Network Effect by Martha Wells is Murderbot Diaries number five. This is the only full novel in the series with the rest being novellas. I have read and loved the character of Murderbot for 4 previous novels. The series has had highs and lows, I felt the formula was getting a little predictable, then Network Effect came out and changed the narrative making this book my favorite in the series so far. It took the best parts, intense action, witty dialogue, human interaction, and character growth, and expand them. The pace of this book is pretty fast it slows down a little in the middle but after intense scene after intense scene I welcomed the slow down. Network Effect brought back my favorite character from the series ART (an acronym for “Asshole Research Transport”) from Artificial Condition book 2. I do think you have to read all the books to understand all the relationship, and just to see how far Murderbot has come. I read this because I received an advanced readers copy from Netgalley for book six Fugitive Telemetry I plan on reading it soon as it comes out on April 27.

Plot: Murderbot is back with the first science team that he saved and was released by. After Murderbot spent time on self discovery, and looking for evidence to back the scientists claims. He found the evidence and had to save the crew once again, and now he is back living among them as part of the crew. Dr. Mensah entrust Murderbot with her most valuable thing, her daughter Amena, which don’t get along it could be that he doesn’t listen to her or the fact that he almost killed her boyfriend reading him as a threat. Murderbot, Amena, and other members are on a scouting mission, right after they enter a wormhole the ship his hit and invaded, some of the member escape but Amena stayed behind, and so did Murderbot to rescue her. Murderbot takes the invaders down who are looking for a weapon, he starts to notice the other ship is his old buddy ART who he stowed away on to get a way last time. ART helped change his identity and gave Muderbot some of his code. Murderbot finds that ART has been purged from the ship and finds a way to bring him back, with ART telling him he sent the hostiles here to grab you. Murderbot is the Weapon they want.

What I Liked: The action and humor are great and the highlights of this book. Murderbot becoming more human, everybody telling him to sit down and think that he is becoming emotionally compromised, but Muderbot can process thought so fast he doesn’t get while people are telling him to sit down. ART and Muderbot’s relationship goes through so much to loss, happiness, confusion, and anger. Muderbot’s relationship with Amena is a great one as well as they figure out how to communicate with each other, Murderbot going after the hidden boyfriend is great. The twist and turns in this book are great. I like the other SecUnits so you can see how far Murderbot has come.

What I Disliked: The descriptions could have been a little tighter, I had a hard time following all the action especially the drone action scenes. I can’t picture how big the drone is, I’ll read another passage and think it is smaller.

Recommendations: This book is amazing if you’ve started this wonderful series you have to read up to this point. If you’ve never read this series then you’re in for a treat. Start with All Systems Red the first four books are short novellas and easy to read in a day. I totally recommend this series. I rated Network Effect by Martha Wells 5 out of 5 stars, my highest rating so far for the series. I raked the 5 book series so far in order from best to worst: Network Effect, Artificial Condition, All Systems Red, Exit Strategy, and Rogue Protocol.