Network Effect - Martha Wells
Yuval, grade 12, 4/5
Network Effect is the fifth book in the Murderbot Diaries series and the first to be a full-length novel. The series follows the adventures of the protagonist, a security robot that hacked itself to be free from being controlled. The robot calls itself Murderbot. Murderbot is a cynical, antisocial, and sarcastic robot that prefers watching soap operas than connecting with humans. However, Murderbot has developed trust and loyalty with a group of humans that helped it escape from the company that owned it. In this book, Murderbot and the research team it has been assigned to protect were kidnapped by a transport that turned out to be ART, an AI that Murderbot has previously befriended. ART requests help from Murderbot and its humans to rescue ART's crew from an alien threat on a colony world. Throughout the book, Murderbot struggles by having complicated feelings for ART, the growing attachment it feels for its humans and its encounters with other security units.
I enjoyed this book very much. Martha Wells did a great job expanding the world and characters of the series while keeping it fast paced and humorous. The charm of the previous novellas is not lost in this full-length book. I loved the character development of Murderbot as shown by its internal dialogue, how it grows from being annoyed by its humans to loyal and attached. I liked this novel explores themes such as trust and friendship between AI.
I recommend this book to anyone that likes science-fiction that explores complex relationships between humans and robots. I recommend readers to read the previous entries in the series before reading Network Effect so that they are not confused by the story. Network Effect is great and entertaining. I give it 4/5. (Took one point off because I felt that the ending was a bit rushed.)