Martha Wells, Platform Decay. Tor. 2026 ISBN: 978-1-250-82700-5. $24.99.
If you’re a science fiction fan you’ve probably watched or at least seen advertisements for the Murderbot television series from Apple TV. The show is based on a book series by Martha Wells and I’m happy to say that Tor just released the eighth installment Platform Decay. tl;dr: Buy and read the entire series.
The main character of the Murderbot series is a SecUnit (security unit), a former human with cybernetic enhancements used for mission and personal security operations. The SecUnit’s specs are between that of a worker unit and a combat unit, which allows for a variety of matchups against unmodified humans, other SecUnits, more powerful foes, and combinations of adversaries varying in number and type. Importantly, SecUnit bypassed their control module and has free will, which they exercise to aid and protect a group of influential humans.
Murderbot’s independence and echoes of their human existence has allowed Wells to develop the character in interesting ways. As Murderbot grows as an individual, they experience meaningful (and stressful) human interaction, including with children, as part of the exfiltration operations central to the plot of Platform Decay. Muderbot also acts as a mentor to another SecUnit with a hacked control module, Three, so the reader gets to see how Murderbot relates to their own progress as an individual.
Like most of the other books in the Murderbot series, Platform Decay is of novella length and a fairly quick read. While you can read it by itself, I highly recommend reading the previous books in the series so you are familiar with the characters and understand the context for the action in this book. You can buy the first six installments of the series as ebooks from most major retailers.
I loved Platform Decay and can’t wait for the next Murderbot book. Highly recommended!