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.

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

.

–

SecUnit 03

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.

Excuse me but who gave Martha Wells the right to create this masterpiece?? 😭

Like the first four installments in this series, Network Effect is a delight. But unlike the first four, this one is a full-length novel instead of just a novella. Of course, I was so excited when I learned this was a full novel! More Murderbot, yay! But then, oh. I remember that Martha Wells is a genius when it comes to plots, world-building, and human relationships. I was in for a ride.

This was just so good. I don't think I can fully explain how humorous, tense, exciting, and wonderful this was. And I just love how this book (and the whole series in general) was plot-driven, and yet it did not neglect the characters, no not at all. In fact, you fall in love with the characters as you read! I love Murderbot, I love ART, and I especially love their chemistry together. Like how did these two AI/bot constructs give me a lot of feels? Made me cry and laugh and gasp all throughout the book? (view spoiler) I love their banter and their semi-emotional conversations. Of course, I love their humans, too lol.

And the plot! Somehow the author managed to expound on the corporate greed and corruption in this universe, and we see it more as the characters interact with a new planet and colonies. I also love how the plot delved into alien intelligence and life, especially with the antagonists they were facing here. Wells was able to make this more engaging and unique, and I really enjoyed that.

This, of course, was also action-packed. There might have been a few chapters that seemed idle in terms of pacing. But then I turn into a new chapter, and we're back on the rollercoaster. I thought the storytelling here was just exquisite. The way the author left clues for the readers, which also happened to be crucial for the characters in the book? That was just brilliant. Also, the perspectives?! I did not see that coming, but it was just incredible.

AND ONE LAST POINT: the way this book features robots as the main characters but still highlights the complexity and beauty of humanity and free will? Precious.

Overall, this book is a sensational installment and a great first full novel for the Murderbot series. I am so excited to dive into the next book. 🥹

Find me elsewhere: Instagram | Twitter | Blog

Marking this book as part of my reading challenge: #ReadQueerly2024. 

The beginning was good, it dragged a bit in the middle for me but  picked up in the last third and I ended up liking it a lot

I loved the almost horror-esque moment at the end.

I love Murderbot

I love it’s reactions to people’s concern for it, and I love that we got to see so much emotional character development in this book. I would give Murderbot the whole world if I could.

I love ART

I love their ‘relationship’ and I’m curious if it really will remain purely platonic or not. Murderbot seems very ace-coded so I assume it will but the way they kept using parallels to romantic relationships is making me wonder.

I already like 3

There are an unnecessary amount of characters and that leaves us with a lot of them being underdeveloped. I do wish I had a better sense of each of their personalities.

I’m gonna have to re read the first book because I don’t remember if they ever fully explained alien remnants. I know they were brought up in the first book but it’s been over a year since I read that one and I’m a little lost on what the alien remnants are exactly. I wanna know more. They seem to be both organic and code? They can infect AI like a computer virus but also humans like a viral infection.. how does that even work? Do the characters even know?

  ART and murderbot mean so much to me.

  On a certain level, I doubt I would be able to finish reading this book without spoilers. There were just too many tense and emotional moments.