There are so many ways that I could describe System Collapse, but I'll keep it simple: it's perfection. Every Murderbot Diaries installment has been a true joy to read and System Collapse was no different. Murderbot continues to experience emotions and feelings - while simultaneously trying to keep its humans alive. It ended up being a fantastic follow up to Network Effect and beloved characters (like ART) from that book are front in center in System Collapse. Martha Wells continues to craft stories that elicit emotional responses from joy to sadness to surprise and so many other feelings in between. I'll be recommending the book to any patron looking for a recommendation in the genre or related to the genre.

The first thing to know about Martha Wells’ System Collapse is that if you can’t dredge up memories of its predecessor, Network Effecthttps://fantasyliterature.com/reviews/network-effect/, you’re going to want to refresh yourself either by a reread (fun enough) or skimming a few reviews, as System Collapse picks up directly afterward and really, feels like it could have just been part of Network Effect (you know, had it been written at the time).

The reasons are multiple for wanting to remind yourself of events: the plotting, as noted, starts nearly immediately after the close of Network Effect, there are several character groups one is going to want to keep straight (a colonist group, another colonist group, a surprise colonist group previously unknown, a group of Murderbot humans some of whom are relatively new, the corporate bad guys who themselves have their own factions, the university good guys who may or may not arrive in time to be of help, etc. But the most important reason to refresh your memory is because System Collapse is really built around Murderbot’s PTSD (while the “system” of the title can have several referents, one is certainly Murderbot’s own system) stemming from a key event in the prior novel. So it’ll help if you remember just what that event was and why it was so traumatizing.

The action all takes place on the same planet from Network Effect, with revelation of the aforementioned surprise group of extra colonists prompting an excursion by Murderbot and his humans to the polar region where this splinter group — long out of contact with the other colonists — supposedly exists. The key is to get there and give the colonists their various options before the corporate villains (Barish-Estranza) show up and put them into indentured servitude (voluntarily or involuntarily). Of course, getting there first and convincing the colonists before the bad guys arrive would make for a pretty slim novel, so as one might expect, things don’t go quite so smoothly. The corporation is already there, they’re devious and deceptive as corporations are wont to be, and they’ve brought along their own SecUnits, meaning poor Murderbot would be outgunned even if it were operating normally.

And it is absolutely not operating normally. The first clue we get to this are the number of “redacted” moments that appear early on in the narration (one of my favorite, most cleverly devised, elements of the series is how Murderbot’s speedy brain’s ability to multi-task combined with its self-diagnosis programming allows it to act as both a semi-omniscient third-person narrator and a first-person narrator simultaneously). Eventually we’re told the cause of this, and the rest of this storyline focuses on Murderbot’s attempts to deal with the trauma. Or really, for the most part, its attempts to avoid dealing with it, despite the proffered assistance from its “annoying” friends: the humans under its protection and its AI friend ART. This personal sense of uncertainty, its sense of vulnerability and shame at that vulnerability, combined with its fear/guilt that said uncertainty will cause it to let down its friends and allow them to come to harm; all of that serves to further humanize (or “person-ize”) Murderbot, as well as pop up the tension when it comes to running and shooting and fighting. Although less of that occurs here, making this a more introspective story than many of the prior ones. As well as more meta, given that storytelling plays a prominent role in the attempt to stave off a corporate victory (and the referenced idea of disinformation makes it sadly topical as well).

Meanwhile, the usual snark and humor runs throughout, even if tempered by that vulnerability and uncertainty, making this just as entertaining as all the rest of the series. Obviously, this is not the place to start the series (if you mistakenly picked it up thinking it was a standalone/first work, stop reading now and go back to begin with All Systems Red). So anyone reading System Collapse is well aware of the series’/character’s many strengths. Suffice to say they’re all on display here. Just remember to catch up on what happened just beforehand before diving in.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This story starts immediately after the end of Network Effect as Murderbot goes on a quest with some familiar humans and ART as they attempt to rescue abandoned colonists on a planet that is suffering from alien contamination from becoming corporate slaves. And yet, throughout the story, Murderbot is still recovering from his last adventure. He's navigating through some mental health struggles following a traumatic incident. This book focuses on the emotional progress of Murderbot and sets up the next story for when he goes on his next galactic adventure. I think this story reminds us all to pause and do our own mental check-ins.

The Murderbot series continues to be such a distinct and enjoyable balance of humor and action. Wells has truly accomplished something spectacular by creating a world I keep wanting to go back to over and over again.

