Never have I wanted so much for someone to give an old lady a gun.
One of the things I’ve noticed as I’ve read my way through the newer Murderbot releases is that while there are some overreaching plot threads, the best thing about the series is watching SecUnit slowly improving how it interacts with others as it keeps on being thrown into new situations with new people. Note that I am reluctant to use the term social skills here; I would still not call our SecUnit social by any stretch of the imagination. But often due in part to Dr Mensah’s large family and political connections, SecUnit finds themselves frequently meeting so many new and interesting people. Often under new and interesting scenarios, such as ambushes. And hostage situations.
This time around, SecUnit and Three have been sent to rescue a number of Mensah’s family from a safe house, when an old adversary reaches out with a rescue request of their own. What was meant to be an extraction of just three people suddenly becomes much more hairy, as. SecUnit has to navigate a structure similar to Ringworld in size* in order to get everyone else safely. All while Three goes a little off-piste in the background. (Ok, Three takes liberties.)
So who’s the old lady who should be granted all the weapons? The three people SecUnit was originally sent in to extract were Farai, who is one of Mensah’s marital partners; little Sofi, who is one of the children, and Nanny Naja. She might seem like a little old granny initially, it quickly becomes clear the lady might need a restraining bolt. Thankfully, SecUnit, with some help from Farai, picks up on this very quickly.
(Mensah had said once “Nanna’s hard to please.” She wasn’t kidding.)
Plot wise, Platform Decay is a fairly run of the mill entry for the series, with the same balance of action and snark that we have come to expect from other entries. There are no big overarching plot revelations to be had here either, but there are a number small breadcrumbs that I suspect might be followed in later installments. Whiteout, for mild spoilers: So It looks like some competing groups in the Corporate Rim are dead-set on tearing each other apart. And more and more SecUnits are liberating themselves. Linked to that, SecUnit has been slipping up with regards to mentoring Three about how to pull off stunts like this:. “I have got to teach it to be a better liar” Indeed.
But one think I did notice? (And again, whiteout): SecUnit does not suffer a single catastrophic performance drop or failure in across the whole novella! That is progress!
While I did like the new characters introduced here—especially Naja—I did miss some of our Murderbot regulars. Please bring the Gang back. Overall this is sitting at a three and a half for me.
For cbr18bingo, this one is Right. Why? Because right thing, wrong time Three. Right thing, wrong time.
