The Murderbot Diaries are my new favorite science-fiction read. SYSTEM COLLAPSE is a sequel to NETWORK EFFECT, but it helps to also have read the four preceding novellas in the Murderbot series in order to be familiar with the characters, circumstances, and history involved. Going into this story, I had not, but once I had, I greatly appreciated the way the story keeps building from book to book. There is a fantastic blend of action, snark, and relation development, particularly between the Security Unit (SecUnit), known privately as Murderbot, and the sentient transport vehicle Perihelion (aka ART). Even in the midst of the tensest action, I found myself laughing out loud at some of the throwaway lines (one of the humans discovering the bad guys unexpectedly, comes out with, in Murderbot's words, "something religious and sweary again." The irreverent protagonist who doesn't do emotions (but actually really does, as well as doing its best to take care of its humans) carries the story through a plot involving alien planets, evil corporations, lost colonists, and so much more. I loved it and can't recommend it enough. I also can't wait to read the next installment of this outstanding series.

Not the strongest showing from our fearless (though needply conflicted) Murderbot, but certainly another wild ride, punctuated by some seller action (and one-liners from ART).

As we pick up from our last volume in this serial series, our team is hot on the trail on yet ANOTHER colony settlement... in a dangerous situation. While this time out the introduction seemed a bit more spun out, the finalé was great Murderbot candy!

Certainly worth the quick read!

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is book 7 in the Murderbot Diaries series and, I think if you’ve made it to book 7 it’s pretty clear that you enjoy the series. I am a big Murderbot fan and I was excited for another full length novel in the series. This didn’t disappoint. I couldn’t put it down!

System Collapse directly follows Network Effect (book 5) and focuses on Murderbot having to mentally and emotionally (the horror) deal with everything it went through in the previous book while continuing to do its job. I loved this aspect so much. Getting to see Murderbot’s growth since the beginning of the series and having to deal with some of its emotions is what made System Collapse one of my favourite entries in to the series so far. I also continue to love all of Murderbot and ART’s interactions. Their friendship is simultaneously hilarious and so sweet.

In my opinion, System Collapse is a strong entry into the Murderbot Diaries series and I’m very excited to see where the series goes next!

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the eARC. This is my honest review.

4.5 stars. While I'm never great at keeping up with the political/legal plots and worldbuilding structures that happen in these books, this one was another action packed ride full of the lovable Murderbot as it bickers with ART, tries not to process its own emotions, and keeps as many humans alive as possible. This is the quickest I've devoured a book in the past 6 months.

Read this in one sitting because I just had to know what happened next. Martha Wells continues to build on the idea of space capitalism in a way that’s entirely realistic and completely terrifying.

This is the awesome seventh entry in Well’s fabulous Murderdot Diaries series, featuring our favorite AI killer robot who’s hacked its governor module to forge an independent and mostly peaceful, if puzzling, life for itself. This full-length novel goes back in time to pick up on events following the fifth in the series, Network Effect. Mruderbot’s still trying to save the Preservation humans under its protection while sorting out its own emotional humanity. And once again, Murderbot gets forced to partner with AI of the ART transport, that continues to prove a frenemy.

Murderbot’s continuing mission centers on guarding humans who are trying to locate any human settlers on a recently corporate-colonized planet who do not want to be “rescued” by the corporation only to turn them into profitable human slaves. Murderbot and crew locate a long-lost group of isolated colonists, who cannot figure out who to trust between them and the supposed rescue team sent in by the new corporate overlord. There’s also the issue of alien artifacts that have potentially been left on the planet in the vicinity of the isolated colonists.

Murderbot itself is malperforming below its SecUnit’s reliability parameters. This gets reflected in Murderbot’s evolving and continually REDACTED narration- crossing out and redacting sections it doesn’t like or trust, while still approaching the world with a sardonic outlook overlayed on candid observations and humor. Suddenly we’re delving into Murderbot’s emotions and evolving humanity, which become even sharper as its reliability stumbles.

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Martha Wells does it again!! Murderbot is back and better than ever, except it isn't, it's functioning at a lower percentage than it likes to maintain but things are happening and it needs to keep the humans safe.

I binged the previous 6 books leading up to this one and they are definitely forever favorites.

Thank you TOR, Martha Wells, and Netgalley for the ARC.

Wells has done it again.
Murderbot’s journey continues with the perfect amount of intrigue, action and sarcastic humor. Murderbot always approaches problems with just the right level of analysis and, despite its best efforts, emotion. This time controlling its emotions is extra hard because [redacted], which is the last thing it’s needs if it’s gonna manage to protect the Preservation and Perihelion crews.

