Review: System Collapse, by Martha Wells

[Russ Allbery]

System Collapse
by Martha Wells

Series:    Murderbot Diaries #7
Publisher: Tordotcom
Copyright: 2023
ISBN:      1-250-82698-5
Format:    Kindle
Pages:     245

System Collapse is the second Murderbot novel. Including the novellas,
it's the 7th in the series. Unlike Fugitive Telemetry, the previous
novella that was out of chronological order, this is the direct sequel
to Network Effect. A very direct sequel; it picks up just a few days
after the previous novel ended. Needless to say, you should not start
here.

I was warned by other people and therefore re-read Network Effect
immediately before reading System Collapse. That was an excellent idea,
since this novel opens with a large cast, no dramatis personae, not
much in the way of a plot summary, and a lot of emotional continuity
from the previous novel. I would grumble about this more, like I have
in other reviews, but I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading Network Effect
and appreciated the excuse.

  ART-drone said, “I wouldn’t recommend it. I lack a sense of
  proportional response. I don’t advise engaging with me on any
  level.”

Saying much about the plot of this book without spoiling Network Effect
and the rest of the series is challenging. Murderbot is suffering from
the aftereffects of the events of the previous book more than it
expected or would like to admit. It and its humans are in the middle of
a complicated multi-way negotiation with some locals, who the
corporates are trying to exploit. One of the difficulties in that
negotiation is getting people to believe that the corporations are as
evil as they actually are, a plot element that has a depressing amount
in common with current politics. Meanwhile, Murderbot is trying to keep
everyone alive.

I loved Network Effect, but that was primarily for the social dynamics.
The planet that was central to the novel was less interesting, so
another (short) novel about the same planet was a bit of a
disappointment. This does give Wells a chance to show in more detail
what Murderbot's new allies have been up to, but there is a lot of
speculative exploration and detailed descriptions of underground
tunnels that I found less compelling than the relationship dynamics of
the previous book. (Murderbot, on the other hand, would much prefer
exploring creepy abandoned tunnels to talking about its feelings.)

One of the things this series continues to do incredibly well, though,
is take non-human intelligence seriously in a world where the humans
mostly don't. It perfectly fills a gap between Star Wars, where neither
the humans nor the story take non-human intelligences seriously (hence
the creepy slavery vibes as soon as you start paying attention to
droids), and the Culture, where both humans and the story do.

The corporates (the bad guys in this series) treat non-human
intelligences the way Star Wars treats droids. The good guys treat
Murderbot mostly like a strange human, which is better but still wrong,
and still don't notice the numerous other machine intelligences. But
Wells, as the author, takes all of the non-human characters seriously,
which means there are complex and fascinating relationships happening
at a level of the story that the human characters are mostly unaware
of. I love that Murderbot rarely bothers to explain; if the humans are
too blinkered to notice, that's their problem.

About halfway into the story, System Collapse hits its stride, not
coincidentally at the point where Murderbot befriends some new
computers. The rest of the book is great.

This was not as good as Network Effect. There is a bit less competence
porn at the start, and although that's for good in-story reasons I
still missed it. Murderbot's redaction of things it doesn't want to
talk about got a bit annoying before it finally resolved. And I was not
sufficiently interested in this planet to want to spend two novels on
it, at least without another major revelation that didn't come. But
it's still a Murderbot novel, which means it has the best first-person
narrative voice I've ever read, some great moments, and possibly the
most compelling and varied presentation of computer intelligence in
science fiction at the moment.

  There was no feed ID, but AdaCol2 supplied the name Lucia and when I
  asked it for more info, the gender signifier bb (which didn’t
  translate) and he/him pronouns. (I asked because the humans would
  bug me for the information; I was as indifferent to human gender as
  it was possible to be without being unconscious.)

This is not a series to read out of order, but if you have read this
far, you will continue to be entertained. You don't need me to tell you
this — nearly everyone reviewing science fiction is saying it — but
this series is great and you should read it.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed: 2024-01-31

URL: https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/1-250-82698-5.html

-- 
Russ Allbery (eagle at eyrie.org)             <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>