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booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
The short version is that if you've loved Murderbot for the first six books then this continues the best things from the earlier stories while giving a chance to get acquainted with ART's crew in slightly less dire circumstances (at least for them). I was completely immersed in all the best ways, don't miss SYSTEM COLLAPSE!
As a sequel, this covers the next steps of Murderbot and ART's crew dealing with the colonists whom they met in NETWORK EFFECT. It doesn’t precisely wrap up anything left hanging, but that’s mostly because there wasn't a distinct sense that more follow-up was needed on that planet. The main thing teased was the idea that Murderbot would continue to travel with ART, but in this book they aren't quite ready to begin other journeys. Instead the opening chapters form full link between that story and this one. Because they change locations on the planet, this gets to be a mostly new storyline, despite having ties to a prior entry. Once they knew they had to change locations, it becomes much more about what’s happening now, rather than the group they left behind.
This introduces and resolves the fate of the second colony on the planet. It’s not the last book and it specifically establishes the next thing that Murderbot wants to do in a way that most of the other books really couldn’t. This is a pretty direct follow-up to events in NETWORK EFFECT, and would be much less satisfying for anyone who tried to start here without having read the previous books. Because its direct predecessor, FUGITIVE TELEMENTARY, takes place out of sequence with NETWORK EFFECT and SYSTEM COLLAPSE, technically, I guess you could skip that book, but the rest are essential in terms of plot. All of them are very important for character development. The heart of the story is Murderbot's internal journey of figuring out autonomy and personhood, including how attached it feels to either of those ideas with relation to itself. This means that character establishment is pretty quick in each of the books. Murderbot's whole deal is very understandable from just a few snippets . Its character development happens much more slowly, as figuring out what it wants distinct from, but not necessarily separate from other beings is a long process that has had room to breathe over the volumes. As to the specific story, there was a lot to clean up on the planet after NETWORK EFFECT. Early in this book, ART's crew is made aware of a complication that requires their attention. This complication is significant enough that dealing with it is the focus of the rest of the book.
SYSTEM COLLAPSE has a lot of very cool worldbuilding related to the other colony, but done in a way that reflects those differences through the things that Murderbot cares about, specifically, communication and media. One of my favorite bits is that we actually get some background for one member of ART's crew because there are some ways in which his former training is closer to Murderbot than to his fellow researchers. Those few similarities end up reinforcing the gap between what Murderbot can do and what even the best-trained human is capable of as far as combat and tactics.
The short version is that if you've loved Murderbot for the first six books then this continues the best things from the earlier stories while giving a chance to get acquainted with ART's crew in slightly less dire circumstances (at least for them). I was completely immersed in all the best ways, don't miss SYSTEM COLLAPSE!
As a sequel, this covers the next steps of Murderbot and ART's crew dealing with the colonists whom they met in NETWORK EFFECT. It doesn’t precisely wrap up anything left hanging, but that’s mostly because there wasn't a distinct sense that more follow-up was needed on that planet. The main thing teased was the idea that Murderbot would continue to travel with ART, but in this book they aren't quite ready to begin other journeys. Instead the opening chapters form full link between that story and this one. Because they change locations on the planet, this gets to be a mostly new storyline, despite having ties to a prior entry. Once they knew they had to change locations, it becomes much more about what’s happening now, rather than the group they left behind.
This introduces and resolves the fate of the second colony on the planet. It’s not the last book and it specifically establishes the next thing that Murderbot wants to do in a way that most of the other books really couldn’t. This is a pretty direct follow-up to events in NETWORK EFFECT, and would be much less satisfying for anyone who tried to start here without having read the previous books. Because its direct predecessor, FUGITIVE TELEMENTARY, takes place out of sequence with NETWORK EFFECT and SYSTEM COLLAPSE, technically, I guess you could skip that book, but the rest are essential in terms of plot. All of them are very important for character development. The heart of the story is Murderbot's internal journey of figuring out autonomy and personhood, including how attached it feels to either of those ideas with relation to itself. This means that character establishment is pretty quick in each of the books. Murderbot's whole deal is very understandable from just a few snippets . Its character development happens much more slowly, as figuring out what it wants distinct from, but not necessarily separate from other beings is a long process that has had room to breathe over the volumes. As to the specific story, there was a lot to clean up on the planet after NETWORK EFFECT. Early in this book, ART's crew is made aware of a complication that requires their attention. This complication is significant enough that dealing with it is the focus of the rest of the book.
SYSTEM COLLAPSE has a lot of very cool worldbuilding related to the other colony, but done in a way that reflects those differences through the things that Murderbot cares about, specifically, communication and media. One of my favorite bits is that we actually get some background for one member of ART's crew because there are some ways in which his former training is closer to Murderbot than to his fellow researchers. Those few similarities end up reinforcing the gap between what Murderbot can do and what even the best-trained human is capable of as far as combat and tactics.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Death and Slavery
readwithria's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I adore the Murderbot Diaries, so when I got the chance to read System Collapse as an ARC I knew I had to read it immediately! This book did not disappoint, and Murderbot continues to be my favorite sci-fi series to date.
This was my first time reading a visual edition of the series instead of the audiobook, so that was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me! I think that no matter what format you go with you'll have a great time, but I do think I’ll go back and read the audiobook as well.
System Collapse does start off a bit slow, and there’s a piece of plot info that’s reveal is a bit underwhelming, but once we got to the second half it was action packed and full of great character moments. I love that Murderbot it expanding its group of humans, and I’m so excited to see where it and ART go next!
Thank you to TorDotCom Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own!
This was my first time reading a visual edition of the series instead of the audiobook, so that was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me! I think that no matter what format you go with you'll have a great time, but I do think I’ll go back and read the audiobook as well.
System Collapse does start off a bit slow, and there’s a piece of plot info that’s reveal is a bit underwhelming, but once we got to the second half it was action packed and full of great character moments. I love that Murderbot it expanding its group of humans, and I’m so excited to see where it and ART go next!
Thank you to TorDotCom Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Slavery, Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
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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