Martha Wells’ latest installment in The Murderbot Diaries comes out today, November 14 from Tor! System Collapse is a quick-paced and satisfying escapade that takes place almost immediately after the novel Network Effect leaves off.
WWAC Reads Books! August Brought Romance, Trans Poetry and Gripping Twists
This month we read and enjoyed eclectically: everything from classic fantasy adventure, to trans poetry, to young adult romance, to creepy fairy tale reboot and to contemporary suspense. Whatever your taste, our August reading has you covered!
ROUNDTABLE: WWAC Reads Books! June Brings Resistance, David Levithan, and Fantasy Romance
This month at WWAC, we’ve sauntered into summer with a collection of fantastic reads, from gripping middle grades fiction, to a new high fantasy from Martha Wells, to a winner of the Booker Prize, to a politically progressive anthology, and points beyond. Read on for a number of ways (the number is eight) to expand…
2021 Hugo Award Review: Network Effect by Martha Wells
Martha Wells’ Murderbot series must surely be counted among the biggest hits of contemporary science fiction. The story of an artificial being – half-machine and half-clone – who became a freelance bodyguard was originally told over the course of four novellas: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy; with Network Effect, it…
Murderbot Doesn’t Love Parenting. Murderbot Just Wants to Watch Its Shows.
With the upcoming release of Fugitive Telemetry, the sixth book in the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells, I have been thinking about how Murderbot explores more and more of what it means to be a person in each book. Specifically, I’m thinking about the family relationships it encounters and participates in in Network Effect,…
Network Effect Catapults Murderbot into the Wider Universe: Spoiler-free Review
Network Effect is the fifth and as-yet longest installment in the adventures of Murderbot by Martha Wells, introduced in the multiple award-winning novella All Systems Red in 2017. The novel is a great addition to the series, giving readers exactly more of what we love from the Murderbot books: a beloved and sarcastic unreliable narrator,…
Machina Delivers Suspense and Robots
Machina takes place in a near(ish) future, in which it has become increasingly clear that humans cannot stay on Earth longterm with any expectation of survival. That’s why rival tech companies are competing for a choice Government contract to send their AIs to Mars: to begin terraforming for humans to eventually migrate. Two rival companies…
2019 Hugo Award Reviews: Novellas Part Two
Welcome to another instalment of our six-part series looking at this year’s finalists for the Hugo Awards! The previous post covered three contenders for Best Novella. Now let us round off the category by looking at the three that remain…
Book Beat: Arthur A. Levine Leaves Scholastic, Lambda Finalists, and More Murderbot!
Hello Book Lovers! It’s Christa here, and it’s Thursday, which means it’s time to talk about all of the bookish news from the previous week. For this Book Beat, there have been some award announcements, some industry shuffling, and some exciting adaptation news. So, let’s dive right in!
2018 Hugo Awards Celebrate Apocalypse, Robotics and Social Satire
The Hugo Awards have been and gone once again. Another years’ worth of science fiction and fantasy has been mulled over by Worldcon’s voting base, and another batch of the prized shiny rockets have been presented to the creators deemed most deserving For the third year in a row, Best Novel went to an instalment of N….
Rogue Protocol: Murderbot Meets a Beloved Bot
Rogue Protocol Martha Wells Tor.com August 7, 2018 Murderbot, whom I fell in love with both in All Systems Red and Artificial Condition, is back in Rogue Protocol, the third of four planned novellas in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. The plot of Rogue Protocol is just as enjoyable as the first two, and the…
Book Beat: 2018 Locus Awards, Wilder Name Change, and A New T.H.U.G. Trailer
Hello, lovely readers! Welcome to this week’s installment of Book Beat, brought to you today by editor Paige. Can you believe June is almost over? It feels like just yesterday we were all queerly embracing the weather and this month’s overall jovial mood. But now we’re closing in on July, and things out in the…