REVIEW: Platform Decay (book) by Martha Wells

Platform Decay is the 8th entry in the Murderbot Diaries series. I bought my copy new.

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In this latest entry in the series, Murderbot is leading a rescue mission into corporate territory, with Three acting as a distraction. The mission isn't taking place on a planet, but considering the size of the station (a massive ring that encircles the decaying remains of a planet), it might as well be on a planet, and Murderbot isn't happy about the difficulties this causes. Honestly, Murderbot isn't happy about a lot in this particular book.

One of the things that struck me about the beginning of this book was how "off" Murderbot seemed, which I should have learned, by now, means that it's dealing with a lot of stress and emotions. Similar to previous entries in this series that have taken a little while to clue readers in on the full scope of whatever is going on, it takes a while before readers learn exactly who Murderbot is trying to rescue and how this situation came about in the first place.

REVIEW: System Collapse (book) by Martha Wells

System Collapse is science fiction, part of Wells' Murderbot Diaries series. I bought my copy new.

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This takes place immediately following the events in Network Effect - as others have said, I highly recommend reading or rereading Network Effect just before digging into this book, because there's a lot that probably won't make sense otherwise. In a way, System Collapse feels like bonus content for Network Effect.

Murderbot, ART's crew, and the Preservation humans are still on the planet and having to deal with occasional "alien contamination" complications, but everyone's biggest concern is making sure that the colonists have the knowledge and opportunity to decide for themselves what their next steps are. This means somehow keeping the Barish-Estranza folks from convincing them to sign their rights away and become indentured slaves. 

REVIEW: Fugitive Telemetry (novella) by Martha Wells

Fugitive Telemetry is science fiction, technically a sci-fi murder mystery. I bought my copy brand new.

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A couple things, first: this takes place after Exit Strategy but before Network Effect. Also, it's a novella rather than another full novel like Network Effect. I was a bit disappointed when I realized that the Murderbot fun would be briefer than I'd hoped/expected.

Anyway, Murderbot has been contracted to assist Preservation Station Security in the investigation of a murder. The victim's identity is unknown, as is the location of the murder - the place where the body was found is not the place where the person was killed. The thing Murderbot really needs to figure out is whether the murder has any connection to GrayCris, and whether this means Dr. Mensah is now in danger.

REVIEW: Network Effect (book) by Martha Wells

Network Effect is the fifth work in Wells' Murderbot Diaries series, and the first full-length novel. It is science fiction.

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Murderbot is still trying to figure out what it wants, so in the meantime it's working for Preservation. Its most recent job involves acting as security for a survey expedition that includes several familiar characters and a couple new ones. Although the expedition does hit a snag, it's not until everyone's on their way back to Preservation space that things go really wrong. The ship gets attacked, by another ship that Murderbot eventually realizes is ART.

Which is weird and upsetting for Murderbot, but it just gets worse from there. Something horrible has happened to ART and its crew, and it's up to Murderbot to figure everything out and somehow save itself and Amena, Mensah's teen daughter.

REVIEW: Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (e-short story) by Martha Wells

"Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" is a sci-fi short story in the Murderbot Diaries series. It should be read after Exit Strategy.

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Dr. Ayda Mensah attempts to do her work and pretend she's fine after the events of Exit Strategy.

First, I want to say thank you to the person who let me know about this story and where to go to read it. I'm sure going straight from Exit Strategy to Network Effect would have worked out fine, but the really nice thing about this story is that it's the first time we get to see Murderbot from someone else's POV.

And yeah, not everyone on Preservation is happy about the idea of a rogue SecUnit hanging around, and I wonder what other SecUnits would do if they didn't have functioning governor modules anymore and could just do whatever they wanted. They probably wouldn't all be like Murderbot, happily watching serials in between (and sometimes during) efforts to save humans from dying.

Since Murderbot spends so much time assuring readers that everyone is justifiably terrified of rogue SecUnits, I got a kick out of Mensah actually finding Murderbot to be a very comforting presence. She knows she has to find other ways of working through her emotions (like actually visiting a mental health professional, which she'd been resisting), but for now, right after a traumatic incident, it's nice to have SecUnit watching out for her and being intimidating when anyone scares her.

All right, on to Network Effect...

REVIEW: Exit Strategy (novella) by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy is the fourth work in the sci-fi Murderbot Diaries series. I bought it brand new.

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Murderbot now has the evidence it wanted to give to Dr. Mensah. Unfortunately, its actions on Milu inadvertently put Dr. Mensah in danger. She's now missing and likely being held hostage by GrayCris, because GrayCris thinks Murderbot went to Milu on her orders. Oops. In order to help her, Murderbot must work together with Dr. Mensah's team and hope that this won't lead to its eventual betrayal and capture.

