not the case and it resulted in my least favorite Murderbot story yet. I'm still here though, and I'm glad I stayed because this was the story I was anticipating and I'm glad Martha Wells gave it to us!

All hail Murderbot!

*I received an e-ARC of this book from Tor via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*

Review copy provided by the publisher.

There's a lot SecUnit doesn't want to talk about.

Unfortunately repressing trauma has a time limit even when you're a SecUnit, a.k.a. Murderbot. And when you're in the middle of trying to find and deal with a lost outpost of humans who are vulnerable to corporate manipulation may be the worst possible time to pretend that nothing is wrong, just when you most need to integrate your human and machine sides. "Need" and "want" are definitely, definitely not the same thing here.

This is the latest installation in its series, and I wouldn't recommend starting here; Murderbot's personality and relationships and backstory are all well-established from other parts of the series, and the momentum you have from those will not be the same if you try to start from scratch with this late-series entry. If you already know Murderbot well, though, watching its development to this point is very satisfying. This is the good time I was looking for.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this science fiction adventure featuring the SecUnit of sarcasm, the control officer of media binging and mayhem, the one and only Murderbot and the fleshy humans that Murderbot has for some reason decided to protect.

Even Murderbot gets the blues. The blues though in Murderbot's case have been pushed down deep, locked away and redacted from Murderbot's interactions. Which are starting to suffer. A SecUnit that can control it's pain, and can control its own actions, Murderbot is on a colony world that has seen better days, dealing with a business consortium that sees profit in every single thing. And will do anything to make that profit real. Murderbot really needs to be on top of its game, but something is slowing its reaction time, making it second guess actions, and instead of keeping those fleshy humans alive, Murderbot might be putting them all in danger. System Collapse by Martha Wells is the seventh book in this series about a future that seems far too real with a character in Murderbot that is just so much fun, even though it is going through a lot.

The book begins where the fifth book leaves off, with Murderbot on a colony world that has had a unique infection in both humans and tech, and leaving the survivors messed up in a variety of ways. A rival corporation is trying to make a profit, but on a ruined colony world the only profit available might be those colonists left behind, as contract/slave workers are always needed somewhere. Murderbot is also not doing well, for things it wishes not to discuss, nor think about. There is a large part of something that Murderbot is keeping redacted from itself and others, though his humans protectees are aware. Also aware is ART a sentient ship that is trying to help Murderbot, but is finding itself dealing wth its own problems, and a defiant Murderbot. Things might be under control, until word reaches the team that there might be another group of humans on the planet, a large group that might have been fine during the infection that hurt so many. A prime crop for a corporation to make money on, and something worth killing quite a lot of people over.

Another great adventure in the Murderbot universe that is both thrilling and thoughtful in different ways. And funny, thought the humor takes awhile. Murderbot is a fascinating character one that immediately made me interested in knowing more starting in its first adventure, and has really grown over the novel and short stories. The intriguing aspect of the story is that Murderbot is caught red handed showing feelings, and for a SecUnit this can be a tad overwhelming. Overwhelming enough to almost shut down, and for memories to form that are not real, which for a SecUnit that doesn't feel pain and can process a lot of information quickly, should be impossible. And yet. The problem with this is that Wells keeps it a secret so long, that the story drags in the beginning in a almost disjointed way. I get that Wells is trying to show Murderbot is confused, suffering trauma after years and years of violence, sometimes deserved, sometimes against its will, but it made the story a bit tough to get into. Thought this clears up once the plot starts really moving. I still enjoyed this, and want to know more about what Murderbot is going through. I can't wait for more.

For new readers it might take a bit to get into, but I wouldn't expect new readers to be at home with both the violence, and the humor, especially the sarcasm so quickly. For veteran readers a fun adventure and a lot of changes and growth for the characters and the characters around Murderbot. I look very forward to more adventures, or really any science fiction or fantasy from Martha Wells.

This gripping continuation of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells had me hooked in about two seconds.

System Collapse is a sci-fi novella following our favorite Murderbot as they struggle with their newly discovered mental health. Murderbot must learn in the only way humans do: by messing up the first time.

