I assert that science fiction is the most challenging genre to write; the author needs to create an entire world, even many worlds, with everything they require to be real to the reader: environment, history, species, society, culture, psychology, economics, politics, and technology. Once securely in place, only then can characters and plot be considered. All must be believable, workable, even for those readers proficient in any of those areas. Any other genre has so much already in place to work with; even fantasy authors can use escape hatches formed from magic and myth. Martha Wells is fairly masterful at science fictional creation, creating a corner of the universe in the distant future that feels believable, livable, real.

Network Effect is the first full-length novel following a sequence of four novellas in the Murderbot series. Those works preceding it are, in order, All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy. While the four works introduce the reader to the main characters and their world, they form their own story arc, and are not required reading to enjoy Network Effect. Word is that the next novel in the series, Fugitive Telemetry, is due to be published April 2021.

Our protagonist and at times self-admittedly biased narrator is SecUnit, short for Security Unit, an android of a sort, uniquely designed to provide security to the humans he serves. Consisting of some organic parts and mostly artificial parts, with strong processing power, the reader infers that SecUnit gained a level of autonomy and independent thought in the events of the novella sequence. He (actually, it, although he displays some male gender qualities) is (employed by? owned by?) Dr. Mensah, and sent on a research trip to provide security for Dr. Mensah’s daughter, Amena, brother-in-law, Thiago, and doctors Arada, Overse, and Ratthi. Upon returning from the trip, they meet a rogue ship, and SecUnit and Amena are taken prisoner, immediately whisked aboard and through a wormhole to they know not where. Grey-skinned humanoid beings are the captors, who have taken over the ship, piloted by a close friend of SecUnit, the robot pilot ART (Murderbot’s nickname for his friend, ART standing for Asshole Research Transport.) Parts of space have been previously colonized by corporations, then abandoned when money ran out, or corporate takeovers made it unfavorable to continue certain projects, abandoning colonists to fend for themselves in often partially terraformed planets with no further resupply. Some colonies make contact with “alien remnants” which can contaminate organic matter (radioactive?), causing colonies to be abandoned due to the excessive costs of cleaning up the contamination. Of course, corporations try to hide this to shirk the responsibility to clean it up, and provide protection to colonists (some things never change.)

More about SecUnit: he calls himself Murderbot, but he doesn’t share his self-dubbed secret nickname with anyone. It’s a personal point of pride to him that he can multi-task, and out-process any human, saving them from trouble they seem (to him) to blunder in constantly. He is addicted to space themed soap operas, and seems to work viewing time in whenever he can, and shares this addiction with ART. SecUnit and ART banter and bicker like an old married couple, leading the reader to wonder about the true nature of their relationship. We also wonder about the relationship between Dr. Mensah and SecUnit, one of sensitivity and loyalty, their closeness provoking some jealousy among Mensah’s human family. SecUnit was liberated from his governor module by self-hacking, giving him a degree of autonomy, from his previous status as corporate property. While belonging to Dr. Mensah, we see the mutual respect between them, with SecUnit given choices that are respected by the doctor.

The plot continues as the mystery of the grey humanoids, ART’s missing crew, and saving SecUnit and Amena races forward with great suspenseful action. Questions of futuristic corporate greed, the place of nonprofits and planetary social justice, gender, slavery, robot self-identity— all are tossed about by humans and androids in a fun, action-packed plot. You will enjoy reading this novel an any or all levels. Highly recommend.