Platform Decay

I had the same problem with this Martha Wells Murderbot book as I've had with all of them. I can't put it down once I start reading the book. I actually have to plan for down time (like when Murderbot watches videos) to be able to get through the critical parts without interruption or distraction.I hope Martha Wells has many more stories in the Murderbot universe that she is able to tell in the future.

After 8 books in the series, I've finally realized why I like Murderbot so much. It's like if you put Mr. Robot in a cyborg body. He's hacking firewalls, security cameras, scrubbing video in real time, writing code, interfacing ("making friends") with management systems, etc.If you didn't like tori before reading this book, you'll like them even less after reading it. Not including donuts. Everyone likes donuts.There's a LOT to like about Book 8 in the Murderbot Diaries series and one MAJOR thing NOT to like.The books starts out slow. You have no idea of what Murderbot is supposed to do until about a third of the way in. And there's Murderbot's little brother, "Three". He's run the "hack-your-governor-module annotated code bundle but Murderbot hasn't had much time to mentor Three on how to act like a human (that whole "blending in" thing). Even walking. Murderbot is refining his walking routines to walk more like a human. Not an Egyptian.So they're on this double torus that surrounds this planet. It's huge. I mean like big. Massive.And the torus despite its size has different zones and its hard to find public transport even within a zone managed a single Corporate Rim entity.It turns out that this is a extraction mission of one of Dr. Mensah's polyamorous partners, Farai, her mother, and her child. They're being held by Supervisor Leonide (friend? ("She's helping us"); villain? ("You're her hostages"); it's complicated). She's a middle management stooge for Barish-Estranza. It seems like corporations really, really like finding new sources of free labor even if they include the extended families of their own employees. These Corporate Rim entities have memories and hold grudges way too long.And then its not just an extraction mission. It's a double extraction. Supervisor Leonide has gotten on the wrong side of her own fellow B-E managers and needs her family gotten off of the torus.I love the concept of the "Feed". Sort of like geographically localized USENET that you can receive and filter.BTW, this story doesn't really serve as a recommendation for polyamory. "Second mom" and "second father" just make things overly complex without making things cozier. Humans are complicated enough, thank you.So what didn't I like?Book 8 is literally littered with F-bombs. You may love F-bombs. Not me. There seemed to be a drastic spike in the number of F-bombs moving from Book 1 to Book 8. Stop it. They're not necessary.I'd hoped to do a frequency analysis of the number of them across the book series, but I'm stuck with the Kindle search and it balked at giving me real numbers.It you like rampant profanity, this book is for you.The book wrapped up strongly with a reunion on the shuttle. Dr. Mensah and Ayda were on board. An instance of ART was piloting the shuttle. And it had saved a new show for Murderbot to watch.Good times all around. Except for the excessive profanity (hence only 4 stars).

Martha Wells pulls off another entertaining and exciting story. The stakes are high for our favorite Murderbot. It is on a rescue mission and severely limits the use of death and destruction. There are a few delightful surprises along the way.

I’ve read all of the Murderbot Diaries series books and I have to say they are all great. This latest book is no exception. It hits the perfect pitch with its humor, its action, its world building, and of course, character development. It takes place on a torus shaped space station that is a world unto itself, but then we feel right at home because we have Murderbot carrying on with his sarcastic, curse-filled thoughts like a sci-fi Everyman that we can all identify with.It’s so satisfying to see Murderbot grow as a character as he faces moral dilemmas and impossible odds as he tries to rescue “his humans.” Also, as usual, Wells has surrounded him with other equally interesting and complex characters. I loved the book! Best I’ve read all year!I hope with all my heart that Wells has more Murderbot stories in her head and we’ll be seeing more of them in the near future.

Murderbot is always fun, and this one is better than the previous one. But I do think these stories work better as novellas than full-length novels, one straight story without needing extraneous detail.This one had a couple of plot holes, or at least things to bother a reader. Right at the beginning (not a spoiler) we're told Murderbot is setting up a distraction, but there doesn't seem to be a distraction, just the main event of saving kidnapped people (also not a spoiler, as it's how the book begins). One never learns why or how the kidnapped people were seized and held in the first place, and the bad guys are fairly generic Bad Guys, short on believable bad-guy motivation.Still, an enjoyable read, especially Murderbot's interactions with the humans, some of whom (like the grandma) are fine characters in their own right. I do fear Martha Wells may be losing her enthusiasm for the series but can't stop because of its popularity.