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The mood of System Collapse isn’t as light or even as sarcastic as previous Murderbot books; Murderbot isn’t okay, it knows it, ART knows it, and their humans know it. That knowledge gives the book a weight, a feeling of imminent doom, that other books lacked – even in the most dire of situations.
System Collapse is the seventh installment of the 2021 Hugo Award Winning Best Series The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. It picks up not long after Network Effect, on a colony planet in the middle of nowhere, where the inhabitants are in danger of being recruited into lifelong indenture – by force, if necessary. The teaching and research vessel, Perihelion, of the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland – also known as ART or Asshole Research Transport – has come to this planet to help the colonists. ART kidnapped Murderbot and its humans and brought them into this mess, and now, in System Collapse we get to see the aftermath of the kidnapping and ART’s plans to free the colonists.
With me so far? (I try not to spoil previous books, but some of this information is necessary to understand where this book begins.) Okay, good!
System Collapse is more of an ending to Network Effect, wrapping up everything that happened with ART and the isolated colony of humans, but the things Murderbot must deal with – the things it refuses to confront – are an integral story that readers will enjoy. So while this book lacks the humor, and could possibly be considered a continuation of Network Effect, it will captivate Murderbot fans.
Readers could be pretty confident at the end of Network Effect that everything would work out for Murderbot, ART, and their humans. That’s why the information for System Collapse (what would be considered the “book jacket or book cover copy” or the story blurb) was so alarming for Murderbot fans. It reads, “there’s something wrong with Murderbot: it isn’t running within normal operational parameters.” So what happened?!? It’s going to drive loyal Murderbot readers mad, this not knowing.
And they’ll have to wait much longer than opening the book to figure it out… When we pick up Murderbot’s story, it is already broken, but it refuses to discuss or even think about the cause. Instead, any time it gets near the problem, readers will see “redacted.”
Wells keeps readers on tenterhooks, desperately wanting to know what happened. Fair warning: It will be understandable if readers rush through the book the first time, anxiously wanting answers.
As with previous books, System Collapse is told from Murderbot’s point of view – a deeply personal one where it shares most of its thoughts (and confused feelings) while mainly presenting a neutral expression for the humans. It won’t admit that it is not okay, not usually, and this book is no different. Comments like, “Pretending I’m fine for Mensah was hard enough,” and “I know I get pissed off when humans don’t acknowledge my work, but why is too much acknowledgment also upsetting?” are noted internally for readers alone while it says, “I am absolutely fine,” over and over again.
Very little can be kept from ART, however, and it keeps a close eye on Murderbot. ART tracks Murderbot’s performance reliability, among other things, and Murderbot is painfully aware that it needs ART right now. “ART has been monitoring me due to redacted. Which is a whole thing, I don’t know, I don’t want to talk about it.”
Readers have often felt heartsick for Murderbot, but this whole book will strum the heartstrings.
While we worry over Murderbot, we get to know more about ART and its humans along the way. I won’t spoil any of those revelations, but they are sprinkled throughout the book in little tidbits to lessen the disturbing thoughts of Murderbot. There is humor, but it doesn’t hit like it used to. I think Wells did an amazing job of keeping the book somber even when the banter and side remarks are amusing.
That said, I think fans will all give a huge sigh of relief when Murderbot and ART can go back to jovially poking at one another. Together they are a great team, and their combined humans are all very likable.
I eagerly look forward to the next Murderbot Diaries installment. Until then, I’ve pre-ordered my copy of the audiobook so I can listen to the entire Murderbot Diaries series over and over again. The narrator, Kevin R. Free, is fantastic.
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Visit the author’s website.
Advance Reading Copy provided by Tor Publishing Group via NetGalley at my request.
I also purchased the audiobook version for my collection via Audible.
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I have read and reviewed all The Murderbot Diaries 1-6 in previous posts, so be sure to check them out, as well:
worldsofmayhem.com 