Network Effect

Even better than a season of Sanctuary Moon.

An action packed page-turning novel that managed to fit in a pretty good whodunnit mystery, a big dose of humour along with some rather serious philosophical pondering on free will and the nature of ethics, all without slowing the pace down. I thought about calling this a rollercoaster, but it's more like being strapped to a high-speed rocket weaving through a star wars style asteroid field . It's totally unrealistic, and if you've read the book you'll understand why that's a compliment.

This series gets more addicting with each installment. The first four books were almost too short, and reading this one felt like I was finally really getting to dig in to the world of Murderbot. Consider me thoroughly hooked!

Hugo Best Novel 2021, and I can kind of see why. The Murderbot stories do not normally speak to me, but this one was actually gripping and had a bunch of interesting turns. The people still feel somehow wrong, but the scifi story here works.

Enjoyable, but I got bogged down in the middle for a good while: I suspect I prefer this kind of story at novella length.

It turns out I've been up all night finishing off this book, thank Murderbot it's still lockdown.

Was it worth pre-ordering? Yes. Did it blow my expectations? Totally.

Having the three narratives at one point took a tiny bit of adjustment, but for me it genuinely made the action come more to life. I've also noticed that things tend to be described just enough that you're able to set your own visuals along with the series.

I certainly hope there is another Murderbot novel in the works, as I've been sucked in deep to this series