Network Effect

A whole new Murderbot story, exciting and at times a bit confusing - but keeping up with Murderbot with only human processing capabilities is not easy, of course. I loved the story and especially the character development of several of the characters. This novel surprises you constantly. It's fast paced, funny and sometimes even a bit emotional (only awkwardly, of course). A really great read!

This novel is always such a delight to get back to on a reread of the series. My love for ART also carries a lot of my feelings too.

I wasn't sure how Murderbot was going to stand up to the longer length the first time I read this, but I like that there's more space for side stories to develop; in particular, we get to see flashbacks to Murderbot and Amena back on Preservation, we get to see Arada grow as a leader, and we get to see Murderbot 2.0.

This novel also reprises previous parts of the series in a really satisfying way. Even more ART (and more ART snark). We get more about Mensah handling trauma. Murderbot 2.0 is an explicit parallel to Miki's death. The ending of this novel escalates the end of Exit Strategy where Murderbot doesn't know how to feel about everybody feeling protective about it or wanting to save it.

It's all just so good.

compared to the other murderbot books, the «network effect» is satisfyingly long. a comfortable read (or rather listening, as i enjoyed the graphicaudio play) and i'll come back to it later, no doubt.

I love Murderbot a lot. Like to the point that I don't even know what else to say other than that I just love these books so much and feel so seen and understood when I read them. Everybody deserves to have a book or series that makes them feel as seen and as normal as this.

The novella felt like the perfect length for a Murderbot episode so I wasn't sure it would work well in a full novel. Not to worry, Wells keeps it interesting and entertaining in the 5th installment and first novel.

I was a little disappointed with "Fugitive Telemetry" which was written after this book but is set before it. But in "Network Effect" Wells is on form. As good as the first 4 novellas. The longer format gives the whole story a space opera feel. The beginning on the water planet reminded me of the Culture novels. What stands out to me in the Murderbot series is how Wells manages to give established sci fi narratives and tropes a little twist, simply by writing them through the eyes of "the help", i.e. bots and computer systems. Not only is ART back and we learn a lot more about the relationship between it and Murderbot but again, the unique type of connection that Murderbot can have with other systems and bots plays a pivotal role in saving the day. I also really like how alien tech and its effect on humans is depicted in this novel (and the other novellas in the series). It's different from what I'm used to in other sci fi. There's also a lot of snark and action, as usual. An entertaining read.

The first few books of the Murderbot series were very short. This one is the first true novel-length installment and it features all the usual fun:

• Murderbot is trying so much to read humans and understand their communication
• Murderbot is learning to navigate its own emotions
• Murderbot meets ART again, and they are both fond of each other, trying to learn to have a relationship from one bot to the other

And of course, all of it is very funny. Murderbot shut down its own governor module, which was installed to make sure it complies to human orders. Now, murderbot only complies to its own motivations and rules. But another task of the governor module seems to have been anger management, and without such module, murderbot is angry most of the time.

I really loved this book, the best so far. I'm ordering the next two installments now.

It turns out I've been up all night finishing off this book, thank Murderbot it's still lockdown.

Was it worth pre-ordering? Yes. Did it blow my expectations? Totally.

Having the three narratives at one point took a tiny bit of adjustment, but for me it genuinely made the action come more to life. I've also noticed that things tend to be described just enough that you're able to set your own visuals along with the series.

I certainly hope there is another Murderbot novel in the works, as I've been sucked in deep to this series

It turns out I've been up all night finishing off this book, thank Murderbot it's still lockdown.

Was it worth pre-ordering? Yes. Did it blow my expectations? Totally.

Having the three narratives at one point took a tiny bit of adjustment, but for me it genuinely made the action come more to life. I've also noticed that things tend to be described just enough that you're able to set your own visuals along with the series.

I certainly hope there is another Murderbot novel in the works, as I've been sucked in deep to this series