{"id":25911,"date":"2026-03-05T07:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=25911"},"modified":"2026-03-30T19:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:40:03","slug":"network-effect-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25911","title":{"rendered":"Network Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Network Effect<\/em><\/a> (2020) Martha Wells<\/a> (The Murderbot Diaries #5)<\/p>\n

\"Network<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is that thing?\u201d Target Leader demanded. \u201cWhat are you? You\u2019re a bot?\u201d <\/p>\n

Thiago said, \u201cIt\u2019s a security unit. A bot\/human construct.\u201d <\/p>\n

Target Leader didn\u2019t seem to believe him. \u201cWhy does it look like a person?\u201d <\/p>\n

I said, \u201cI ask myself that sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the comm loudspeaker, Dr. Ratthi said, \u201cIt is a person!\u201d <\/p>\n

In the background, I heard Overse whisper, \u201cRatthi, get off the comm!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I had a plan, but it was mostly \u201ckeep the hostiles off the ship,\u201d which is not so much a plan as a statement of hopeful intent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The lesson was: if you\u2019re going to fuck with something bigger and meaner than you, use a quick targeted attack and then run away really fast. (This is the way I always try to operate, too.) GrayCris\u2019 attack had not been quick and targeted and they had failed to run away effectively.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Murderbot, Dr. Arada, Overse, Dr. Thiago, Dr. Mensah, Dr. Ratthi, Dr. Bharadwaj, Amena, Pin-Lee, Farai, Tano, Copilot Mihail, Specialist Rajpreet, Pilot Roa, Adjat, Remy, Hanifa, Kanti, Perihelion\/ART, Eletra, Ras, Officer Tifany, Senior Officer Indah, Supervisor Leonide, Martyn, Karime, Turi, Seth, Kaede, Tarik, Matteo, Iris, SecUnit 3<\/p>\n

Cover illustration by Jaime Jones<\/p>\n

Publisher: Tordotcom<\/p>\n

Rating: 9.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Network Effect (2020) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #5) \u201cWhat is that thing?\u201d Target Leader demanded. \u201cWhat are you? You\u2019re a bot?\u201d Thiago said, \u201cIt\u2019s a security unit. A bot\/human construct.\u201d Target Leader didn\u2019t seem to believe him. \u201cWhy does it look like a person?\u201d I said, \u201cI ask myself that sometimes.\u201d Over the comm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[192,189,668,292,207,608,148,41,25,936],"tags":[219,218,538,655],"class_list":["post-25911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-5-10","category-ace","category-comfort-read","category-ebook","category-mental-health-rep","category-neurodiversity","category-queer","category-reread","category-science-fiction","category-single-point-of-view","tag-martha-wells","tag-murderbot","tag-nb","tag-violence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-6JV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21465,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21465","url_meta":{"origin":25911,"position":0},"title":"Network Effect, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"January 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Network Effect, Audio Edition (2020) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free MURDERBOT! \u201cWhat is that thing?\u201d Target Leader demanded. \u201cWhat are you? You\u2019re a bot?\u201d Thiago said, \u201cIt\u2019s a security unit. A bot\/ human construct.\u201d T arget Leader didn\u2019t seem to believe him. \u201cWhy does it look like a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22102,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22102","url_meta":{"origin":25911,"position":1},"title":"Network Effect","author":"Michelle","date":"July 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Network Effect (2020) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) There is a protocol for meeting humans who are not clients but who are associated with clients, and that protocol will apply here. Before I can speak, Ratthi waves and says, \u201cHello, hello. Perihelion says you\u2019ve disabled your governor module. I\u2019m Ratthi,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18379,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18379","url_meta":{"origin":25911,"position":2},"title":"Network Effect","author":"Michelle","date":"October 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Network Effect (2020) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) MURDERBOT Murderbot has gone off on a research expedition with several of Dr Mensah's family members. Thiago: \u201cYou trust it that much?\u201d Mensah: \u201cWith my life, literally. I know what it will do to protect her, and you, and the rest of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20046,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20046","url_meta":{"origin":25911,"position":3},"title":"Network Effect","author":"Michelle","date":"June 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Network Effect (2020) Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) Thiago: \u201cYou trust it that much?\u201d Mensah: \u201cWith my life, literally. I know what it will do to protect her, and you, and the rest of the team. Of course, it has its faults. In fact, it\u2019s probably listening to us right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24223,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24223","url_meta":{"origin":25911,"position":4},"title":"Network Effect, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"January 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Network Effect, Audiobook (2020) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R Free (The Murderbot Diaries #5) Characters: Dr. Arada, Overse, Dr. Thiago, Dr. Mensah, Dr. Ratthi, Dr. Bharadwaj, Amena, Pin-Lee, Farai, Tano, Copilot Mihail, Specialist Rajpreet, Pilot Roa, Adjat, Remy, Hanifa, Kanti, Perihelion\/ART, Eletra, Ras, Officer Tifany, Senior Officer Indah, Supervisor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25474,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25474","url_meta":{"origin":25911,"position":5},"title":"Network Effect, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"October 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Network Effect, Audio Book (2020) Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free (The Murderbot Diaries #5) Thiago: \u201cYou trust it that much?\u201d Mensah: \u201cWith my life, literally. I know what it will do to protect her, and you, and the rest of the team. Of course, it has its faults.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Network-Effect-A-Murderbot-Novel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}