This book picks up RIGHT where Network Effect left off, so I highly recommend either rereading or refreshing yourself on that book before diving in here. I feel like there's not a ton I can say that is not spoiler-y, so I'll just say that this is the first book where we see Murderbot processing their feelings and the trauma of what all they've been through with the support of their humans and ART. Thematically, this is very salient as to where we are re:late stage capitalism and worker exploitation

System Collapse by Martha Wells is the long-awaited seventh installment in the Murderbot Diaries series, and it takes place a few months after the events of the fifth book, Network Effect. Murderbot managed to save ART's crew from a colony planet where they were being held by humans infected by an alien intelligence, but it didn't do so unscathed. Now, Murderbot has mostly recovered from the attempted takeover of its brain, but it has a new problem to solve.

With the alien intelligence destroyed – or at least neutralized and contained – the colony still has thousands of people on it trying to decide what to do next. ART and its crew are trying to find a way to either help the colonists own the planet outright or to leave and seek out another place to live. However, according to corporation rim law, Barish-Estranza owns the planet and everything on it, including the people.

Murderbot is determined to help ART and its crew rescue these humans from a life of indentured servitude in the corporation rim. Unfortunately, the alien attack on Murderbot's brain and systems did more damage than it realized. Murderbot is experiencing less than stellar operational performance as a result. This is the worst time for this to happen when being slow in a fight between colonists and corporations can get Murderbot and everyone else killed.

System Collapse had a much different tone than previous entries in the Murderbot Diaries. Every prior entry sees Murderbot being a competent, if reluctant, rescuer of humans and hacker of systems. In this book, though, all of that has been compromised by post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the alien intelligence's attempt to take over Murderbot's mind. Couple that with the fact that Murderbot didn't even know it was capable of succumbing to PTSD and flashbacks and it's no wonder Murderbot's confidence in its abilities has been shaken.

To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long and this much trauma to shake Murderbot. It's been nearly killed several times in the past, and it's almost lost its control of its mind in at least one other situation as well. I feel like this particular instance must've shaken Murderbot so much because it was too much like being back under control of a governor module.

Suffice it to say, as the story is told from Murderbot's perspective, much of the book involves its own introspection into why this is happening. It feels anxious because it doesn't know if it can trust its own mind to function during critical moments. What if Murderbot has a flashback in the middle of a gunfight causing the death of one of its people? Anyone who has experience with mental illness will surely relate to Murdebot's attempts stop the spiral of negative thoughts.

The actual story in this book is also sufficiently suspenseful to keep the reader on their toes. Not only was I wondering if Murderbot was alright, I was wondering how Murderbot, ART, and gang were going to help the colonists. Naturally, the colonists are stubborn and don't trust any of these outsiders. After all, they were left to fend for themselves for a few generations, so why should they trust what ART's crew or the Barish-Estranza people are telling them? It naturally starts as a propoganda war that devolves into fire fights by the end of the book. Let's be honest, though, the fire fights are some of the best parts of these books!

Obviously, I loved this book, just like I loved the rest of the Murderbot Diaries. I'm tempted to re-read this one soon because it was so emotional and suspenseful, but it still had some snarky and comedy to break it up. I enjoyed seeing Murderbot and ART's friendship develop a bit more in this book as well. Murderbot seems to be learning to live with its organic parts and the feelings that come with them. Just like plain old humans, it's not always easy, but that just makes Murderbot all the more relatable.

I gave System Collapse by Martha Wells five out of five stars. At this point, I doubt I'll rate any of the Murderbot Diaries lower than five stars. They would have to do something truly egregious to deserve a lower rating. As always, this book was the perfect blend of emotion, relatability, action, and mystery. I can't wait to read more, and I'm so happy there are at least two more books planned.

Wells hit it out of the park again!

I just love Murderbot and following it’s journey through this story was everything I’d hoped for - and a little more. The way it wrestled with feelings and emotions - coping with Sanctuary Moon! - is just perfect. Wells captures something about humanity in this SecUnit!

I also LOVED the addition at the end (the “resolution Murderbot comes up with) and felt like it was exactly what the story needed.

As I always feel when I come to the end of a Murderbot novel…I want more.

Note: There is quite a bit of swearing that I really wish wasn’t there…it’s the only negative about the books because if feels off to have bots and ships cussing…but I read past it.

My rating: 5*

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Thanks to NetGalley for this gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

I love the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, with my favorite being Network Effect, which truly kicks ass. (My least favorite was Fugitive Telemetry, mainly because I didn’t think the whodunit format worked all that well. And Network Effect is a hard act to follow!) So I welcomed the opportunity to review an eGalley of the newest Sec Unit tale, System Collapse, due out in November.

Where does System Collapse fall between the last two, in terms of strength of story? Much closer to Network Effect, though it picks up the story-line of Preservation’s encounter with the unscrupulous Barish-Estranza corporation.

On one side are the humanitarian Preserveration folk (along with our favorite SecUnit); on the other side, the ruthless Barish-Estranza corporation. Both sides are vying for the hearts and minds of colonists who are also dealing with dangerous alien-tech-contamination. Moreover, the Preservation team finds out about a separatist group of colonists who are even more clueless about what’s happening. Naturally, having no history with either side, these colonists have no idea who to trust—or who to fear! If they make the wrong choice, they’ll end up as slave labor for the rest of their natural lives. Complicating matters, SecUnit can’t trust itself after a hallucinatory episode and an unexpected shutdown.

