It’s been a while (8 October 2018) since I shared how much I’d enjoyed the first Murderbot novella, All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells (published by Tor.) Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to read and equally enjoy three more Murderbot novellas.

So I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to read an uncorrected proof copy of the first of a new Murderbot trilogy, this time in full novel version, ahead of its publication date of May 2020.

Dear readers, I was not disappointed.

Network Effect continues the grand Murderbot tradition of the original novella quartet. This is space opera science fiction at its best, with a great, single-protagonist “voice” in the form of “Murderbot”, an autonomous AI in cyborg form. There’s also an engaging cast of supporting characters (not least Perihelion, aka  ART — the “Asshole Research Transport”, a spaceship in the best tradition of Iain M Banks’ sentient ship/AIs), and plenty of space travel, adventure, and action.

In my post on All Systems Red, I described the SF “universe” as: “Corporate Culture SciFi, i.e. in this version of the space future an awful lot of stuff is run by corporations”, but with overlaps to Military SF because the “corprats” maintain their own security forces and “because Murderbot is a security specialist and gets to fight things and fire big weapons when the chips are down.”

This is still the case in Network Effect and Ms Wells does an excellent job (imho) of telling a standalone adventure that manages the transition between the central storyline of the novellas (which involved Murderbot cementing its independent, as opposed to rogue, status and acquiring allies, while defeating a particular corporate, GrayCris) to a new story arc. The latter appears to involve Murderbot travelling with ART and its crew to undermine and counteract the most egregious ills of corporate colonization, a great premise for more Murderbot goodness to come.

So if you loved the Murderbot novella quartet, I’m pretty sure you’ll love Network Effect, too. If you haven’t read the novellas then I would strongly recommend doing so, not because I don’t think the novel stands on its own (because the author manages that transition well, too) but just because I think i) they’re a fantastic read; and ii) you’ll get a whole lot more nuance out of Network Effect.

However, if you’re looking for wider comparisons, then I’d say that if you like CJ Cherryh (particularly the Chanur series) or William Gibson’s cyberpunk, Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice or Iain M Banks Culture novels, such as Surface Detail, then you’ll almost certainly like Network Effect as well.

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Disclosure: I read an uncorrected proof copy of Network Effect, 350 pp, supplied by the publisher.