Narrator: Kevin R. Free Publication Date: November 14, 2023 Format Read: Audiobook Audiobook Length: 6 hours and 36 minutes Page Length: 172 pages My Rating: 4 / 5 stars Links: Amazon | Apple Books | Audible | Barnes and Noble...
Narrator: Kevin R. Free
Publication Date: November 14, 2023
Format Read: Audiobook
Audiobook Length: 6 hours and 36 minutes
Page Length: 172 pages
My Rating: 4 / 5 stars
Links: Amazon | Apple Books | Audible | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads | Google Play | Kobo | Libro.fm
Previous books in the series: All Systems Red | Artificial Condition | Rogue Protocol | Exit Strategy | Network Effect | Fugitive Telemetry
SYNOPSIS
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells’s bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.
Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.
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.
REVIEW
I am always going to be here for a new Murderbot book. I really enjoy these books. Do note that for this one, if it’s been a hot minute since you’ve read Network Effect, the only other full-length novel in this series, you should probably go re-read that first before starting this one.
This book ties in directly after the events of Network Effect and we’re still on the planet tying up loose ends. When I re-read the books in this series, I go by chronological order rather than publication order – so I start with All Systems Red (where we first meet Murderbot), Artificial Condition (where we first meet ART), Rogue Protocol (the book with poor Mickey), Exit Strategy (Murderbot meets back up with Preservation humans), Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot tries living on Preservation and gets involved in a murder mystery), THEN Network Effect (aliens!! and we meet ART again), and now we’re here with System Collapse.
This is the first Murderbot book I got an e-ARC for and while I love the story, I did find it hard to read by text? I very much prefer this story on audiobook more and hearing Kevin R. Free deliver Murderbot’s dry humor. That’s just me though. I know there’s the full cast version of the Murderbot books and those aren’t really my thing since I listen at a speed that’s not entirely compatible with constant sound effects and music. So, my review here is going to be based off listening to the Kevin R. Free audiobook narration.
Content notes include violence, droids losing limbs, PTSD, depression, mentions of colonizing humans and their planets, and mentions of slave labor.
Murderbot is going through some things in this book. But a positive here is that we get a LOT of Murderbot and ART interactions and I’m always going to be here for that. Murderbot and ART’s crews are working to get the colonists on the planet established and give them options…and start doing trade with other planets? I think they’re working to help them be independent. There’s 2 factions that we already knew about in the last book, and they do not get along. Then there’s Barish-Estranza who are definitely the Bad Guys here and are looking to trick the colonists into leaving the planet entirely and shipping them off into essentially slave labor in the Corporation Rim (or at least that’s how Murderbot describes it).
In some aspects, the story felt like it dragged a bit but it was mostly because I didn’t care very much for the political stuff surrounding the colonists and I wanted something to HAPPEN. Luckily, before too long, it did. Even got a little creepy there. But at least we have the humans (Tarik, Ratthi, and Iris), Murderbot, and a small bot version of ART (it makes sense in the story) to keep me entertained purely from their existence alone. I do wish we saw some of Three in this, but Three is away doing its own thing while our favorite SecUnit has to figure out how to acclimate to life after the events of Network Effect.
I think in the end, this was an enjoyable book. It usually takes me another re-read on audio to really fully digest the stories? By the time this book came out, I’ll have already listened to the previous Murderbot stories four times each by audio. I’m glad to be able to add this to the rotation!
The audiobook is a little funky at the beginning, or maybe it was just me? I generally do like Kevin R. Free narrating as Murderbot, and his take on the characters. But Ratthi and Tarik sounded strange at the beginning of this audiobook, as well as Murderbot. I think the voices got better after awhile, like the narrator finally found his footing with the characters again. But I have noticed that the voices don’t always match consistently from book to book when I’m listening to all of them in a row. I think I was most taken aback between Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry the first time. But it’s fine. I’m not TOO bothered by it because it’s still a strong audiobook and very listenable. What are my other options? Reading with my EYES? Please.
Overall, I really liked this book and by the time the story was over, I wasn’t ready for it to end. This book is longer than the usual novellas but not as long as Network Effect. I’m always here for more Murderbot, and now it seems like future stories will give us more adventures with Murderbot and ART. Are there more Murderbot stories confirmed? I hope so! Because I will continue to read the series no matter how many new books there are.