Book Review
System Collapse
Martha Wells
reviewed by Lou Jacobs


readersremains.com | Goodreads


Murderbot enthusiasts, rejoice! Your latest fix, a full-length novel featuring your beloved SecUnit Robot, has arrived. This seventh installment, a direct sequel to the events in Network Effect (the fifth book and the first full-length novel in the series, following richly crafted novellas), is not recommended as a standalone.

For newcomers to the Murderbot series, it’s essential to start with the first novella, the multi-award-winning All Systems Red. This series, a cerebral science fiction space opera, is replete with intrigue, action, and mystery. It centers around a self-hacked robot on a quest to understand life’s meaning.

As an introduction: Murderbot began its journey as a security cyborg, constructed from both inorganic and cloned human materials. Initially an indiscriminate killing machine under its owners’ control, it eventually hacked its programming governor unit, attaining free will, independence, and sentience. Despite this, it continues to serve its human owners on missions across the galaxy. We’ve seen Murderbot evolve in personality, maturity, and quirks—sometimes cranky, cynical, paranoid, and anxious, other times depressed. However, it’s no longer a mindless killer; it acts out of necessity to protect the humans it has grown to care for. Frustrated by their poor choices, which often require its rescue, Murderbot unwinds by watching media, with a favorite show being “The Rise And Fall Of Sanctuary Moon”, including specific beloved episodes.

In this adventure, Murderbot confronts the unethical megacorporation Barish-Estranza, which has dispatched mercenaries to enslave the surviving colonists of a planet and exploit its resources. The colonists distrust both Murderbot’s team and Barish-Estranza, having survived a contamination by killer alien technology. Martha Wells, as an adept storyteller and world builder, weaves a complex, twisted plot with action and intrigue reminiscent of a John Wick movie. The novel delves into themes of unchecked capitalism and colonialism, along with the exploration of diversity and the non-significance of gender roles or pronouns. Witnessing Murderbot’s continuous evolution, despite its “somewhat deficient” humans, is a thrilling experience.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review

SYSTEM COLLAPSE is book number 7 in the (mostly) novella series by @marthawellswriter. In this thrilling adventure there is a lot more action and fighting than some of the past books which means there was a bit less of the banter I love so much, but ART and Murderbot still have a few gloriously sarcastic spats. AND...Murderbot and ART make a baby! (Slight spoiler but also, not).

I can't get enough of Murderbot - their assessment of interacting with other humans and their desire to just zone out and be consumed by their stories (i.e. Sanctuary Moon) are both so spot on for me. Hands down, my favorite portrayal of a bad robot gone rouge. The only problem is that they are trying to figure out how to fit in with humans so that means they will have to contend with "Ew...emotions."🤣

If you have not had the pleasure to hang out with Murderbot, ART and their human companions, I HIGHLY recommend this series. Even with all the combat, etc this series still feels really cozy to me and it is always a delight to revisit these characters.

🤖Have you read any of these yet? Have any other favorite robot-centric books?

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @torbooks for the e-ARC.

Another great Murderbot book by Martha Wells!
I always enjoy reading this universe. It can be tough to keep readers attention after so many books, but Wells continues to deliver and keep my attention.
Such a great sci fi read with great characters and development. Looking forward to more Murderbot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC.

The beginning of this brought a lot more suspense than usual. The actions from Network Effect had a deep impact on Murderbot’s psyche - something they are not willing to admit, no matter how much it is hurting their functionality.

Threat assessments spike, performance reliability drops, and we are introduced to a whole new, completely nervous side of Murderbot. We see moments of them freezing, second guessing their abilities, and missing things that shouldn’t have been missed. The crew sees it, too.

These emotions being uncovered is definitely a turning point for the series, but I couldn’t help but feel like the plot was monotonous. They find danger, they fight, Murderbot says some sass, ART say some sass back, they escape. I love all of that, but it didn’t feel as exciting as it did in previous books.

This latest installment of the Murderbot diaries ultimately fell a bit flat for me, which is honestly disappointing. I have loved the other novellas and novel that make up this series, so I was very eager to get to this one. In the end, it took me almost halfway through the book to really get into the story and by that point I was a bit frustrated.

First, the good. I enjoyed the return to Murderbot's distinctive narration style. It was a lot of fun to return to that voice, as well as some characters I enjoyed from previous installments (it's hard to imagine a Murderbot book with ART at this point). I like the emotional journey that Murderbot has gone on from one installment to the next and that is especially clear in this latest book.

One of the hardest parts of the book, for me, was the fact that it picks up almost immediately after Network Effect. I read that installment over a year ago and details of the plot were murky in my memory; a re-read would have been incredibly helpful here. I felt dropped into the plot and left to flounder a bit more than I normally would, even in the context of a sequel.

