Review: Platform Decay

Platform Decay by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Murderbot Diaries, starting with All Systems Red, revitalized Martha Wells' career in 2017. It has since sold millions of copies according to what I've read and been adapted into a pretty good Apple TV series. This book is the latest in the series, and although I think Network Effect has so far been the best, this one is compelling in its own right.

Murderbot is the star attraction of this show, and while its voice is the same--cranky, irascible, anxious, sometimes neurotic--it is very gradually starting to unthaw and work through its emotions (as much as it hates having them, it has come to realize they have to be dealt with). It does this by way of a "mental health module" it has installed, and repeated "emotion checks" throughout the book. These brief asides are generally as anxious and sarcastic as Murderbot's usual persona, but occasionally they express real vulnerability and its growing attachment to its humans, especially Mensah.

The storyline involves Murderbot's extraction of Mensah's two other marital partners from a corporate holding facility set on a space ring torus. (Murderbot's world is a generally unpleasant one, featuring corporate entities that are nothing more than glorified slave holders.) Murderbot and its protege, Three, another SecUnit recently released from its own governor-module bondage, storm the station and work their way inside. To enable Mensah's partners to escape, Murderbot has to also rescue the relatives and children of the person who had been hiding Mensah's humans on board the station. Complications and unwanted emotions ensue as Murderbot and its unexpected entourage maneuver throughout the torus and its many different sections and environments.

I think this book could have benefited from being a bit longer. It is so fast-paced there is little chance to slow down and digest, either for the reader to digest the story or Murderbot to digest its complicated emotions. This book is also not quite as funny as some of the previous books, as Murderbot is so caught up in its mission it does not have the time for snarky observations as it usually does. Having said that, its relationship with Three is prickly and amusing and gives an extra dimension to Murderbot, as it has been roped into a pseudo-parent role it definitely does not want.

I don't know how long Wells will keep the series going, but I get the sense she's beginning to wind things up? Maybe only one more book? If that is the case, I hope she slows down and gives us a lengthy tome for Murderbot to go out on. Our favorite SecUnit deserves it.

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