System Collapse
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

After the events of Fugitive Telemetry (2021), Murderbot, ART, and their colleagues remain on the alien-infected planet on the other side of the wormhole, combating the infection and trying to convince the planetary colonists to leave their world for their own safety. But corporate interests oppose their efforts, and it turns out there are more people on the planet than they realized. Meanwhile, Murderbot is having some issues and isn't operating at full capacity. How are they supposed to successfully navigate everyone through a potentially hair-trigger standoff when they're not sure they even know what they're doing? This installment of the Murderbot Diaries is more a tale of political intrigue than violent action. Not that there aren't pulse-pounding fights aplenty, but the balance has shifted. While Murderbot remains the main character, narrating their snarky take on every situation, Wells continues to build this universe. It's a compelling setting, both in the conflicts that arise from the culture of the Corporation Rim and the deep history Wells has established. At the same time, she continues to evolve Murderbot in interesting directions. Readers won't miss the wall-to-wall action that defined the series from its beginning. The characters and the world building remain engrossing and rewarding.

By this point, seven books into bestselling Hugo Award winner Wells's Murderbot series (after Fugitive Telemetry), readers come mostly for more snark from Murderbot, the killer robot with a heart of gold who narrates. So, though the mission the sassy, sentient Security Unit is sent out on this time breaks no new ground, fans won't mind. Still as brutally honest as ever, Murderbot is now inexplicably acting below performance reliability parameters. It must figure out the issue and repair itself while on a mission to rescue the human settlers of a newly colonized planet from the Barish-Estranza corporation's attempts to exploit them as slave labor. To convince these isolated colonists to trust Murderbot's human crew over the corporate goons, Murderbot and its frenemy ART (Asshole Research Transport) decide to create a propaganda video using all the things they've learned about human emotions from watching television, especially Murderbot's favorite space soap, Sanctuary Moon. The plot feels familiar and therefore somewhat unexciting, but Wells has turned a corner in her characterization of Murderbot as its human side shows more and more. This is a solid episode for the beloved android. (Nov.)

As readers drop into Murderbot's head for this seventh outing, after Fugitive Telemetry, Murderbot is having a long-running crisis of confidence. It's Murderbot's own system that seems to be collapsing. But its humans are in the midst of a delicate negotiation between colonial factions, with a rival corporation waiting nefariously in the wings, and Murderbot's degraded performance is going to get its humans killed--unless it can find a way to think very far outside its box while on the run from corporate SecUnits out to eliminate them all. As with previous entries in "The Murderbot Diaries," the story rides or dies on the cynical, snarky voice of Murderbot itself. But this time around that voice is hiding so much from itself that the story sputters a bit until the antihero pushes past its panic attack and gets its SecUnit skills firmly back online. Then it's a race against time and corporate skullduggery to save its humans and the colonists from the consequences of their own stupidity. Again. VERDICT Recommended for Murderbot's legion of fans and for readers who love cynical antiheroes of all types.--Marlene Harris

*Starred Review* After the events of Fugitive Telemetry (2021), Murderbot, ART, and their colleagues remain on the alien-infected planet on the other side of the wormhole, combating the infection and trying to convince the planetary colonists to leave their world for their own safety. But corporate interests oppose their efforts, and it turns out there are more people on the planet than they realized. Meanwhile, Murderbot is having some issues and isn't operating at full capacity. How are they supposed to successfully navigate everyone through a potentially hair-trigger standoff when they're not sure they even know what they're doing? This installment of the Murderbot Diaries is more a tale of political intrigue than violent action. Not that there aren't pulse-pounding fights aplenty, but the balance has shifted. While Murderbot remains the main character, narrating their snarky take on every situation, Wells continues to build this universe. It's a compelling setting, both in the conflicts that arise from the culture of the Corporation Rim and the deep history Wells has established. At the same time, she continues to evolve Murderbot in interesting directions. Readers won't miss the wall-to-wall action that defined the series from its beginning. The characters and the world building remain engrossing and rewarding. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

In this latest addition to Wells's million-copy best-selling series, ART's crew and the humans from Preservation are worried that Murderbot is facing a System Collapse —just when they need to protect a newly colonized planet from the Barish-Estranza corporation (300,000-copy first printing). Prepub Alert. Copyright 2023 Library Journal

As readers drop into Murderbot's head for this seventh outing, after Fugitive Telemetry, Murderbot is having a long-running crisis of confidence. It's Murderbot's own system that seems to be collapsing. But its humans are in the midst of a delicate negotiation between colonial factions, with a rival corporation waiting nefariously in the wings, and Murderbot's degraded performance is going to get its humans killed—unless it can find a way to think very far outside its box while on the run from corporate SecUnits out to eliminate them all. As with previous entries in "The Murderbot Diaries," the story rides or dies on the cynical, snarky voice of Murderbot itself. But this time around that voice is hiding so much from itself that the story sputters a bit until the antihero pushes past its panic attack and gets its SecUnit skills firmly back online. Then it's a race against time and corporate skullduggery to save its humans and the colonists from the consequences of their own stupidity. Again. VERDICT Recommended for Murderbot's legion of fans and for readers who love cynical antiheroes of all types.—Marlene Harris

By this point, seven books into bestselling Hugo Award winner Wells's Murderbot series (after Fugitive Telemetry), readers come mostly for more snark from Murderbot, the killer robot with a heart of gold who narrates. So, though the mission the sassy, sentient Security Unit is sent out on this time breaks no new ground, fans won't mind. Still as brutally honest as ever, Murderbot is now inexplicably acting below performance reliability parameters. It must figure out the issue and repair itself while on a mission to rescue the human settlers of a newly colonized planet from the Barish-Estranza corporation's attempts to exploit them as slave labor. To convince these isolated colonists to trust Murderbot's human crew over the corporate goons, Murderbot and its frenemy ART (Asshole Research Transport) decide to create a propaganda video using all the things they've learned about human emotions from watching television, especially Murderbot's favorite space soap, Sanctuary Moon. The plot feels familiar and therefore somewhat unexciting, but Wells has turned a corner in her characterization of Murderbot as its human side shows more and more. This is a solid episode for the beloved android. (Nov.)