System Collapse

derekvan@bookwyrm.social reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

I liked alienated Murderbot better

4 stars

This was largely enjoyable, although the turn from Murderbot feeling alienated from everyone to Murderbot feeling cringey about how much its humans care for it is a little less engaging. This story largely focused on Murderbot's trauma response to Network Effect - Martha Wells and its relationship with ART and the humans. Didn't really play out any of the threads about alien contamination from Network Effect, which is feeling like kind of a big tease at this point.

outofrange reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells

Another round still brings surprises

4 stars

Murderbot just has near infinite potential as a character. It's multiprocessing nature makes the stories complex but so rich, I feel like starting the whole series again now to pick up the bits I missed.

el dang reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

💗 Murderbot 💗

5 stars

I continue to love the Murderbot series. By this point, the action parts have lost impact because there's too much precedent for how they're going to turn out, so I think it's wise of Wells to play that part down a bit in this book, in favour of a story more about persuasion and trust building. And the ongoing saga of Murderbot learning about both its limits and capabilities continues to be one of the most relatable arcs in SF/F.

norb reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

Another Great Murderbot Story

4 stars

Content warning Maybe a little bit of a spoiler ahead but probably not much. Nothing to ruin the plot anyways,

Once again, Martha Wells spins out a fun Muderbot tale.

I've enjoyed the journey that Wells has taken us on in regards to Murderbot's progress to more "humanity."

In many ways, Murderbot is often the most humane of characters in these stories as it is always putting itself in danger before the "real" humans.

I enjoyed that as these books have progressed, SecUnit has had to become more human for survival, but also apparently for it's own self improvement. As it ran out of more and more drones in this story, it even commented on how being a human must be terrible.

I'm always impressed with Wells' ability to put the reader into the shoes of something that is inherently not human, but yet still shows us a better side of humanity.

Roy Adams reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

Great continuation of the Murderbot series

5 stars

Murderbot, ART and friends are working through some things and doing their best to minimize harm along the way.

Alph reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

Review of 'System Collapse' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

System Collapse is the direct sequel to Network Effect (Book 5), therefore, it is highly recommended to review it prior to diving into this one. There is no introductory summary, and initially there are characters aplenty that would make you feel confused if you've totally forgotten the previous story.

Murderbot is having more feels, even if it doesn't like it. It continues bonding with more humans, and consuming digital media on the side to help it cope with everything going on. We still see it analyzing and overcoming the many situations it gets into (or rather dragged into by its humans), but it is struggling as it bears the weight of the recent events.

This new story has a more introspect and trauma-overcoming tone compared to Fugitive Telemetry's murder mystery and the action-focused Network Effect, but the action scenes are still there and still great.

The series has been really relatable to me so …

System Collapse is the direct sequel to Network Effect (Book 5), therefore, it is highly recommended to review it prior to diving into this one. There is no introductory summary, and initially there are characters aplenty that would make you feel confused if you've totally forgotten the previous story.

Murderbot is having more feels, even if it doesn't like it. It continues bonding with more humans, and consuming digital media on the side to help it cope with everything going on. We still see it analyzing and overcoming the many situations it gets into (or rather dragged into by its humans), but it is struggling as it bears the weight of the recent events.

This new story has a more introspect and trauma-overcoming tone compared to Fugitive Telemetry's murder mystery and the action-focused Network Effect, but the action scenes are still there and still great.

The series has been really relatable to me so far, and this is no exception. I continuously see glimpses of my own experiences and inner monologues in Murderbot. This one went a bit deeper though. I also have a diary where I've redacted a traumatic event that I tend to not think or talk about, and I had to learn how to process it. I don't blame Murderbot for not knowing how to process things; I'm human and I don't know how to process 90% of my emotions (yeah, I just had my performance reliability drop by 4 points). This read left me feeling emotions so I'm going to the couch to process them in private.

I'm really glad to have given the whole series a read over the last couple of months 🤖💜

Aaron

rated it

Nov. 28, 2023

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