4.5 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature: Martha Wells’ Murderbot has been gathering enthusiastic fans (which would be certain to have Murderbot hiding behind its opaque armored faceplate), along with multiple Nebula, Hugo and other awards and nominations, as each of the first four novellas in the MURDERBOT DIARIES series has been published over the last three years. In Network Effect, the first full-length novel in this series, Wells is able to explore a more complex plot and to mor...

First of all, it's Murderbot. So 'four stars' here is about a million for a normal read. But I struggled with Network Effect. Yes, pandemic, yada, yada. The fact is, while I was waiting for this to come out, I was able to read the quartet of novellas back-to-back, and appreciate the sense of growth in 'Bot's character. Starting from a largely indifferent security AI ("as you may have noticed, I didn't care") to a being that risked security and function to save the human who consistently recogniz...

Post-release thoughts aka Review: I loved this book so much, and that of course means I am at a loss to describe it. I also read it almost three months ago, and am only now attempting to write this review. This means BULLET POINTS.But first, I do want to say that I was very pleased with the first outing of Murderbot in novel form, as opposed to novella. I enjoyed spending a longer page count with Murderbot, whose character arc continues to develop in a pleasing fashion. I will be sad and displea...

Marvellous. Incredibly readable and deeply humane depiction of a friendship, which is funny because the protagonists are a misanthropic and deeply traumatised killer cyborg that just wants to watch soap operas, and the utterly amoral AI of a large spaceship. Murderbot is a fantastic creation, and the emotional arc is deeply engaging as it reluctantly develops feelings, and friendships, and responsibilities. The external plot is a bit out of focus at points, but the joy of this is all in the char...

I'm doing the BookTube thing now! Find me at: The Obsessive Bookseller[4.5/5 stars!] There are few things in life that make me happier than spending time with Murderbot.… which is ironic, considering it would rather do literally anything than be social. The Novellas alone were enough to solidify the series as an all-time favorite, so discovering this full-length novel was in the works immediate jumped it to the top of my priority list for 2020. Network Effect was every bit as sardonic, action-pa...

UPDATE: $2.99 Kindle US Today 12/28/204.5 stars! I love Murderbot!! I was stoked when there was going to be a full length novel of our favorite MB! I’m hoping there are many more books to come. There are more of the characters we love in the book as well and the usual mess that ensues! I’m going to leave it with a few lines from the book! (Humans have a bad tendency to use weapons unnecessarily and indiscriminately. Of the many times I had been shot, a depressingly large percentage of hits ha...

*** 4.75***"... “I was having an emotion, and I hate that.”― Martha Wells, Exit Strategy "It is obvious I love this series - I engulfed the whole thing in two days. What I would like people to know about the Murderbot Diaries is that yes, it is a Sci-fi series with a cyborg for the main character, but it should not be read by Science Fiction fans only. If you are at all interested in the way humans relate to each other and how those with either body dysmorphia or Asperger's aspects might view th...

Everything I was hoping for! To be honest this full length book was no different from the previous novellas except in its number of pages. Murderbot was still its cranky, sarcastic, amazing self. The story went from one action sequence to the next. And that special little bit of magic that Wells weaves into her writing to keep the reader captivated was still there.Loved the return of ART who is cranky, sarcastic and amazing, just like Murderbot! I enjoyed the way the author brought the Preservat...

Second read (Jan 2021)I retain my rating. The story got overly long and bored the heck out of me after halfway and only picked up in the last few chapters. I don't need to be told each step SecUnit took, architectural features it observed, or technical details it was pondering about. At first I thought it's because the audio, but even reading the ebook version I still had the same experience. Glad the next one would be in novella length again. First read (May 2020)Revising my previous rating to

“Surely they won’t suspect anything,” Ratthi was saying to the others at the bulk dock. “Who runs around with a friendly rogue SecUnit? Besides us, I mean.” I DO, I DO, I DO. :)"...my risk assessment module thought everything was great. (I know, it worries me when I say that, too.)"Performance reliability: 200% Murderbot is back and gets emotionally compromised!(view spoiler)[ "..was glad I could pretend to be too overwhelmed by being reassembled to respond, because I kind of was overwhelmed.

So many feelings! Oops, I said the f word - Murderbot is going to be cross with me. But I can't help myself. Since my loss, the release of this book is the only thing I've been looking forward to this year and it didn't disappoint. Things I loved:☑ ART is back!! I feel that I can write reams on this alone but I'll have to wait until my second or third re-read. I loved the way Ms. Wells how the Preservation folks and ART came together - even if Murderbot didn't. Of course, the most shocking devel...

Network EffectBy: Martha WellsNarrated by: Kevin R. FreeSeries: Murderbot Diaries, Book 5Nothing like listening to Murderbot all day! Chases away the blues! Both Art and our Murderbot are more human than most people! What a fun book! Full of wit, humor, great sci-fi, AIs that DO care despite what they claim, action, aliens, and adventure! A feel good story!

Somewhere between 4 to 4.5 stars... guys, Murderbot is back and it has stolen my heart even more than before! I cannot begin to express how comfy and cozy I feel spending time in Murderbot's head, so I'm so glad I had this book in my arsenal as a comfort read after the tornados in my neighborhood this week. Murderbot is the killer humanoid that I love cheering for, and this first full length novel gave me plenty of opportunities to root for them in crazy situations. ART is back and the interplay...

Hugo Award *and* Nebula Award winner for Best Novel *and* Locus Magazine Award winner for Best Science Fiction Novel. Yup, Murderbot is the absolute best SecUnit out there. Am I ecstatic? Take one guess.————— “(You know, if you don’t want to be manually eviscerated with your own energy weapon then maybe you shouldn’t go around killing research transports and antagonizing rogue SecUnits.)” I finally figured out that one of the reasons I love Murderbot so much is that it’s my soul-sibling. MB’s...

No SpoilersIf you've been reading author Martha Wells' award-winning “Murderbot Diaries” novellas, you have no doubt been cheering on the title character ‘Murderbot’ from the sidelines for four adventures so far.Wells' latest, “Network Effect”, is the first full-length novel featuring our Favorite,cranky,cynical,sentient,artificially intelligent robot. For those unfamiliar, I'll give you some time to catch up on the first four books… (Jeopardy music) Done .... ? OK, well that might not be long e...

WINNER OF THE HUGO FOR BEST SERIES & THE HUGO FOR BEST NOVEL, 2021 WORLDCON: DisCon III!FINALIST FOR THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF 2021! SEE THE FULL LOCUS AWARD LIST!I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF MY LOCAL LIBRARY. SUPPORT YOUR LIBRARIES, FOLKS! THE PANDEMIC AIN'T THE ONLY REASON TO GO THERE.When you get to the moment in reading a series of stories that you think you know what's coming next, and then you're kinda right but a whole lot wrong, that's when you know for sure you're in the right pla...