Featuring: Jean Becker & Tom Collamore, Kit Chellel, Mahmud el Sayed, Jill Lepore, Megan Kate Nelson, Keith O’Brien, Stephan Talty, Molly Tanzer, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Craig Thomas, Martha Wells
Martha Wells
Upcoming: PLATFORM DECAY by Martha Wells (TorDotCom)
New Murderbot incoming! Platform Decay by Martha Wells, the eighth novel in the superb Murderbot Diaries series, is due to be published by TorDotCom in May 2026! Like many people, I have been a fan of the series since the first book — All Systems Red, first published in 2017 — and have eagerly looked forward to each new book (and short story) that Wells has written. Platform Decay is no different; I’m really looking forward to this. If you haven’t had the opportunity, yet, I would also highly recommend Apple TV’s adaptation of the books.
Here’s the synopsis:
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment of Martha Wells’ bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.
Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good.
Having volunteered to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realises that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn’t know.
Including human children. Ugh.
This may well call for… eye contact!
(Emotion check: Oh, for f—)
Martha Wells’s Platform Decay is due to be published by TorDotCom in North America and in the UK, on May 5th, 2026.
Also on CR: Reviews of All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, and Fugitive Telemetry
New Books (June-July)
Featuring: Valerie Babb, RJ Barker, Jonathan D. Beer, Scott Eyman, Chris Hadfield, Darius Hinks, J. Robert Lennon, John Sargent, Martha Wells
New Books (May-June 2023)
Featuring: Stacey Abrams, Harvey Araton, Nicole Baart, Josiah Bancroft, I. S. Berry, Tobias S. Buckell, Martin Clark, Tom Hanks, Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw, Jonathan Lethem, Max Marshall, Martha Wells
Upcoming: SYSTEM COLLAPSE by Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Like many, I am a huge fan of Martha Wells‘s Murderbot Diaries series. They are a perfect blend of action, adventure, and character-focused storytelling. In November, Tor.com are due to publish the seventh book in the series, System Collapse. It’s the second full-length novel in the series (the other books are novella-length, and there’s a short story as well). Here’s the synopsis:
Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back.
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.
But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!
Yeah, this plan is… not going to work.
Easily one of my most-anticipated books of the year. System Collapse is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on November 14th.
Also on CR: Reviews of All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, and Fugitive Telemetry
New Books (October)
Another interesting and varied selection of review copies and recent purchases. Many of the ARCs are for books that aren’t out for quite some time, so reviews probably won’t be up for a little while. They are, however, all highly anticipated by me, so I wanted to get them mentioned ASAP.
Featuring: Jennifer Banash, Marc Collins, Laura Hankin, CJ Leede, Kate Manning, Holly Goldberg Sloan, Tom Rob Smith, Karin Tanabe, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Gav Thorpe, Martha Wells
Upcoming: WITCH KING by Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Witch King was announced quite some time ago, but with the newly-unveiled cover hitting the internet a couple days ago (maybe yesterday?), I wanted to feature it on CR. Martha Wells is the author, of among other excellent books and stories, the acclaimed Murderbot Diaries (also published by Tor.com). Witch King, the author’s first new fantasy novel since 2017’s The Harbors of the Sun, it is the first in an entirely new setting. Here’s the synopsis:
“I didn’t know you were a… demon.”
“You idiot. I’m the demon.”
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.
But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?
Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
He’s not going to like the answers.
Witch King is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on May 30th, 2023. I really can’t wait to read this.
Also on CR: Reviews of All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, and Fugitive Telemetry
Quick Review: FUGITIVE TELEMETRY by Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Murderbot investigates a murder!
No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.
When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people — who knew?)
Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!
Again!
In this sixth book in the Murderbot Diaries, Wells’s fantastic creation finds itself investigating the suspicious death of a human on Preservation Station. It’s a great new direction for the series and character, and one I hope continues in future instalments. Probably unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed this novella. Continue reading
Quick Review: NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Murderbot/SecUnit returns in its first full-length novel
You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you’re a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you’re Murderbot.
Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.
—
I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are.
When Murderbot’s human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.
Drastic action it is, then.
It was recently announced that one million copies of Martha Wells’s Murderbot series have been sold. This is an incredible milestone, and one that reminded me that I had fallen behind on the series! So, I decided to dive right back in with this, the first full-length novel in the series. Populated with some great characters (returning and new), and an intriguing plot, I enjoyed this a lot. Which is just what I expected. Continue reading
New Books (February-March)
Featuring: John Appel, Rosecrans Baldwin, C.F. Barrington, E.J. Beaton, Jessica Anya Blau, Tom Bradby, Christopher Buehlman, A.A. Dhand, Carolyn Ferrell, Jackson Ford, Alexander Freed, Ben Golliver, Sam Hill, Graham Hurley, Kim Bo-Young, M.J. Kuhn, Derek Künsken, Corry L. Lee, David Liss, Marjorie Liu, Richard Marx, G. R. Matthews, Benjamin Percy, Chris Power, Robert V.S. Redick, Jason Schreier, A. J. Smith, David Swinson, Catherynne M. Valente, Martha Wells, Django Wexler
Civilian Reader 