I absolutely love the vibes of this one. It is engaging, action packed, and funny, but still manages to tug on the heart strings. Martha Wells has once again wowed me with just her writing style! It’s so easy to read and to get into the head of Murderbot.

SciFi fans must read The Murderbot Diaries! System Collapse is no exception.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

"Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

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."

If you're sitting around to wait for the deadly droid revolut in the Star Wars comics to come out in trade paperback, might I suggest another murderous robot?

Great syfi read for fans of red rising series. Great series and loved the writing style. The cover is amazing art. Great concept

How much do I love Murderbot? Fantastic! He is again just a great character in the seventh book in the series. We find him a bit flawed in this book He is having some emotional troubles due to his past experience, and he’s struggling with this. But he doesn’t let his coworkers down, nor does he ever let us down. We get to see and hear his thoughts and emotions deeply in this particular story. His function as always is security, and to take care of his team, but we get a in-depth look at how he makes decisions and how it’s not just the data but it’s his heart and humanity that help him to do the things necessary to save himself and his team. He doesn’t always make the right decisions and as I said, he’s got some issues in this book, but we definitely root for him from page 1 to the end always. This is another great book, Martha Wells Just writes great Murderbot stories. Read them all. Read them twice, and definitely pick up book 7.

I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely recommend rereading the previous book before you read this one because I forgot a lot and you might as well. I don’t like the fact that we start the book in a present that has flashbacks to a past that was not in a book. There is a lot of redacted information at the beginning of this book that it takes forever before you get to an explanation of what was redacted, and why. It made a very hard to get into this book because you spend the first almost 50% confused about what has happened and what is happening because it feels like every couple of paragraphs you have redacted information. It started getting better at the 50% mark. As with all the Murderbot books, this book made me laugh out loud and I still love Murderbot as a character. I just feel like this book could’ve started off much stronger. In this book we see Murderbot, dealing with anxiety and panic. He seems to have become more emotional in this book not necessarily in a bad way. He leans more on his humans for emotional support, and seems to empathize with their emotional outbursts more than he has previously. I love ART she’s still my favorite character, and we are briefly introduced to another ship AI interface: Holism. Holism seems to have a history with ART and their interactions promise future hilarity in the next few books (I hope). Despite the slow start, this book was pretty good. I am holding out hope that I will like the next one more. I feel like this was slow because it was trying a different way of writing to show Murderbot’s growth as a character, and as a sentient being who is learning and developing feelings.

The mood of System Collapse isn’t as light or even as sarcastic as previous Murderbot books; Murderbot isn’t okay, it knows it, ART knows it, and their humans know it. That knowledge gives the book a weight, a feeling of imminent doom, that other books lacked - even in the most dire of situations.

System Collapse is the seventh installment of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. It picks up not long after Network Effect, on a colony planet in the middle of nowhere, where the inhabitants are in danger of being recruited into lifelong indenture - by force, if necessary. The teaching and research vessel, Perihelion, of the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland - also known as ART or Asshole Research Transport - has come to this planet to help the colonists. ART kidnapped Murderbot and its humans and brought them into this mess, and now, in System Collapse we get to see the aftermath of the kidnapping and ARTs plans to free the colonists.

With me so far? (I try not to spoil previous books, but some of this information is necessary to understand where this book begins.) Okay, good!

System Collapse is more of an ending to Network Effect, wrapping up everything that happened with ART and the isolated colony of humans, but the things Murderbot must deal with - the things he refuses to confront - are an integral story that readers will enjoy. So while this book lacks the humor, and could possibly be considered a continuation of Network Effect, it’s will captivate Murderbot fans.


Readers could be pretty confident at the end of Network Effect that everything would work out for Murderbot, ART, and their humans. That’s why the information for System Collapse (what would be considered the “book jacket or book cover copy” or the story blurb) was so alarming for Murderbot fans. It reads, “there’s something wrong with Murderbot: it isn’t running within normal operational parameters.” So what happened?!? It’s going to drive loyal Murderbot readers mad, this not knowing.

And they’ll have to wait much longer than opening the book to figure it out… When we pick up Murderbot’s story, it is already broken, but it refuses to discuss or even think about the cause. Instead, any time it gets near the problem, readers will see “redacted.”

