Network Effect
by Martha Wells 
The Murderbot Diaries (5), Murderbot Diaries [Chronological order] (6)
There is 1 current discussion about this work.
On This Page
Description
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 show more 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. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Things are going well for Murderbot — if getting shot at and needing to rescue its Preservation Station clients from raiders fits within the parameters of “going well” — until on the return journey to Preservation Station an old “friend” shows up and starts shooting, eventually kidnapping you and (inadvertently) the daughter of your most respected human colleague (and technical “owner” [at least within the Corporation Rim]). But things are even less well than they appear (did they seem to be going well to you?) because the huge transport that has captured them is missing the very thing that made it a “friend”, i.e. the vast AI pilot bot that Murderbot calls ART. ART, it seems, has been deleted. And that leads to a show more catastrophic emotional collapse for Murderbot. But then he just gets mad. Really mad. And when Murderbot gets mad…well, you can probably guess what might happen. (No, you can’t, not really; you’ll definitely still need to read the novel to find out.)
This is another tremendously enjoyable, rollicking adventure for Murderbot and his “friends”. There is so much action happening that you might lose track of the sheer fun of Murderbot’s snarky conversational gambits, his understated (ha!) level of paranoia with everyone (but especially with those who threaten to harm his clients), and the very intriguing exploration of multiple identities, emotional relations between “bots”, and the growing realization that other people care about it as much as it cares about (some of) them.
Even in the longer novel form, Murderbot and Martha Wells have enough fizz to totally keep the party afloat right through to the end. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Recommended. show less
This is another tremendously enjoyable, rollicking adventure for Murderbot and his “friends”. There is so much action happening that you might lose track of the sheer fun of Murderbot’s snarky conversational gambits, his understated (ha!) level of paranoia with everyone (but especially with those who threaten to harm his clients), and the very intriguing exploration of multiple identities, emotional relations between “bots”, and the growing realization that other people care about it as much as it cares about (some of) them.
Even in the longer novel form, Murderbot and Martha Wells have enough fizz to totally keep the party afloat right through to the end. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Recommended. show less
I love me some Murderbot. This novel continues the fantastic novella series, uses the full novel length this time around to go deeper, more intense. This is action loaded with feels. Wells makes me care about these sentient beings--and their people. The plot is so twisty-turny and smart that I found I couldn't read this while watching TV--I really had to focus to follow along. This book is definitely going on my award nomination shortlist.
If the novellas were each a TV episode, Network Effect is the two-hour season finale. With a full-length novel, the plot has a little bit more room to breathe and develop. At times, the adventures with alien adversaries feel a little too drawn out, but mostly, this room is good to allow somewhat of an emotional arc for Murderbot's complex relationships with ART and Mensah's daughter to develop. The series has always leaned hard on the ideas of identity and how this interacts with hard-wiring, and the plot really let those themes shine.
Network Effect was also the book in which Wells' full setting comes into focus: the conflicts between the corporate ring and Mensah's independent planet, and the university that owns ART. What does a show more corporation really want and what can unchecked capitalism develop into as the governing system for a solar system? show less
Network Effect was also the book in which Wells' full setting comes into focus: the conflicts between the corporate ring and Mensah's independent planet, and the university that owns ART. What does a show more corporation really want and what can unchecked capitalism develop into as the governing system for a solar system? show less
Murderbot has (somewhat, reluctantly) settled in to life with Dr. Mensah and her family on Preservation, a very peaceful society. But it's hard for Murderbot to unlearn its programmed hypervigilance, and hard for Mensah to forget everything she's been through. Dr. Mensah agrees to go to therapy if Murderbot accompanies her teenage daughter on a research mission. Nothing should go wrong….until Murderbot and Mensah’s daughter are kidnapped by gray aliens in a ship that looks just like Murderbot's friend ART….but definitely does not act like ART. Whoever these beings are, they are going to regret messing with Murderbot and its best friend acquaintance.
Really loved it. Wells takes advantage of the full-novel length to tell a story show more which maybe could have been broken into two, but is more resonant as one. Due to some AI shenanigans there are real stakes, including the risk ofmain character death which is so thrilling and devastating. It presents the reader with real philosophical questions - if a copy of Murderbot’s consciousness was put into a new SecUnit body…would that be Murderbot? Would we love them the same?
