u/Indifferent_Jackdaw

I've found myself stumbling recently and identified it is often when the POV shifts. I read widely and enjoy many genres, Lit Fic, Satire, SF, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery. I don't really enjoy near future SF, I very rarely enjoy Romance, and when I do it is usually when it has a social satire aspect to it. I'm wary of Horror because I'm a total fraidy cat but Shirley Jackson is one of my favourite authors. I do not enjoy gore for gores sake, like the Saw movie franchise type gore.

Some favourites.

The Dutch House - Anne Pratchett

The Goblin Emperor - Kate Addison

Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells

Actress - Anne Enright

The Twyford Code - Janice Hallett (There is a change in POV at the end but the vast majority is the MC)

I who have never known men - Jacqueline Harpman

Listen for the Lie - Amy Tintera

Translation State - Anne Leckie (Multi-pov but there is always an exception to the rule)

No spoiler discussion of Platform Decay the latest novella in the Murderbot Diaries.

I love this world, I love Murderbot, I read this novella over the course of an afternoon and I felt like I do after a spa day. I felt soothed, I felt nourished, I felt relaxed.

Then I put my on my critical brain and my hindsight glasses. There are issues, the foremost being that it is a rethread of old ideas. Murderbot rescues some vulnerable people from a Corporation Rim facility. A bit of Rogue Protocol a bit of Exit Strategy. Except Rogue Protocol works because this is the Novella where Murderbot discovers who he is. Exit Strategy works because it's the old gang back together Murderbot discovers he has a family. There is no dimension like that to Platform Decay, we are not invested in the rescuees to the same extent, Murderbot isn't learning important lessons about itself, it's just a rescue.

Which would be less of a problem if it wasn't following System Collapse. Which I think we can all agree is probably the weakest installment of the series. Platform Decay is certainly a more focused and coherent story than its predecessor. But I forgave System Collapse a lot because I thought Wells was executing a realignment of the series. There were no new avenues to explore with Preservation. So she was setting it up for Murderbot and ART to become a team working for the University of New Tideland, kicking Corporation ass, with plenty of cameos from old friends. So to have this just be a side-quest rather than moving forward into a new dimension makes me extremely worried that Wells is running out of ideas for the series.

I really enjoyed myself in the moment while reading Platform Decay, the world building is great, there were some emotional moments. I had fun. But it is not at the same level as the first four novellas and I worry for the future of this series.