Book Review: Network Effect by Martha Wells
Network Effect reunites Murderbot with ART
I’m coming to the end of my Murderbot run; Network Effect (book 5 of 7…for now) continues the adventures of everyone’s favorite rogue SecUnit as he tries to figure out who he is and what he wants to do with his freedom.
Network Effect
The Murderbot Diaries Book 5
By Martha Wells
Amazon
A quick rundown of the series: Murderbot is a security android who disables is Governor Module so he’s not bound to the Company and which ever group of humans he’s assigned to. But he continues to do his function until his humans (part of the Preservation Alliance) are in danger from a different corporation (GrayCris). After saving and revealing to them that he’s was “rogue”, they were able to get him his freedom.
He spent a little time wandering around space (and meeting a ship which he named ART…Asshole Research Transport) before heading back to the Preservation Alliance and saving their leader, Mensah, from the GrayCris assassins. Murderbot goes back to the Preservation Alliance homeworld where he becomes a security consultant.
Network Effect kicks off with Murderbot on a survey with a group of humans from Preservation Alliance that goes wrong. He saves everyone (of course), but their ship is pretty much hijacked as they return home. This book gives us the return of ART and introduces more of the Preservation cast. Wells continues to build a supporting cast that plays well off of Murderbot; he consistently is annoyed with them while also caring about their well being.
One of the best parts of the book is bringing back ART, because the dynamic between ART and Murderbot is a riot; you can tell how important the 2 are to each other and the reluctance to let the humans in on it.
Of all the books in the series, this has been my least favorite. The motivations of the characters is murky and while there is a mystery going on, aspects don’t make much sense; I had to re-read sections to figure out what was going on. Adding in the element of alien remnants added to the confusion and it took most of the book to figure this out.
The middle of the book felt muddled; this is the longest of the first 6 books and I felt like it didn’t flow as well as the shorter volumes. They could have reduced the story to make it more cohesive story. I really didn’t get into the book until the second half.
The book was also the first of the series to shift the focus out of Murderbot’s POV; we get Murderbot 2.0 and another SecUnit’s perspective on the conclusion of the book. Those elements were great. It was the end of chapter sections that bothered me; we get “excepts” of interviews and reports from Murderbot about what’s going on with Mensah from before the book. They really felt out of place for a later plot point.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5. I still enjoyed the book, but was annoyed where it was a little slower. The other books just flowed so much better and the short size was an appealing factor to the series. It’s skippable in the overall narrative, but I would recommend still reading it for ART.
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