SecUnit has always been the model of competence and efficiency, in terms of security, keeping its team safe from outside threats and, sometimes, from their own ill-advised choices. Introducing self-doubt is a significant problem when every choice becomes a life-or-death decision, adding another layer of suspense to a situation that is already tense. The reason for the eponymous “system collapse” is never fully explained, so I wonder if that will be the subject of the next Murderbot Diaries installment.

With SecUnit’s unexpected (and certainly unwelcome) layer of fallibility in the mix, System Collapse builds to a nail-biting conclusion, since any mistake, any hesitation can lead to fatal results for SecUnit and its team, and a life of misery for the colonists they’ve been sent to rescue. It remains to be seen if the “system collapse” is a one-time fluke, something SecUnit will completely recover from and be forgotten… or if it signals another step toward greater humanity for our beloved MurderBot.

Murderbot realizes it has to deal with it's PTSD, the novel! Very much a sequel to Network Effect and does not stand alone without reading Network Effect. It's a delightful novel for longtime Murderbot readers featuring new and old friends (Mensah, ART, Ratthi, etc). The series could end here, but the ending has me wanting SO much more!

This is one of the best entries to the Murderbot Diaries series. If you liked Network Effect, you're going to love System Collapse. This novel starts where Network Effect left off. Murderbot and the team are dealing with the fallout of their previous adventure, and discovering a new adventure (and many many problems) along the way.

It has everything that you've loved about Murderbot books in the past: pessimism and sarcasm, our bot trying to deal with its anxiety and trauma, deadly fights, a love of media pervading the plot, and musings on what it means to be human.

The strength of this book is in how it shows Murderbot dealing with its emotional issues. For many books of this series, Murderbot has been avoiding doing just that. In this episode, we start to get some real forward momentum.
It also avoided the common pitfall of this series by narrowing down the cast somewhat. For most of the novel, we only had 3 sidekicks.

A video review of this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, @ChloeFrizzle

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

System Collapse begins hours after Network Effect ended. You really should not read this first. I found the first third a bit hard going because Murderbot did not "sound" wholly like the Murderbot of previous stores to me. I trusted Ms. Wells to lead me thru the store and indeed she did. The alteration in Murderbot's manner was revealed and made a whole lot of sense. By the end I was hooting out loud.

Related to Murderbot. I only found out about a short story Ms. Well's wrote for a charity project "Take Us to a Better Place", a few days ago and read it immediately after System Collapse.. Her story is "Obsolescence". It is poorly indexed at Amazon (as many things are there, how their search engine has fallen). One will not find it by searching for Martha Wells but you can find it by searching for the title of the anthology. It is set in a much earlier time but is well worth reading.

I love Murderbot. These novellas are just so great. I'm not a huge scifi fan & it doesn't even matter. This installment tackles mental health in a good way too. Sometimes the scifi-ness gets a little weedy but the relationships are so well done that it's compelling nonetheless.

System Collapse by Martha Wells In this fun installment of the Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot is doing what it does best. As always there is action, corporate skulduggery, and it's darkly comic struggle with diminishing mental health. Very good addition to the series.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I really don’t know why I’m here. At this point, more than five books into the Murderbot series, you’ve made a choice about whether you’re in or out. I love Murderbot with all my heart and soul, and if you’re a Murderbot stan, I promise that this new entry into the extended Murderbot universe will not disappoint you. And actually if you were more lukewarm on the latest Murderbot, this new novel (yes, novel, not novella--and there was much rejoicing) is a pretty direct sequel to Network Effect. It’s full of Murderbot doing Murderbot things--fun action, corporate skullduggery, and Murderbot feeling uncomfortable about emotions.

If somehow you’ve been living under a rock, and you aren’t familiar with our lord and savior Murderbot, let me give you a quick pitch for why you should be interested in this series. (But if you are, start at the beginning with All Systems Red, not here--this one will make no sense.)

Murderbot is a SecUnit (Half-human half-robot designed to provide security), living in a corporate dystopia. Murderbot has hacked its own governing module, and would like to be left alone to watch it’s trashy TV shows, but unfortunately self awareness also means Murderbot has emotions, and those are inconvenient. If you want to read about a cynical sassy android that is maybe the world’s most relatable robot--get you to Murderbot and you can thank me later.

I received a free Advance Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.
Will Post November 1.

I am so happy that I received this audiobook. The narrator did a great job and I love being back in the Murderbot world. You will not be disappointed!!

Another exciting, fun entry in the murderbot diaries. This opens en media res and the action rarely stops.

MB and it's close friend ART are a fun, playfully antagonistic pair with a high regard for the protection of their humans, and maybe the mission too

MB is growing as a real, feeling being and it's nice to see it grow and realize it needs help sometimes, both physically and mentally. MB's mental health and PTSD is a constant subplot as it's story progresses.

When's the next book out?!