Book number five of a seven book series of science fiction novellas, short stories, and full length novels according to the publishing date. However, this is book number six of the seven book series according to series chronological date. I reread the well printed and well bound hardcover published by Tor in 2020 that I bought new from Amazon. I purchased the hardcover since it was cheaper than the trade paperback at the time. The series won the 2021 Hugo for the best series. I have all seven books in the series and am reading the seventh book now.
Dr. Arada really wants Murderbot to stop calling hostile people "Targets". But, Dr. Arada is a terminal optimist. Murderbot is providing security for Dr. Arada's latest planetary survey when they are held up for food and ransom by a gang in a large boat on a water world. Dr. Thiego was attempting to negotiate with the Targets when the leader shot Murderbot. Murderbot seems to always be the first to get shot. And the last to get shot. As Murderbot resolves the situation, they launch their vessel from the ocean, and join the tractorship in orbit. They return to the Preservation system but are kidnapped almost as soon as they emerge from the wormhole by a unknown spaceship and are dragged back into the wormhole to an unknown system.
Murderbot is a SecUnit, similar to a T-800 Terminator with a cloned and severely modified human brain. The brain is supplemented by the AIs in the cpu embedded in its head. There are lungs, there is a blood mixture with a synthetic, there is human skin over the entire body, there is a face, there is hair on the head and eyebrows. Everything else is machine. Somehow, the blood is enriched with electricity as there is no stomach or intestines. But, there are arteries and veins to keep the skin and brain alive. It has a energy gun in each arm and several cameras. The SecUnit can sustain severe damage to everything but the head and still survive.
There is a personal MedSystem that continuously monitors the health of the SecUnit and gives constant updates to the SecUnit. And controls the clamps on the various arteries and veins throughout the torso and extremities of the SecUnit in case of damage. And shuts down the SecUnit in case of total system failure. Or reboots the SecUnit if needed.
There is a personal SecSystem that has a threat awareness module that continuously updates the SecUnit on any and all threats it perceives. And monitors and controls up to thirty drones.
There is a Governor that monitors what the SecUnit is doing versus the current orders (verbal or embedded) and punishes it using pain sensors in the human brain until it complies. And the governor will fry the brain of the SecUnit when if it leaves the vicinity of the controlling authority or the controlling authority leaves vicinity of the SecUnit.
Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as episodes of "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon" and "WorldHoppers (aka Stargate)". Even though it has a face, it does not like to interface with humans, yes, very introverted. It will follow human orders if it sees fit to do so.
Murderbot is an incredibly interesting character. It handles horrible situations easily and personal interactions difficultly. Like I said, interesting.
Quotes from the book:
1. "I am actually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are."
2. "Anyone who thinks machine intelligences don’t have emotions needs to be in this very uncomfortable room right now."
3. "There is a lot about what is going on here that I don’t understand. But I am participating anyway."
Warning: There is violence and death in the books. Books one through four are a series of novellas, not regular length books. Book five is a regular length novel, book six is back to the novella, and book seven is a full length novel. You can buy a collection of the first four hardbacks at a nice discount.
There is a free short story "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" between books four and five.
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
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I am actually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are.Highlighted by 5,438 Kindle readers- “Anyone who thinks machine intelligences don’t have emotions needs to be in this very uncomfortable room right now.”Highlighted by 2,320 Kindle readers
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I'm annoyed
This review isn't about the written word. I bought all seven books to give as a gift with the thought of making a finger joint box for them. But no, "Network Effect" has to be a freak that isn't the same height as the others. Why did the publisher (TOR) do this?
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2023
- Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2024
Top reviews from other countries
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in Canada on May 27, 2023
Excellent book in an excellent series
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- RuiReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2024
Exploring Humanity Through the Lens of AI
- Fernando MongeReviewed in Spain on November 3, 2024
excellent, fund and interesting reading
