Publisher: Tor.com
Received: Christmas present
Read from January 15 to February 4, 2023
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Murderbot returns in its highly anticipated, first, full-length standalone novel.
You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you're a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you're Murderbot.
Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.
—
I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are.
When Murderbot's human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.
Drastic action it is, then.
Review:
Network Effect is the fifth installment of The Murderbot Diaries (if you don't count the short stories), but it's the first novel. I was interested to see how that would change things. The novellas are quick reads where everything happens too fast to be dwelled on for long. Sure enough, the novel did give the story time to really dig deeper than it had before.
While I loved the novellas, the length of the novel did have me fully sucked into the story in a way that novellas didn't manage. By the second half of the book, I didn't want to put it down. I spent the entire time trying to work out all the answers, and it was one of those satisfying books where I didn't completely figure it out until Murderbot did. But once I did figure it out, everything snapped into place.
I'm also more attached to the characters than I was before, and that's saying something. The novel brought the return of all of my favorite characters from the series, from Dr. Mensah to ART. We even get to see a number of them interact with each other for the first time, which was so much fun!
ART in particular felt more fleshed out in the novel than in the previous novella it appeared in. We learn a lot more about it and what it's capable of. Murderbot, too, goes through more character development in this book than possibly all the previous novellas combined (though there absolutely was character development in the novellas). There was just so much in this novel that I don't think could have been done in a novella, and I loved every second of it.
What I want to say next will involve spoilers, so stop reading here if you don't want to see.
Along with seeing old characters, we also meet some new ones. We meet ART's crew, who all seem lovely. But the character I'm move intrigued by is a SecUnit whose governor module Murderbot 2.0 helps override.
This was something that I was curious to see, so I was very excited. I can easily imagine how confused they are. While I have no idea what they'll do next, I'm hoping we see them again at some point.
The ending had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next. I'd love another story that centers around ART, and it sounds like we could definitely be getting that. At the same time, I'd miss the Preservation characters just like Murderbot would. I wish there was a way for them to all be in every story, but obviously, I recognize that that's not going to happen.
I still have one novella that's out, but from what I understand it's a prequel that takes place before the novel. So we still have to wait and see about what comes next for Murderbot technically.
No comments:
Post a Comment