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deedireads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Network Effect was my favorite Murderbot story so far. I think the full-novel length gives it space to appeal to those who don’t always gravitate toward hard sci-fi.
For you if: You are a Murderbot fan!
FULL REVIEW:
Network Effect is the fifth story in the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, but the first full-length novel. It’s nominated for this year’s Hugo Award, which is what put the series on my radar in the first place.
As the dust jacket says: “Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.” Murderbot is a SecUnit, short for security unit (so like, a badass fighter sentient robot) who hacked the part of its code that forces it to obey commands. That gives it the freedom to start really developing into a person of its own in all the ways that count (and watch as many soap operas as it can). Most of the characters in Network Effect are from the novellas, so you’ll definitely want to read those before you read this one. But if you liked the novellas (no spoilers, but especially the second one), you’ll like this one!
In fact, I liked the first four novellas, but I’m happy to say that this was my favorite Murderbot story so far. As someone who doesn’t read much hard sci-fi, the focus on how all the tech works was sometimes too heavy for me in the novellas. But this full-novel length gives Network Effect more space for narrative elements I do tend to like — development of secondary characters, a layered mystery, subplots. I hope she’ll write more Murderbot novels in the future!
TL;DR REVIEW:
Network Effect was my favorite Murderbot story so far. I think the full-novel length gives it space to appeal to those who don’t always gravitate toward hard sci-fi.
For you if: You are a Murderbot fan!
FULL REVIEW:
Network Effect is the fifth story in the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, but the first full-length novel. It’s nominated for this year’s Hugo Award, which is what put the series on my radar in the first place.
As the dust jacket says: “Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.” Murderbot is a SecUnit, short for security unit (so like, a badass fighter sentient robot) who hacked the part of its code that forces it to obey commands. That gives it the freedom to start really developing into a person of its own in all the ways that count (and watch as many soap operas as it can). Most of the characters in Network Effect are from the novellas, so you’ll definitely want to read those before you read this one. But if you liked the novellas (no spoilers, but especially the second one), you’ll like this one!
In fact, I liked the first four novellas, but I’m happy to say that this was my favorite Murderbot story so far. As someone who doesn’t read much hard sci-fi, the focus on how all the tech works was sometimes too heavy for me in the novellas. But this full-novel length gives Network Effect more space for narrative elements I do tend to like — development of secondary characters, a layered mystery, subplots. I hope she’ll write more Murderbot novels in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gun violence
Moderate: Body horror and Grief
Minor: Medical content
knerys's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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