System Collapse by Martha Wells

 

Officially known as a Security Unit, or SecUnit for short, it refers to itself as Murderbot. And it's just about the most identifiable Murderbot you're ever going to meet! System Collapse picks up after the events of Network Effect. The Barish-Estranza Corporation has sent rescue ships to a lost colony planet in trouble due to alien contamination. 

Anyone who knows Barish-Estranza, or most corporations, knows that they are up to no good. They've also brought along a contingent of SecUnits of their own. Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem for Murderbot, especially with ART on its side. But something's wrong with Murderbot and if it doesn't figure out what that is quickly, things could go sideways in a hurry.

The stranded colonists are so long removed from the wider universe, that they are unaware of the corporations' reputation, and have no reason to trust one set of humans over the other. Murderbot and ART must work with their human crews to come up with a compelling way to convince the colonists or risk seeing them hauled away as slave labor.

Martha Wells has created a fascinating universe with corporation-heavy governance, built on top of a little-understood pre-corporation settlement system, with a sprinkle of very poorly understood alien influence. This creates fertile ground for interesting politics and exploration. Add a sarcastic killer robot who just wants time to watch soap operas and you have an unbeatable combination. 

Murderbot is the driving force and for all its sarcasm, the humanity it is coming to find within itself gives tremendous heart to this story. Murderbot knows it is not operating correctly, and furthermore realizes that the lives of the colonists and the humans that it has come to care about are in danger unless it figures out how to repair itself. Fortunately, ART is there to offer assistance and understanding that maybe nothing and no one else is equipped for. Murderbot and ART is one of my favorite buddy pairings. (A Murderbot/ART buddy cop movie is something I'd pay to see). Hopefully, it's enough to let them figure a way out of this mess.

Martha Wells delivers again with another outstanding story with my favorite character. 

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.