As usual, I wish Tor had released all of these novellas in a single volume. I'm glad I read this right after Rogue Protocol, so I didn't lose any of that story's momentum. Although Murderbot didn't dwell on the final events as much as I thought it might, at least not in a way that intruded on its thoughts too much, it was definitely helpful that all of that was fresh in my mind while I read this.

REVIEW: Rogue Protocol (novella) by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol is the third entry in the Murderbot Diaries series. I bought it brand new.

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Murderbot is on its own again and now has a plan to help Dr. Mensah take down GrayCris Corporation and hopefully go back to Preservation, where she will be safe and Murderbot can stop worrying about her. Some time ago, GrayCris set up a terraform facility at Milu that somehow failed. Since GrayCris Corporation's standard operations include lying, murdering, and stealing, Murderbot figures that the terraform facility was just a cover and is now heading to Milu to get proof. As usual, its work is complicated by the need to protect humans in dangerous situations.

REVIEW: Artificial Condition (novella) by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition is the second work in Wells' Murderbot Diaries series. It's science fiction. I bought it brand new from a bookstore that held a virtual "meet the author" event - one thing I hope sticks around after the pandemic is virtual events like that one, which make it possible even for folks who live multiple states or countries away to easily attend.

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Artificial Condition picks up right where All Systems Red left off. Murderbot is now all on its own, with no real plans beyond not getting caught and spending as much time as possible watching as much media as possible. However, there is one question it wants answered, and in order to do that it will have to travel to RaviHyral Mining Facility Q Station, the place where it once went rogue and killed a bunch of humans.

REVIEW: All Systems Red (audiobook) by Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R. Free

All Systems Red is science fiction.

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This will be a short review, focused entirely on the narration. I reviewed the e-book version of All Systems Red last month, if you'd like more details about the story and how I felt about it (spoiler: I loved it).

I'm torn on Kevin R. Free's narration. I disliked him quite a bit, at first. He had a gentle and laid-back voice that I suppose fit with Murderbot's general laziness but that also made it difficult to imagine Murderbot ever killing anyone, on purpose or by accident. It was also hard to imagine Free's Murderbot ever becoming passionate about its favorite serials, although I still really enjoyed the scene where Murderbot accidentally demonstrated just how invested in Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon it was.

Free's narration eventually grew on me, and I've now listened to All Systems Red a couple times. I'd listen to Artificial Condition, the sequel, also narrated by Free, if it were available, but I'd prefer my first time through to be either in e-book or paper form.

I only noticed one mistake in Free's narration. He pronounced the word "tear" (a rip in clothing) as though it were "tear" (the water that comes out of your eyes when you're crying).

REVIEW: All Systems Red (e-novella) by Martha Wells

All Systems Red is science fiction.

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Murderbot is a SecUnit that hacked its own governor module a while back. Instead of using its newfound freedom to go on a killing spree, it's been quietly putting a bare minimum amount of effort into its job in order to hide the massive amount of time and effort it's putting into surreptitiously consuming movies, serials, books, plays, and music. Its favorite serial is Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.

Murderbot's current job, acting as security for a small group of scientists, is fairly easy, up until a large carnivorous creature that wasn't mentioned anywhere in the region's hazard report tries to eat one of the scientists. The gaps in the data could be the result of corporate cost-cutting, but Murderbot soon suspects sabotage.

The Cloud Roads (e-book) by Martha Wells

The Cloud Roads was one of my purchases and was 306 pages on my Nook. I bought it because I kept hearing good things about Martha Wells and her Raksura books, both in comments on my blog and on Dear Author. I'm a little stuck on what genre term to use for it - I suppose either fantasy or soft sci-fi could work.

Synopsis:

Moon has essentially been alone since he was a child, when his mother and siblings were killed. He has lived in various groundling settlements, but none of those places have ever been home, because he has always needed to hide his abilities from everyone. Unlike everyone he has met since his family died, Moon can shapeshift from his groundling form into a winged form. He has no idea what he is and has long since given up on finding others like himself.

Until the day he meets Stone. Stone tells him he is a Raksura and offers to take him back to the Indigo Cloud Court. There are two main breeds of Raksura, each with different castes, and Indigo Cloud is short on Aeriat warriors (winged Raksura who act as scouts and guardians and protect the colony from Fell, beings that prey on all the various intelligent species). It just so happens that Moon is an Aeriat warrior.

Having no place else to go, and hoping to finally find people around whom he can be fully himself, Moon joins up with Stone. It's not long before he finds himself wishing he had asked more questions before agreeing to go anywhere. Unfortunately, Stone wasn't quite honest about the reason Indigo Cloud needs Moon, and he has plunked Moon right in the middle of a deadly conflict.

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I enjoyed this book enough to finish it within 24 hours of starting it, although it wasn't without its issues.