Wells keeps readers on tenterhooks, desperately wanting to know what happened. Fair warning: It will be understandable if readers rush through the book the first time, anxiously wanting answers.

As with previous books, System Collapse is told from Murderbot’s point of view - a deeply personal one where it shares most of its thoughts (and confused feelings) while mainly presenting a neutral expression for the humans. It won’t admit that it is not okay, not usually, and this books is no different. Comments like, “Pretending I’m fine for Mensah was hard enough,” and “I know I get pissed off when humans don’t acknowledge my work, but why is too much acknowledgement also upsetting?” are noted internally for readers alone while it says, “I am absolutely fine,” over and over again.

Very little can be kept from ART, however, and it keeps a close eye on Murderbot. ART tracks Murderbot’s performance reliability, among other things, and Murderbot is painfully aware that it needs ART right now. “ART has been monitoring me due to redacted. Which is a whole thing, I don’t know, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Readers have often felt heartsick for Murderbot, but this whole book will strum the heartstrings.
While we worry over Murderbot, we get to know more about ART and its humans along the way. I won’t spoil any of those revelations, but they are sprinkled throughout the book in little tidbits to lessen the disturbing thoughts of Murderbot. There is humor, but it doesn’t hit like it used to. I think Wells did an amazing job of keeping the book somber even when the banter and side remarks are amusing.

That said, I think fans will all give a huge sigh of relief when Murderbot and ART can go back to jovially poking at one. Together they are a great team, and their combined humans are all very likable.

I eagerly look forward to the next Murderbot Diaries installment. Until then, I’ve pre-ordered my copy of the audiobook so I can listen to the entire Murderbot Diaries over and over again. The narrator, Kevin R. Free, is fantastic.

This is the seventh Murderbot outing, and it felt a little light, judged by the extraordinarily high standards set by the previous works in the series. Our beloved characters are all still themselves, but it felt a little like what would have been a few chapters of set-up in earlier books was stretched out to novel length here. Certainly not enough to turn me off the series, but not quite as satisfying as I had hoped for either. Let's hope for a return to form with volume eight!

Murderbot Diaries is an excellent series and System Collapse meets the same standard. I am and have been invested in the ongoing development and self'awareness of Murderbot and their cohorts. I only wish I had started this series much, much sooner.

If you haven't read all the Murderbot books, you are in for a treat but don't jump into the series with this one. You need to read the first one at least, and then #7, Network Effect, because this novella wouldn't make sense if you haven't. Bad enough that it's been some time since book 7 for me, but the story particulars came back as I read.

The novella is engaging, like all the Murderbot books: lots of sarcasm as SecUnit figures out who are what he is. Passing as an augmented human, Murderbot does NOT want to be human, yet as he throws off the reigns of his former controllers by hacking his governor module, he is slowly, and possibly unwillingly, becoming more and more human every day.

Lots of swearing (don't get me wrong, I like that - this isn't a kid's book), action-packed scenes, and a few nods to LGBTQ. The humans either care enough for others to try to prevent a hidden colony from potential slavery or blatantly want to enslave them. Take your pick. It seems 50/50 in the world of Murderbot.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity for this early view of Martha Well's next scifi novella!

Murderbot is still planet side, rescuing an ungrateful bunch of colonists from their horror show of a situation and from the Barish-Estranza corporation, which has appeared with additional SecUnits and some diabolical plans. Adding to the fun, Murderbot isn’t running within normal operational parameters. Something is wrong.

Why I started this book: Murderbot... enough said.

Why I finished it: This story picks up immediately after the first, and I should have refreshed my memory of everything that happened previously. Still a great story, as Murderbot laments the humanity that is accreting in his life, schedule and operating modules.

The Murderbot series never fails to amaze me. It's such a unique story, and now Wells has added in the idea of trauma and PTSD and Murderbot having feelings for the humans he surrounds himself with, and I love it. The plot isn't near as important to me as Murderbot's growth...and amazing internal narration.

I've read a lot of Murderbot, but neglected to read Network Effect before this one. So, around 15% in I decided to catch up, just so I could fully enjoy System Collapse. It was well worth it, and I think that's all the recommendation you need! This series continues to expand and evolve wonderfully, and I'm always excited for where Murderbot will go next. Can't wait for the next installment!