System Collapse

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Murderbot and her crew continue to explore a world affected by alien contamination - racing against a corporation to contact a group long separated from the rest.

Review
I've said repeatedly that Tor and Wells erred in making this a serial, episodic novel rather than a standard big book or series of novels. It's uneven, with occasional stronger, longer pieces bolstering shorter, more muddled episodes. The main story is hard to keep track of; I read the last iteration just two years ago, and struggled for most of this book to join the pieces up. And because Murderbot, while engaging, does similar things each time and has pretty much the same sardonic attitude throughout, it's hard to tell the episodes apart.

Here, Wells, lays down some markers for Murderbot's character development, but presents them in such a muddled form – first redacted, then, halfway through the book, spelled out explicitly – that it's hard to do much with them. They are also, clearly, just markers – promises that, we'll see Murderbot evolve; but not now. Maybe next time.

In a series of peaks and valleys, I'm afraid this is one of the valleys. At this rate, I fear I could see the Murderbot Diaries go on and on and on – the same basic plot and tone repeated in every episode. Wells is a very talented writer, and Murderbot is a great character, but this episodic approach is not serving either of them well.

Whether you're new to Murderbot or a fan, I strongly recommend reading at least a couple of these books at a time – as if they were a larger book. I think you'll get much more out of the story that way than in these brief installments.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.