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scifi_rat's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Colonisation, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Kidnapping
bookcheshirecat's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
5.0
“I could have asked what ‘or worse’ meant but there was only so much I could take and I thought I’d hit my limit about, I don’t know, four years ago.”
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review! The quotes are taken from the Arc and are subject to changes!
System Collapse brings us another full-length Murderbot adventure! ➽ It’s book 7 in the Murderbot Diaries but also the eagerly awaited direct sequel to Network Effect 👀 While not as long as its predecessor there is a lot going on and many interesting themes explored. It’s always difficult to pick a favorite from the series, but System Collapse comes close and makes me excited for the future of the series, as there are more books to come and there is SO much potential for them 💗
The conflict with Barish-Estranza is far from over, as they try to seize the remaining colonists ➽ Meaning, we don’t leave the Lost Colony’s system that was the main setting for Network Effect, as Murderbot – together with ART’s crew – is once again trying to save humans from the corporates. Barish-Estranza is determined to trick the remaining colonists into a predatory ‘work contract’ with whatever means necessary.
Murderbot is joined by Ratthi (my favorite Preservation human), Iris (ART’s favorite human) and Tarik (ART’s newest crew member) as they venture planet-side to warn the colonists of their dangerous fate. I loved the crew dynamics, it was great to finally get to know Iris a bit better, especially as she’s ART’s favorite. Her interactions with Murderbot were great, especially as both of them mean so much to ART. Perihelion/Peri/ART is also along with the ride as a drone, which made me happy as it’s one of my favorite characters and its dry humor makes for some great banter with Murderbot! I also love Ratthi and his unwavering support, so I was glad that he got the spotlight again!
We see a bit of Mensa, Thiago and Amena as well, but they’re not really in focus this time. I hope in the future we’ll see more of Amena again – the ending definitely makes this a possibility – as I loved her friendship with our favorite SecUnit! Speaking of Secunits, Three is present, but not involved in the main action, so we only get small glimpses into its dynamic with Murderbot. I know lots of people were excited for more Three content, but there isn’t much – that being said I see lots of potential for future books to focus on this! A character that surprised me was Tarik, the most recent addition to ART’s crew and a specialist at dealing with corporations, as he’s got a past with them. He had hidden depths and now I’m excited to slowly get to know the rest of ART’s crew as well!
“You should stop worrying. Yeah, I’ll just code a patch to stop feeling anxiety, wow, why didn’t I think of that earlier. (That was sarcasm, I have too much organic neural tissue for that to work.) (Of course, I’ve already tried it.)”
The story had a lot of good discussion about feeling helpless and your mental health catching up with you. ➽ Murderbot has always been a relatable character for me and the way mental health was approached in this book meant a lot to me! This isn’t called System Collapse for nothing, as Murderbot experiences glitches and irregularities in its parameters which leads to a lot of [redacted] incidents. It has always been 100% confident in providing security, as opposed to dealing with social situations and the anxiety that comes with them.
This book raises the question: what do you do if you can no longer adequately perform the one thing you feel confident in? The subtle shifts in Murderbot trying to desperately keep up with its function and protect its humans, while feeling on the edge of a mental breakdown (I can relate) were so well-written. I loved that the authors explored the meaning of helplessness and how Murderbot’s existence has always been conditional on it being useful for security. Now that it’s struggling, Murderbot is scared of the humans no longer wanting to work with it. There are now so many humans that care for it, but it’s tough to believe that there’s unconditional support when you have Murderbot’s background.
Throughout the series, we’ve also seen Murderbot’s PTSD symptoms and anxiety/depression. In fact, this is what I related to so much and why it’s my ultimate comfort character! System Collapse dives a bit deeper into this trauma in a way I won’t name here, as it’s a bit spoilery. Murderbot has come a long way since All Systems Red and I think that’s why now is the time that its trauma is resurfacing to this degree. It’s more settled and paradoxically that’s the moment everything it tried to bury strikes. The ending and its meaning for mental health support moved me to tears
“It would technically be fiction, but the kind of fiction that was true in all the ways that mattered.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Murder, and Slavery
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