Welcome to Litsy!

Muderbot plots are so good because as security personnel, MB is always assessing risk, predicting threats & prompting anticipation & anxiety. You turn pages to see what MB got wrong, and how he/she/it heroically adapts. “Competence porn.” But this mission felt too boring for too long. Still great sardonic quotes: P84 “we proceeded down the stupid tunnel, into the stupid danger.” 🤣 2023

P193 “I would be panicking more, but I didn‘t have time.”

Time to catch up with MurderBot.

How sad am I that the Murderbot story arc is over! I definitely see this whole series becoming one of my major comfort reads.

This one felt a bit more to the point and it continues the general plot of the last book.

It still feels like the author's general understanding of non-hetero relationships is minimal at best and half the time feels like a joke.

At least ART is back and I'm glad for it.

Sadly, I‘ve reached the end of the Murderbot Diaries. This was actually my least favorite, but I still just adored the series as a whole. This book got a bit too technical for me and didn‘t have the relationship-building opportunities that the other books had. I‘m not a regular sci-fi reader and I find that I lack the imagination necessary to keep track of all the unfamiliar planets/entities/aircraft/warring factions, etc. but what a great series!

Not as strong as those stories before, but I still loved being with SecUnit and ART again. Again, I could relate to SecUnit quite often 😄 But I missed some of the humor and the plot was ok-ish. It's still a good book after all. Martha Wells has her own way to describe human behavior and through the eyes of a KI we find ourselves and have to admit, it's right with its remarks.

“I felt HostileSecUnit1 go into shutdown mode. It wasn't dead, it was just catostrophically damaged. (I know, who isn't?)“

#DoubleSpin After thoroughly enjoying my reread of Network Effect, I had trouble getting into this. The premise, Murderbot with PTSD, is fantastic, but nothing about the story compelled me to keep reading. Soft pick, though fans definitely won't want to skip it.

I feel compelled to read this series over from the beginning. Because I feel like I missed something here. This is book 7. I love Murderbot but this was less than the others imo.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

This is easy, because every time I dance to “Titanium“ I think of Murderbot, and it's especially relevant to this book, in which it is suffering from PTSD. The lyrics of the song are very empowered, but the music reveals the underlying vulnerability that the words are trying to hide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX1sirWd23E

#BookNotes

I had a very good month of reading in January and even managed 3 bingos!

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I came close, but didn't manage to get a bingo in January.

#ISpyBino @Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks

I love this series!

Thank goodness my hold came through on this latest Murderbot installment when it did*. Another escapist read with the ever delightful and sarcastic construct as it tries to (once again) rescue its humans from destruction, but this time with less confidence.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a good enough memory of the previous two books to follow along this time. I recommend retaining Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry first

I'm just so happy to have another Murderbot story! The themes of dealing or not dealing with trauma, and how you communicate, especially with strangers, especially in fraught situations. Wells consistently gives this series emotion, action and character moments you can identify with. While this particular plot relies on Murderbot feeling off its game, the reader can still rely on ART's snark to reign supreme and occasionally break the tension. 1/2

These are my emotional support humans. 🥺

Yes, hi, hello, I too would like a friend-shaped Asshole Research Transport (affectionate) monitoring my vitals to encourage mindfulness "what the hell are you doing?" and dispel intrusive thoughts "stop that immediately". Pretty please. ?

Oh, to have the ability to archive and transmit video footage of previous incidents when making a point. If only! 🙏🏻

4.5/5

A sequel to Network Effect, Murderbot is still working with ART to help Preservation and the University to help colonist affected by alien remnant contamination, but as usual there are plenty of Corporate interests making things complicated.

Another great book in the series. I do wish I'd reread Network Effect more recently, so that I remembered more of the context at the beginning of the novella.

A couple purchases with our Barnes and Noble gift card

#SeriesLove2024 @Andrew65

I love this SecUnit. He hates squishy humans... well except for his squishy humans. He is especially worried because he is not himself and he has to figure what is wrong. Another great story in this series. 4.5⭐️

#12Booksof2023 Day 6: June was for comfort-binging Murderbot. Again. 😅

As always I love me some Murderbot. I do think this one and the last one, Network Effect, would have been better if they had just been together as one book. I didn't hate it though. Murderbot is one of my all time favorite characters. Possibly because I love their sarcasm. I didn't want to wait for the paperback to buy it so I nabbed this at the library.

#12Booksof2023 @Andrew65

June - I got the ARC for the tagged book and had to read it at once

The only thing better than ART is lots of little ART iterations. Look, I adore Murderbot, but I love ART, or maybe I just really love the way the two play off each other. Regardless, this novella has plenty of banter, lots of Murderbot anxiety, and high-stakes adventure. Delightful, as always.

Looking forward to listening to my Christmas audiobook tonight 🎄

Shoutout to local bookseller extraordinare Stefen's Books - he sure saw my husband coming this #Xmas

Just look at this loot pile!

#bookhaul #sf

I love Murderbot and the 7th & newest installment is no exception.

Another excellent book in the Murderbot Diaries series. It‘s hard to review these because every time I basically say the same thing: I love Murderbot, perfect balance of sarcasm and heart, fascinating worldbuilding, can‘t wait for the next book. And it‘s allllll true again with this one! #SeriesLove2023

Super excited to get this from the library. Perfect timing since my husband and I are now quarantined because of covid.