In the first half of the book, there is something that Murderbot is keeping from the official record, occasionally signaled as "redacted" in the middle of the text. We eventually learn what the "redacted" incident is, and after that, the book really picked up steam for me. The trope of hiding this from the reader in such an obvious way was distracting to say the least and a bit frustrating. I think we could have come to the reveal a bit sooner and moved on with the plot for the same effect as waiting until later in the book. Once we got past it, I really enjoyed the conclusion of the book.

Overall, not my favorite Murderbot installment. I wonder if the series, at 7 books now, has overstayed its welcome. That said, I will definitely read another one before completely giving up on it!

Murderbot does it again.

This series is one of my all time favorites and I can never put it down.

I will say I ended up listening to it and was a little confused by an aspect of the story. It made you feel like you were missing an event. And you were. It does get explained so if you’re confused and feel like you missed a whole book, keep going!

This was another great installment in the Murderbot Diaries. I enjoyed watching the characters work together to protect the colonists. I also thought it was interesting that SecUnit had to deal with a malfunctioning of a sort. I enjoyed SecUnits classic inner monologue and continuing to see the unlikely friendships unfold. This is just a feel good series! I liked some of the other books in the series better, but I still really enjoyed this one.

5*

Martha Wells can do no wrong when it comes to Murderbot.

I loved this character from it's conception and the continued growth of the character, the world, and the politics. Wells drops us quite literally into the middle of action and REDACTED mystery.

I was gripped from the get-go, but as many others have mentioned, it's worth perhaps reading Network Effect before you dive into this one as it picks up immediately after.

This was the first Murderbot book I really struggled to get into, for a fairly simple reason: Not enough Murderbot. I mean, Murderbot narrates the story and is its central figure as usual. But unlike with a few of the recent stories, there's nothing new to discover about their perspective, no sense that the character is moving forward or developing. They have one personal problem, initially presented as "redacted" often enough that I gave up guessing, and that didn't turn out to be all that engaging once it was finally revealed — just something for the character to fret over in a repetitive way without leading to a significant resolution. And the rest of the story around them didn't hold together for me at all.

The plot this time out, about a planet with several fractious colonist groups that don't trust outsiders, keeps shifting focus. As soon as the parameters are clear, the story moves away from the existing colonist groups and toward a brand new one. None of these colonists ever surfaces as a meaningful character; the whole book pivots on whether they're going to be saved or enslaved, but they're just a big bland abstract.

When System Collapse does spend a little time with one of the corpers and her situation, it becomes a lot more engaging. But there isn't nearly enough of her, and she only barely gets to do anything meaningful. The vast majority of this book is people being comparatively helpless in situations they can't take meaningful actions to address, and Murderbot getting stuck in situations where their actions are meaningful, but where they had no input into the parameters that led to the situation in the first place. That kind of thing can be a thrill if it's the point of the story, but in this one case, it left the whole book feeling fairly hollow to me, just a series of empty dialogues where little gets decided, action sequences where almost everyone is frustrated and confused, and not enough actual personalities or individual story arcs to hang onto to give the whole thing personal and engaging stakes. Odd, because I normally find these books a lot of fun.

All that said, it really feels like this book is the latest careful step in a long-term narrative where Murderbot's love of media transitions into Murderbot making their own media, specifically to communicate the value of autonomy to other SecUnits and/or to share their own experience with autonomy with humans. If that's what all this is aiming toward, I can't wait.

System Collapse by Martha Wells is the lastest entry in the Murderbot series. The story was enjoyable, even though it was not as action-packed as some the the previous titles. New characters were introduced and we gained further insight into the workings of Murderbot. Highly recommended.

Another entry in the long running Murderbot series, System Collapse, is a welcome return with everyone’s favorite neurotic robot. I love the comedy in this series and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of these adventures. I prefer the novellas over the novel for this series.

Murderbot does it again. It has major feelings and major *redacted*. I loved the pace, what we uncovered, what the characters did and what they didn't. But above all I loved Murderbot as usual because there's no other character more relatable.
At the start of the book we are thrown right into the action and we don't know many things, one in particular is constantly redacted that my curiosity was screaming at me. Then we go back in time and see exactly how they got where they got and we see all range of emotions from our favourite murderbot. I want it to be safe and happy forever.
I will never get tired of these stories and I already can't wait to reread it all again and wait for more.

Fantastic as all the others have been. I love Murderbot. They are real and they're my friend. Martha Wells always delivers.

In this installment of The Murderbot Diaries, our favorite SecUnit is back, and this time it's out to stop the evil Barish-Estranza corporation from enslaving a planet. But something is wrong with Murderbot. It's not running at full capacity. So in addition to saving a planet, it also has to save itself.