The reveal of what ART and its crew actually do adds a lot of nuance to the world-building beyond the usual “corporations bad” and I can’t wait to see what comes next. show less
Really loved it. Wells takes advantage of the full-novel length to tell a story show more which maybe could have been broken into two, but is more resonant as one. Due to some AI shenanigans there are real stakes, including the risk of
The reveal of what ART and its crew actually do adds a lot of nuance to the world-building beyond the usual “corporations bad” and I can’t wait to see what comes next. show less
What a fantastic story! My favorite so far, in part because it is also the longest (nearly double the usual length). The length allowed the author to do a deep dive into SecUnit's relationships with its key people, but she did so without sacrificing the fast pace. She ratcheted up the tension without losing any of the wiseass banter. I think it is these dichotomies—depth yet action packed, tense yet funny—that is part of the series' charm for me. I don't want to the series to end!
The only reason I didn't finish this in one sitting is because I decided I should try to savor it. That meant I managed to stop myself about 30 pages before the ending and then finished that the next day, so I was only kind of successful. I love Murderbot so much, and this was the first book I've actually wanted to keep reading for, like, months. Even other books that I've enjoyed lately haven't quite had that pull to keep my attention as my ability to focus right now is Not Great.
12/10: will read all Murderbot books ever (repeatedly), plz plz plz let there be more in the series
12/10: will read all Murderbot books ever (repeatedly), plz plz plz let there be more in the series
After the four prior novellas (to be fair, the last two really were full novels, if short ones), this fifth Murderbot Diary is about twice the length of any of the ones to precede it. The story makes for reading just as compulsive as the others. In many ways, this one is Artificial Condition 2.0, revisiting and expanding on the protagonist's relationship with the intimidating research starship AI who had been introduced in the second book.
The functional ways in which sf readers can identify with Murderbot really jumped out at me this time, even though most of them had been present through the earlier stories. In particular, the construct's appetite for "entertainment media" distractions (like mine for the book I was reading) and its show more ability to attend to coded inputs outside of direct sensory experience (like mine to the book I was reading) provide a vertiginous mirroring for the reader. The resonance of the Corporation Rim interstellar governance with US-imperial neoliberal nightmare was increasingly vivid, this time amplified with a focus on the dynamics of settler colonialism and its cruelty to the colonists, let alone any indigenes.
One interlude offered a little reflection on Murderbot's unwillingness to use the proper name of the bond company that originally owned (and presumably built) it. I have been wondering if a future book will include a revelation that explicitly identifies that malefic corporation with some actual 21st-century commercial or political entity.
There were a couple of clever twists, but the plot was pretty well determined and predictable prior to the action climax, which thus had a little premature feeling of denouement. Still, I did enjoy the book all the way to the end. As usual, the AI characters were better defined and more compelling than the humans, but as Murderbot has come to understand itself better, affections and motivations regarding humans in the story have become clearer and more interesting. The arc of the relationship between Murderbot and Mensah's daughter Amena was a highlight. show less
The functional ways in which sf readers can identify with Murderbot really jumped out at me this time, even though most of them had been present through the earlier stories. In particular, the construct's appetite for "entertainment media" distractions (like mine for the book I was reading) and its show more ability to attend to coded inputs outside of direct sensory experience (like mine to the book I was reading) provide a vertiginous mirroring for the reader. The resonance of the Corporation Rim interstellar governance with US-imperial neoliberal nightmare was increasingly vivid, this time amplified with a focus on the dynamics of settler colonialism and its cruelty to the colonists, let alone any indigenes.
One interlude offered a little reflection on Murderbot's unwillingness to use the proper name of the bond company that originally owned (and presumably built) it. I have been wondering if a future book will include a revelation that explicitly identifies that malefic corporation with some actual 21st-century commercial or political entity.