128/150 Another excellent Murderbot adventure. If you're already reading the series, then you know how good this is going to be. If you're not, then I recommend you get All Systems Red asap and join in the fun. I especially enjoy the audiobooks, Kevin Free is an excellent narrator. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
52nd book finished for #RushathonExtended @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES @Andrew65
4th book finished for #Adventathon @BookmarkTavern

I just can‘t go wring with Murderbot! I‘m pretty sure in the cover photo it‘s facing off against an Ag-bot, as happens in the story.

The use of media feels so absolutely perfect and I loved the way Murderbot works together with ART, Three, and all of their humans in the best collaboration so far.

Sleepy Sietje isn‘t particularly impressed, but I loved System Collapse.

It was very exciting to get another murderbot story. The pacing was a bit off in this one. The first half is all emotional upheaval and slow angst; whereas, the last half is breakneck action. Still love this series.

Thanks for the tag @Yuki_Onna ☺️

1. The tagged book, the newest of the Murderbot diaries, was a lovely little installment. How long to wait until the next one comes out? Alas.

2. I have a whole stack of trashy witchy rom coms, ghost stories, & other lovely, silly things to read but I‘m most looking forward to reading the snow queen by Hans Christian Andersen with my babies ❄️

@TheSpineView

Sentience sucks.

Once more, with feeling: I Love Murderbot ❤️

The latest Murderbot is excellent! If you haven‘t tried this series because you think you aren‘t interested in books set in space, definitely reconsider! Murderbot is a sarcastic, social phobic humanoid construct who doesn‘t fully understand people and would rather just watch streaming video. These books are so much fun and I‘d hate for anyone to miss out.

I‘m always a little sad when I finish another Murderbot iteration. They‘re so good and I just want to keep going 🙂

Murderbot‘s life continues to be difficult when its humans decide to try & rescue a group of colonists from being conscripted by a corporation, all while it‘s trying to deal with it‘s own PTSD.

Murderbot, my beloved. Another fantastic story tying together Murderbot‘s snark, reluctant bonds with ART & Preservation, the power of stories, & the need for support systems when dealing with trauma. I recommend rereading Network Effect before.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

[Before] all I got from humans was "Run in there now no matter how likely you are to get blown to tiny pieces when a quiet tactical approach has a higher percentage of success" and now it's "Oh no we're fine, we can hang out in this objectively terrifying immediately hazardous situation for however long.")

(I'm just saying that it would be nice for the humans to give me a realistic situation report for once.)

It‘s 9:30pm and I just got out of bed for the third time today. I‘m not sick, just so, so tired and it is so dark all the damn time. I can‘t even blame [REDACTED].
Thankful for “familiar but new,” my comfort genre, perfectly fit by another Murderbot installment, which I‘m listening to on Spotify. Not the ideal player yet, but they‘ve improved their music and podcast interfaces so I‘m hopeful (though it won‘t replace Everand, just Amazon) 🤓

It‘s Murderbot—you know it‘s going to be good going in. This one starts right after the events in previous book & it takes a while to really get going—everyone‘s favorite SecUnit is dealing with some stuff (the details of which are redacted). Never fear though, when the story gets going, it kicks into overdrive. This wasn‘t my favorite book in the series but a new Murderbot story, & opportunity to spend time in this world, is always welcome.❤️🤖❤️

I was so hype for this today I woke up early and read the whole thing before i had to leave for work at noon. I like that we get to see Murderbot interact more with ART's humans and learn more about itself in the process. We also get to see more of some side characters from Network Effect which is great because I love Three!

“I should just shut myself down right now, I‘m losing this conversation so badly.”

😂🤖😬

Another busy Tuesday for new releases. No question what I‘m reading first. Excited to spend some quality time with Murderbot this afternoon!

#Bookmail

This is a solid entry into my favourite series, but perhaps an A- rather than A+. Wells is shifting direction on the series and in this book is tying up the threads of the last book and building a launchpad for the next. Necessary work but it results in a book which feels a little laggy in the middle third, feels a little less cosy without most of the Preservation characters. Then the last third kicks into pure Murderbot chaotic fun.

The latest Murderbot Diaries novel by Martha Wells is out today, and so is my review. I found the story to be an excellent evolution of Murderbot's journey, and a great addition to the series.

Full review: https://bit.ly/Murderbot-7-rvw

I‘m running behind and feel like I‘m finally caught up on Litsy! The end of last month just felt too full - when there was a threat of govt shutdown at the beginning of Oct, contractors like me had a bunch of things assigned with the thought that we wouldn‘t be idle if govt employees couldn‘t work… so now, of course, we‘re all doubly burned out.
TLDR: I‘m excited to start fresh for Nov and doubly excited for NEW MURDERBOT! Yay! 🤖🦾
#bookspin

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5⭐ The action in the 2nd half is deliciously intense. The 1st half is slower than I've come to expect. The frequent redacted sections create confusing gaps that aren't cleared up until halfway through. Murderbot's emotional arc feels incomplete. I loved every moment between ART and Murderbot.

full review: https://hissingpotatoes.com/2023/10/18/review-system-collapse-by-martha-wells/