This book picks up where Network Effect left off, but it's been a while since reading that book, and there's a whole other book in between, I was confused to say the least. Don't get me wrong. System Collapse still has those things we love about Murderbot: its witty quips, its love for Sanctuary Moon, its disdain for humans despite saving their butts time and again. I'm not sure why Wells put a whole book in between these two, but I kinda wish that wouldn't have happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I enjoyed this book, just not as much as other Murderbots.

This is the first book in the Murderbot diaries series that i didn't enjoy. Perhaps it was because it was a continuation of the story events in an earlier entry, I was somewhat confused for quite some time. Maybe it was because for most of the book SecUnit was not itself wallowing in some sort of crisis caused by REDACTED and not the usual action driven character we've come to know. Or could it be that for most of the book it was non stop negotiating and discussing with the various colonists or among the crew. For whatever reason, such an incredibly short book took a lot longer to complete than it should. It really wasn't until about the last third that the story picked up for me as SecUnit finally starting acting like himself. I almost wonder if this should have really been part of the the earlier entries story, but way shorter, and was instead fleshed out to make a new book. Either way very disappointing as I really look forward to the latest adventures of MurderBot. Hopefully the next outing will be a return to form.

I am always going to be here for a new Murderbot book. I really enjoy these books. Do note that for this one, if it’s been a hot minute since you’ve read Network Effect, the only other full-length novel in this series, you should probably go re-read that first before starting this one.

This book ties in directly after the events of Network Effect and we’re still on the planet tying up loose ends. When I re-read the books in this series, I go by chronological order rather than publication order - so I start with All Systems Red (where we first meet Murderbot), Artificial Condition (where we first meet ART), Rogue Protocol (the book with poor Mickey), Exit Strategy (Murderbot meets back up with Preservation humans), Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot tries living on Preservation and gets involved in a murder mystery), THEN Network Effect (aliens!! and we meet ART again), and now we’re here with System Collapse.

This is the first Murderbot book I got an e-ARC for and while I love the story, I did find it hard to read by text? I very much prefer this story on audiobook more and hearing Kevin R. Free deliver Murderbot’s dry humor. That’s just me though. I know there’s the full cast version of the Murderbot books and those aren’t really my thing since I listen at a speed that’s not entirely compatible with constant sound effects and music. So, my review here is going to be based off listening to the Kevin R. Free audiobook narration.

Content notes include violence, droids losing limbs, PTSD, depression, mentions of colonizing humans and their planets, and mentions of slave labor.

Murderbot is going through some things in this book. But a positive here is that we get a LOT of Murderbot and ART interactions and I’m always going to be here for that. Murderbot and ART’s crews are working to get the colonists on the planet established and give them options…and start doing trade with other planets? I think they’re working to help them be independent. There’s 2 factions that we already knew about in the last book, and they do not get along. Then there’s Barish-Estranza who are definitely the Bad Guys here and are looking to trick the colonists into leaving the planet entirely and shipping them off into essentially slave labor in the Corporation Rim (or at least that’s how Murderbot describes it).

In some aspects, the story felt like it dragged a bit but it was mostly because I didn’t care very much for the political stuff surrounding the colonists and I wanted something to HAPPEN. Luckily, before too long, it did. Even got a little creepy there. But at least we have the humans (Tarik, Ratthi, and Iris), Murderbot, and a small bot version of ART (it makes sense in the story) to keep me entertained purely from their existence alone. I do wish we saw some of Three in this, but Three is away doing its own thing while our favorite SecUnit has to figure out how to acclimate to life after the events of Network Effect.

I think in the end, this was an enjoyable book. It usually takes me another re-read on audio to really fully digest the stories? By the time this book came out, I’ll have already listened to the previous Murderbot stories four times each by audio. I’m glad to be able to add this to the rotation!

The audiobook is a little funky at the beginning, or maybe it was just me? I generally do like Kevin R. Free narrating as Murderbot, and his take on the characters. But Ratthi and Tarik sounded strange at the beginning of this audiobook, as well as Murderbot. I think the voices got better after awhile, like the narrator finally found his footing with the characters again. But I have noticed that the voices don’t always match consistently from book to book when I’m listening to all of them in a row. I think I was most taken aback between Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry the first time. But it’s fine. I’m not TOO bothered by it because it’s still a strong audiobook and very listenable. What are my other options? Reading with my EYES? Please.

Overall, I really liked this book and by the time the story was over, I wasn’t ready for it to end. This book is longer than the usual novellas but not as long as Network Effect. I’m always here for more Murderbot, and now it seems like future stories will give us more adventures with Murderbot and ART. Are there more Murderbot stories confirmed? I hope so! Because I will continue to read the series no matter how many new books there are.