System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023)
Immersive: Unique
Book cover blurb
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly colonised 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.
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My Review
Great to be back in the mind of Murderbot again and fantastic to see him/her back to its old self, grumpy and wanting as little as possible to do with humans. System Collapse feels a lot more like the original Murderbot I love. Those earlier books with him/her on the run and uncomfortable with everything and everyone, except its beloved Sanctuary Moon, of course. Those original feelings of discomfort and fear of discovery have returned, as Murderbot just wants to get away from everyone and withdraw. Elements of mental issues add a level of personal uncertainty and jeopardy lacking in recent books.
I felt a little confused at the beginning, as if I’d missed something, but I quickly came to realise this novella is a direct continuation of an earlier book, Network Effect. My least favourite of the Murderbot Diaries, I have to admit. (Check out my review of the book to see why). Everything fell into place once that realisation dawned on me. Of course, if I was a blurb reader I would have known before I’d even started reading.
It would be a good idea to reread Network Effect before diving into this new offering, I think it would pay dividends unless you’re very confident in your recall.
It’s deep in the book but, I knew we were back with the old Murderbot, that earlier character I developed an attachment to, when I read the line “I was actually really in the mood for a long stare at the wall.” Classic Murderbot, and made me laugh out loud. This is exactly what I signed up for.
I tend to leave my more negative conclusions about a book until the end of my reviews, but this isn’t, strictly, a negative, it’s more a style preference. Some readers will enjoy it, others will not, I’m in the latter category I’m afraid. There is a great deal of explaining throughout, all from Murderbot’s perspective obviously, being written in the first person, so it is entertaining and amusing, but I felt it bogged me down. Even though this isn’t an action-heavy story, there is a lot of tension, and all these explanations, humorous and character-revealing as they are, dilute the pace that tension builds.
Speaking of action, none of the Murderbot books could really be considered as action-packed, this offering included. The action segments are scant and when they do happen they are brief, more of a punctuation to the scene. This works perfectly. The tension in System Collapse is far too interesting to dilute with mundane fight scenes. No matter how good a fight scene in the written word might be, it rapidly loses any existing tension the longer it goes on. Murderbot could blast and fight his way through every single page, no problem, but Wells is far too intelligent to consider that a viable route for her books.
Let’s face it, this series of books are all pretty similar. Our main protagonist, Murderbot, hasn’t exactly progressed in character over the current seven books, not in any major way at least, and you know what? That’s a good thing. We like Murderbot just the way it is. Although there does seem to be a little mental shift towards more ‘humanisation’ going on in this outing.
The climactic ending is perfectly proportioned with the rest of the story, taking into account other action scenes. And the short few pages of ‘tieing up loose ends’ is just right, avoiding feeling overstretched or forced. Great stuff.
System Collapse is well constructed, with a smooth and easy-to-follow timeline, good scene weighting and pacing. It is the best laid-out Murderbot novel to date.
Any negative thoughts? (Redacted)
My copy of this novel
Tordotcom hardback edition.
Published in 2023
245 pages
ISBN 9781250826978