Network Effect

Network Effect is a 2020 science fiction novel by Martha Wells. It is the fifth entry in the Murderbot Diaries series and the first full-length novel in that sequence. The book received the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2020 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 2021 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

The story follows Murderbot, who is sent by Dr. Mensah on a research expedition with her daughter Amena, her brother-in-law Thiago, and Drs. Arada, Overse, and Ratthi. A hostile transport vessel attacks their ship, forcing Murderbot and Amena to board it while the others escape in an emergency pod. The transport enters a wormhole, and Murderbot pursues the grey-skinned humanoids controlling it, securing Amena and the human captives Ras and Eletra in a safe area.

Murderbot realizes the transport is the same one once piloted by its robot friend ART. Arada and the others follow through the wormhole and board, as Murderbot eliminates the hostiles and restores a deleted ART using a code phrase. ART had sent the raiders after Murderbot to use it as a weapon, but actually intended for the SecUnit to overcome them. Murderbot is furious that ART endangered its humans, and is further irritated when ART insists the SecUnit and its human crew help recover the transport's missing crew.

Murderbot and the team descend to a planetary colony at the center of events, finding colonists contaminated by alien remnants. The contamination causes varying degrees of grey skin, and the colonists have split into warring factions: the least contaminated versus those controlled by an alien hive mind. The missing crew have escaped on their own, and while Arada and her people assist them, Murderbot is captured. ART fires missiles at the colony, demanding Murderbot's release. Murderbot is rescued with help from another SecUnit whose governor module it disabled, and a software version of itself released into the colony's defenses. Murderbot considers whether to join ART and its crew on their next mission.

An NPR review described the novel as a wonderful continuation of the series, comparing the earlier books to episodes of a four-part TV miniseries and Network Effect to a feature-length movie with a larger budget and scope. Locus called it a perfectly paced space opera adventure in which Murderbot continues to grow as a person.