There were a couple of clever twists, but the plot was pretty well determined and predictable prior to the action climax, which thus had a little premature feeling of denouement. Still, I did enjoy the book all the way to the end. As usual, the AI characters were better defined and more compelling than the humans, but as Murderbot has come to understand itself better, affections and motivations regarding humans in the story have become clearer and more interesting. The arc of the relationship between Murderbot and Mensah's daughter Amena was a highlight. show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Published Reviews
ThingScore 100
Like the series-to-full-length movie format it follows, everything is a bit wider and a bit heavier, but all the hallmarks of the series are there. We get a return of some beloved characters, more dodgy corporate interlopers, more robots-on A.I.-on-robot (and augmented human) action, and a bigger mystery. But now, with a little more room to breathe, Wells draws out all of those elements in a show more way that extends the enjoyable experience of the novellas, yet doesn't drag. Network Effect is more than twice the size of All Systems Red, but you'll come to the final pages and hardly notice. show less
added by melmore
Lists
Favorite Science Fiction by Women Authors
737 works; 202 members
2021 Hugo Eligible Novels
37 works; 14 members
Top-Rated Books on LibraryThing
272 works; 116 members
Best 21st Century Books (So Far)
670 works; 86 members
Locus Award for Best Novel/SF Novel
53 works; 6 members
Top Five Books of 2020
982 works; 348 members
Nebula Award
111 works; 14 members
Top Five Books of 2022
736 works; 272 members
Female Author
1,235 works; 65 members
Speculative Fiction to Read
706 works; 32 members
Genre Benders: Comic Science Fiction
37 works; 5 members
Fêtes worse than death? — Village festivals in fiction
37 works; 7 members
Books Read in 2026
1,714 works; 62 members
Books We Couldn't Put Down
443 works; 197 members
Books Read in 2025
4,090 works; 97 members
QLAP
14 works; 1 member
Books We Love to Reread
688 works; 296 members
Overdue Podcast
803 works; 9 members
Books Read in 2024
4,623 works; 126 members
Books Read in 2023
5,547 works; 145 members
Trans/Queer Lit
48 works; 5 members
Books Read in 2021
5,361 works; 114 members
Books Read in 2020
4,379 works; 124 members
Books Read in 2022
5,164 works; 113 members
Five star books
1,755 works; 108 members
mom
729 works; 1 member
Favorite Science Fiction
452 works; 215 members
Talk Discussions
Current Discussions
Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells in Science Fiction Fans (March 21)
Author Information
84+ Works 48,142 Members
Martha Wells is an American author, born in 1964, based in Texas. She writes fantasy and science fiction novels, novellas, and short stories. Her first novel was, The Element of Fire, published in 1993. Her other work includes City of Bones, The Death of the Necromancer, The Fall of IIe-Rien trilogy, Books of Raksura series, The Murderbot Diaries show more series, and Stargate universe novels. She was awarded the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella for All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Martha Wells is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Work Relationships
Has the adaptation
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Network Effect
- Original title
- Network Effect
- Original publication date
- 2020-05-05
- People/Characters
- Murderbot; Arada; Thiago; Overse; Ratthi; Ayda Mensah (show all 24); ART / Perihelion; Amena; targetControlSystem; Farai; Pin-Lee; Copilot Mihail; Specialist Rajpreet; Pilot Roa; Adjat; Kanti; Eletra; Ras; Bharadwaj; Supervisor Leonide; Indah; GrayCris; SecUnit 3; Murderbot 2.0
- Important places
- Preservation Alliance
- First words
- I've had clients who thought they needed an absurd level of security.
- Quotations
- Oh, ART's humans had a cute pet name for it. I saved that to permanent archive immediately.
Also, in Adventures in Living with Your Own Killware Cozied Up Inside Your Head, 2.0 had partitioned off a corner of my processing space. It would have worried me more if it wasn't in there watching episode 172 of Sanctuar... (show all)y Moon. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I showed the description to ART, and it started the first episode.
- Publisher's editor
- Harris, Lee
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.08762
- Canonical LCC
- PS3573.E4932
Classifications
- Genres
- Science Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 813.08762 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Science fiction
- LCC
- PS3573 .E4932 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 3,854
- Popularity
- 4,069
- Reviews
- 220
- Rating
- (4.35)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 16
- ASINs
- 9