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knerys's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Death
Minor: Gore, Grief, and Medical trauma
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
NETWORK EFFECT finds Murderbot summoned to help various associates and not-friends who are in danger and in need of help, with lots of Targets to shoot and interfaces to hack.
As the first full novel in the series, Network Effect handles the transition from novella to novel beautifully. It expands the scope and feel of the characters while still keeping things connected to the earlier books. My favorite thing was the addition of new point of view characters, it was strange but cool to get perspectives other than Murderbot, especially since they have some very specific similarities while obviously being distinct characters. Murderbot itself was delightful as always, it’s really grown throughout the series in terms of relating to other entities and figuring out what it wants, slowly becoming proactive rather than reacting against what it was ordered to do before. As usual for Murderbot there’s danger, rescues and heist things, which were all great. It really feels like a longer version of a Murderbot book, which is perfect.
This doesn’t specifically wrap up anything from the previous books, but it does continue developing the definitely-not-friendship between Murderbot and Dr. Mensah, which is noteworthy given how little time they spent together this time around. The main storyline starts here and wasn’t present previously, it’s definitely its own story, with the main plot being pretty self contained. It’s not the last book, and at the end it clearly leaves something for later books to pick up as Murderbot starts to picture a life for itself and gets an unusual offer. I mentioned before that there are some additional narrators, because of plot reasons they have a lot of similarities to Murderbot, but they are differentiated in some cool ways. This would make sense if someone started here and didn’t know about the rest of the series. The first four novellas were a set telling a complete story, while this volume is pretty self contained. Everything you would need to know in order to understand what’s going on gets explained, partly because Murderbot has to provide some explanations since the other characters mostly were not around in the other books. That means that Network Effect technically could be read by itself, but if the plot description intrigues you you should definitely start with the first novella.
This is a great entry in a fun-to-read series about sentience, personhood, and self discovery in space and on various planets.
As the first full novel in the series, Network Effect handles the transition from novella to novel beautifully. It expands the scope and feel of the characters while still keeping things connected to the earlier books. My favorite thing was the addition of new point of view characters, it was strange but cool to get perspectives other than Murderbot, especially since they have some very specific similarities while obviously being distinct characters. Murderbot itself was delightful as always, it’s really grown throughout the series in terms of relating to other entities and figuring out what it wants, slowly becoming proactive rather than reacting against what it was ordered to do before. As usual for Murderbot there’s danger, rescues and heist things, which were all great. It really feels like a longer version of a Murderbot book, which is perfect.
This doesn’t specifically wrap up anything from the previous books, but it does continue developing the definitely-not-friendship between Murderbot and Dr. Mensah, which is noteworthy given how little time they spent together this time around. The main storyline starts here and wasn’t present previously, it’s definitely its own story, with the main plot being pretty self contained. It’s not the last book, and at the end it clearly leaves something for later books to pick up as Murderbot starts to picture a life for itself and gets an unusual offer. I mentioned before that there are some additional narrators, because of plot reasons they have a lot of similarities to Murderbot, but they are differentiated in some cool ways. This would make sense if someone started here and didn’t know about the rest of the series. The first four novellas were a set telling a complete story, while this volume is pretty self contained. Everything you would need to know in order to understand what’s going on gets explained, partly because Murderbot has to provide some explanations since the other characters mostly were not around in the other books. That means that Network Effect technically could be read by itself, but if the plot description intrigues you you should definitely start with the first novella.
This is a great entry in a fun-to-read series about sentience, personhood, and self discovery in space and on various planets.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, and Death
reviewsandreadathons's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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
Murderbot is so relatable and hilarious. The action sequences were great, as were the relationships and dialogue. I just love everything about this series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Violence, Gun violence, and Grief
Minor: Body horror
kylieqrada's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-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
ART + MURDERBOT 4EVAAAAA!!!!!!! I think this was my favorite of the series so far. This is the first full-length Murderbot novel, and it did not disappoint. We really got to see Murderbot develop as a character and build relationships in this installment, as well as take on a new mentorship-type role. All hail the church of Murderbot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, and Violence
savagemoose's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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? No
4.0
I read this very quickly and it was excellent and tense.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Kidnapping, and Violence
nullandvoidlibrary's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
gracecrandall's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
troisha's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Slavery
heyheyrenay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
spiritedfaraway's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“After spending my entire existence having to gently suggest to humans that they not do things that would probably get them killed, it was nice to be able to tell them in so many words to not be so fucking stupid.”
I don’t want to give too much away, because this is the fifth book in a series, but if you loved the novellas, then Network Effect is definitely for you. This book took everything I loved about the first four books and kicked it up a notch and I honestly think this might be my favorite out of the entire series.
I still absolutely feel that Murderbot is one the most relatable characters I’ve ever read about. They’re both very introverted and very anxious. And their dry wit and sass doesn’t hurt either!
As you expect with every book in this series, there’s action, adventure, and a good dose of friendship (though shhhhhhh, don’t let Murderbot know).
“Her expression had turned all melty and sentimental. “No hugging,” I warned her. It was in our contract.”
In fact, one of the things I truly love about these space adventures are the connections and the character development Murderbot makes. The character dynamics are always a treat to read about and the ones in this book are definitely not a let down!
Some old characters are fleshed out and some new characters are introduced. There’s fighting, arguing, and (gasp!) emotions. This installment to the Murderbot Diaries is absolutely fantastic and definitely lived up to all my expectations.
All the stars!
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror