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A review by caughtbetweenpages
System Collapse by Martha Wells
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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
Nobody talk to me; I'm having a humiliating preponderance of feelings and it's all Martha Wells' fault. Writing a review for this is going to be a monumental task, especially given that I could barely even answer the yes/no q's about characters/the tone markers/the pace of the book questions above without serious thought.
This novel picks up pretty much where Network Effect leaves off, though with a mysterious REDACTED bit that comes to light as the story progresses, wherein you know that MB failed in some way and is having a great deal of anxiety about that, while at the same time trying their best to keep its humans and ART's humans safe on a planet which lacks documented ownership (quite dangerous given the Corporates in its airspace) while they try to convince the planet's colonists to accept their help re: establishing their own autonomy (also quite dangerous given the Corporates are in that planet's airspace precisely in order to take the planet and its resources, including the indentured labor of the colonists).
A big problem I have with a lot of sci fi that involves Boldly Going Where Others Haven't is that the story often ends after The Hostile Alien is Defeated or The Warring Factions Were Brought Together and Now We Fuck Off While They Learn Something. System Collapse takes a look at the aftermath of the Star Trek episode: what happens after an external party shakes up a status quo? What is that external party's responsibility vis a vis caring for the people whose status quo has been rocked and who need to re-figure out some things very quickly? How much intervention is too much intervention, and when and how are those boundaries blurred?
The answers to these questions, duh, are nuanced and complicated, and Wells treats them as such, while also ruining my life with:
- MB suffering from PTSD and wondering whether they can still do their job (or what they've decided their job is) because of it (because they're still not over the assumption that their worth is tied only to what they do instead of who they are)
- the geopolitics of Preservation and the ART crew trying to fight for the bodily, land, and cultural autonomy of the colonist groups against a corporation Seriously Determined to steal land and labor from them, BUT having to convince said colonists that they're the good guys and want to help. Because of course to the colonists, they're just one of two groups of people here claiming to want to help, and it's hard to make a decision without having all the information available (and the good guys have the harder convincing job because they care about respecting the colonists' choices and giving them actual information)
- the power of storytelling in changing peoples' minds (and the way that that can, if you're not careful, slip into propaganda) (and the way that NOVELTY and HYPE making people want to experience things) (basically I'm a sucker for stories about peoples' reactions to story)
- Three learning to be their own person/not just Another Free SecUnit and that already being evident (their enjoyment of documentaries over soap operas, for example) AND the other freed SecUnit!! Who also helps! Goddamn it people will be good if you give them half the chance to choose it!!
I think these stories make me feel as hard as they do because no matter how difficult and ugly things get there's this ultimate undercurrent of hope throughout it all. Hope that people will rise to your best expectations. Hope that change is possible, even if it's grueling work to get to there. Hope that other people will see you, one day, and that even if it takes them a while, it's still worth it to learn to see yourself. I don't know. Maybe it's just that I really really like being in MB's head. Sarcastic asshole. I love them.
This novel picks up pretty much where Network Effect leaves off, though with a mysterious REDACTED bit that comes to light as the story progresses, wherein you know that MB failed in some way and is having a great deal of anxiety about that, while at the same time trying their best to keep its humans and ART's humans safe on a planet which lacks documented ownership (quite dangerous given the Corporates in its airspace) while they try to convince the planet's colonists to accept their help re: establishing their own autonomy (also quite dangerous given the Corporates are in that planet's airspace precisely in order to take the planet and its resources, including the indentured labor of the colonists).
A big problem I have with a lot of sci fi that involves Boldly Going Where Others Haven't is that the story often ends after The Hostile Alien is Defeated or The Warring Factions Were Brought Together and Now We Fuck Off While They Learn Something. System Collapse takes a look at the aftermath of the Star Trek episode: what happens after an external party shakes up a status quo? What is that external party's responsibility vis a vis caring for the people whose status quo has been rocked and who need to re-figure out some things very quickly? How much intervention is too much intervention, and when and how are those boundaries blurred?
The answers to these questions, duh, are nuanced and complicated, and Wells treats them as such, while also ruining my life with:
- MB suffering from PTSD and wondering whether they can still do their job (or what they've decided their job is) because of it (because they're still not over the assumption that their worth is tied only to what they do instead of who they are)
- the geopolitics of Preservation and the ART crew trying to fight for the bodily, land, and cultural autonomy of the colonist groups against a corporation Seriously Determined to steal land and labor from them, BUT having to convince said colonists that they're the good guys and want to help. Because of course to the colonists, they're just one of two groups of people here claiming to want to help, and it's hard to make a decision without having all the information available (and the good guys have the harder convincing job because they care about respecting the colonists' choices and giving them actual information)
- the power of storytelling in changing peoples' minds (and the way that that can, if you're not careful, slip into propaganda) (and the way that NOVELTY and HYPE making people want to experience things) (basically I'm a sucker for stories about peoples' reactions to story)
- Three learning to be their own person/not just Another Free SecUnit and that already being evident (their enjoyment of documentaries over soap operas, for example) AND
I think these stories make me feel as hard as they do because no matter how difficult and ugly things get there's this ultimate undercurrent of hope throughout it all. Hope that people will rise to your best expectations. Hope that change is possible, even if it's grueling work to get to there. Hope that other people will see you, one day, and that even if it takes them a while, it's still worth it to learn to see yourself. I don't know. Maybe it's just that I really really like being in MB's head. Sarcastic asshole. I love them.