A Review: Network Effect by Martha Wells

The fourth MurderBot novella felt like the conclusion to a major arc in Martha Wells’s popular SciFi series, and book five, Network Effect, comes in at novel length, signaling a change in the story thus far. So the question is: does this story work in a longer format?

Directly following the events of the novella before it, Network Effect drops MurderBot and its companions into a hostage situation where it is re-united with an AI from MurderBot’s past. Stuck in a wormhole with no clue as to who is behind the ambush, the SecUnit must navigate a situation he’s unfamiliar with so it can get back to its latest re-watch of Sanctuary Moon.

I wasn’t expecting to see ART again, but Wells brought the two AIs back together in this entry, forcing MurderBot to explore new levels of friendship, loyalty, and love—ideas it's only just beginning to get used to. MurderBot’s relationship with ART is fantastic, and I loved how the author made the two feel like distinct individuals when it would be so easy to make them sound all too similar.

While this series has now taken a step into the full-length novel space, the pacing is as frenzied as before, packed with breathless action and wit. The stakes of the story have changed somewhat from before. Where the previous novels focused mostly on the survival of our protagonist, now MurderBot is compelled to also protect the humans it is traveling with. And with no governor module to force it to follow orders, this time it’s personal.

MurderBot grows even more in this story. It’s a tale of friendship, hope, sacrifice, and personal freedom, executed with humor and heart.

If you haven’t started this series yet, and you looking for a humorous space adventure with a robot as the main character, give it a shot. If you’ve come to this book, and you’re wondering whether to continue, read on. It’s everything you enjoyed and more.