Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Network Effect

The beginning is a little confusing, but that's the experience Murderbot also has: it gets into yet another unfamiliar hostile situation and has to figure out a way to get out of it while keeping it's humans safe. Having so much agency available to itself, Murderbot ends up in an enotional spiral that reveals it might be close to being able to start processing the traumatic events it has been through. At least Murderbot is a little more open to discussing it's thoughts and feelings with the selected few in it's inner circle of... clients/teammates/*gasp*friends.

I didn't like the idea of saying "I don't know" to Amena because humans panic and I almost don't blame them because right now I feel like panicking and I was not in control of this situation and I could see at least ten instances now where I'd made wrong decisions and being in control of the situation was really important because otherwise it was in control of me and that felt like a short step to being back in the company's control.

All the revelations, plot twists, and feelings made me unable to put the book down – I just had to know what happens next and keep reading! The book gets better and better while the plot advances, and I can't describe how elated I am with all the connections Murderbot is finding.

Of course Murderbot is being the familiar sassy, assholeish, introverted SecUnit who keeps going to impossible lengths for the not-friends it won't admit caring for but actually does. Murderbot is slowly starting to admit it has friends, though, and that might help it decide what it wants to do in life. I love Murderbot's personality!

Alongside Murderbot's familiar narrative voice, the narration is splashed with additions of it's memory files and towards the end also pov's

of different SecUnit/Murderbots

. Ahhhh, I almost feel spoiled rotten to get so many new perspectives on Murderbot, but still get to see the original one evolve and yet stay recognizably itself.

I'm intriqued by the first glances we get to the new

SecUnit 03. I wish it could become friends with Murderbot, or at the very least that we'd get updates on it in the future as well

There is a lot about what is going on here that I don't understand. But I am participating anyway.

–

SecUnit 03

Content Warnings

bexi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I love Murderbot and I really enjoyed seeing the progression of their relationships with both new and old characters. Lots of
funny moments between Murderbot and a certain bot pilot. I did find that the pacing of this story wasn’t my favorite compared to the novellas (a little slow for the first half) and some of the information about what was really going on a talking about killware and TargetControlSystem was hard to understand. I had to reread a few parts just to know enough of what was happening to skip over the details, so this read wasn’t quite as enjoyable as others. And even though I’ve finished, I still am not quite sure what all we learned about what really happened. I think the novellas experience this a little bit (and of course, Murderbot is a bigger brain than me) but it was much more pronounced in this full-length novel. I’m still really looking forward to the next installment because of adore these characters and how SecUnit is growing as a person.

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circe813's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lonelylooper's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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woodsofthebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this series is hands down one of my favourites of all time. murderbot is just such a mood and i love all the action that happens in them. i can’t wait to read more.

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This is a re-read since it has been a long time since I caught up with the series and I forgot how good this installment in the series is. It’s a huge culmination of what happened previously seamlessly leading into uncharted territory. There is a lot to say about what makes you you. I especially appreciated the self awareness of trying to figure out your purpose in life.

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pacifickat's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

"Please calm yourselves and stop talking. Plan A01: Rain Destruction has been superseded by Plan B01: Distract and Extract." -Parihelion

Fun, if not a little confusing. I adore the Murderbot series, and Network effect is a worthy, novel-length addition. Definitely did a lot to push the emotional growth of Murderbot forward, adding in a whole cast of new characters, as well as bringing back some old favorites.

I love how Wells writes Murderbot's unique interactions with various sentient beings beyond its human clients. I also have enjoyed Murderbot's

slowly dawning realization over each new story installment that it is valued, admired, and perhaps even loved by a whole host of individuals it has met over its many adventures since going rogue. It may have been designed to be a disposable tool, but to its friends and found family it is worth fighting for, and never to be abandoned. It's original purpose may have been to sacrificially defend others, but it has developed something more than factory-set objectives and parameters, grounded in an unflinching resolve to maintain personal agency even among those who see it as an object without personhood.

These books are so very fun, deeply empathetic, and manage to pack so much character development between fast-paced storytelling and wonderful action sequences. 4 stars for this one.

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