Space Opera Fans discussion

The December 2023 Reader Pick is System Collapse by Martha Wells. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized 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!

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.

I started this a week or so ago, as soon as it was published. But it started in the middle of some action and I couldn't remember if the previous book (Network Effect not Fugitive Telemetry, which is out of sequence), foreshadowed this. So, I put it aside and started rereading all the previous books. Done with the first four. Should be able to get back to System Collapse within three days or so.

Just finished it yesterday 😀

I just finished this book yesterday. It did not disappoint! To confirm for Betsy this book pickups almost immediately after the events of Network Effect.

Nick wrote: "I just finished this book yesterday. It did not disappoint! To confirm for Betsy this book pickups almost immediately after the events of Network Effect."

Thanks.

I just finished Chapter 1. I read Network Effect in 2021 but probably should have reread it in preparation for System Collapse. The action picks up on what went before without any refresher, so I am delving into memory on what happened previously.

This book started a bit slow. But about the point where Murderbot's [redacted] was explained, the story really took off, full blast.

Audrey wrote: "This book started a bit slow. But about the point where Murderbot's [redacted] was explained, the story really took off, full blast."

LOL, that's [redacted]!!!!

Ok, seriously, that's the best System Collapse review/update I've seen on the entire global Internet!

I was somewhat disappointed with this installment of the Murderbot diaries. Especially the first half seemed somehow labored. With previous Murderbot books, I can imagine the author being so excited by the story she was telling that it fairly flew off her keyboard (note: I have no information about the actuality of that). But this one seemed slow and struggling. The second half of the book definitely picks up, after the action starts to get hot. I don't know. That may have been intentional, to illustrate the emotional turmoil that Murderbot was going through. But during the first half of the book, I found myself feeling blah about whether to continue reading. My love of the previous books kept me going, and it did get better.

I just finished this one last night, and I agree with Betsy that it was slow going at first and didn't quite have the verve I associate with the series. I wonder if the decision to make Murderbot's issue [redacted] actually hurt the pacing, since for the first half I found myself wondering if the [redacted] had happened in Network Effect and I had forgotten. (I also read Network Effect a couple years ago and ended up turning to GR reviews to refresh my memory.)

However, once we learn what's going on with the main character and events sped up, I was hooked. There was some good action and touching moments that reminded me why I like the series as a whole so much.

finally finished this so i can read the discussion!!!!!!

i reread network effects; then read system collapse right after. so i also thought redacted was about what happened in network effect. i was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

since i did read this right after network effects, i did not think it was slow at the start. it was just a continuation of the same story. and after the ending of network effect, i needed the slower pace. so much happened. i wanted the crew and murderbot to have some calm to just do their regular jobs for a bit. since it is muderbot, i knew the action would come. i was not disappointed.

cannot wait for the next adventure of murderbot and art. i hope it is another novella. rereading network effect, i realized i prefer the shorter stories.

I think I also prefer the novellas, Kay Dee. Read the first four one after the other because they were so perfectly paced and short enough to be bingeable. Given how this one ended, I share your excitement with where the series goes next!

I haven't gotten this far in Murderbot Diaries but will say there are authors, especially in SF, whose works I prefer when a particular length. Some authors I enjoy every length from short story to saga but others... not so much.

Thanks to the comments I know to read this one soon after reading previous two.

I've read the entire series as they were published, and unlike many series, this one remains outstanding. The characterizations of all participants in the book ring true, and I love the almost amoral views, steadily evolving in a positive way, of Murderbot. This book really speaks to me. And it doesn't have pages and pages of filler as do many fantasy and science fiction books today.