Platform Decay by Martha Wells

March 11, 2026

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

The SecUnit known to itself as Murderbot finds itself on a rescue mission, this time to locate and bring home Dr. Mensah's marital partner, daughter, and mother-in-law. En route to visiting Mensah's older daughter at university, they were illegally detained and imprisoned by the Barish-Estranza corporation, for unknown reasons but possibly in retaliation for previous actions by the Preservation consortium. They find themselves trying to escape from an artificial outer platform ring that surrounds a planet that has been stripped to nothing for its resources. SecUnit finds itself assisting an old enemy by rescuing her people while getting Mensah's family to safety. 

The eighth book featuring Murderbot, the sarcastic rogue SecUnit. Murderbot continues to grow as a character, experiencing new (and not always welcome) emotions. One of the hardest and sweetest feelings for Murderbot to process is that the humans they are responsible for really do care about him, as do his AI friends Three and ART. Bypassing security systems and planning escapes are just part of Murderbot's daily chores - their biggest challenge is fitting into human society and passing for humanoid. There is Murderbot's trademark sarcastic humor, particularly when it comes to the humanoids they need to protect. I wish ART and Three would have played larger roles, but Naja is a new favorite character - think of Ruth Gordon in a futuristic setting. Love this series, hate that I'll have to wait a year for another installment. Highly recommend the whole series to anyone who reads SF, but start at the beginning with All Systems Red.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

An example of strip mining that strips all of the minerals and resources from the ground and leaves the land desolate and destroyed

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling

March 4, 2023

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling

Set in the far north of Canada, in a virtual ghost town called Dominion Lake, three different groups of people are following different agendas: a group of glamorous prostitutes, a female paramilitary unit stationed at an abandoned meteorological post called White Alice, and a warehouse full of men who are doing some kind of manual labor that has to do with mining. Why? That question is barely answered and not in any kind of satisfactory way.

Interesting premise but too many themes: mineral rights, global warming/climate change, ecology, indigenous peoples, patriarchy, privilege, etc. I didn't connect with or care about any of the characters, and the three narrative threads barely came together at the end. It felt like the author was trying to write something like Station Eleven (which I loved) where seemingly separate stories are inextricably linked. Overall disappointing.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The frozen northern regions of Canada