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Platform Decay

Platform Decay

Military Sci-FiSpace Opera
Pages
256
Published
2026
Language
English

Synopsis

Murderbot volunteers for what should be a simple rescue mission — getting Dr. Mensah's family off a space station run by the corporation Barish-Estranza, which has forced them into indentured servitude. What follows is anything but simple: placating strangers, including human children, coping with the fallout of freeing a fellow SecUnit called Three, and submitting to a new emotional self-diagnostic module Murderbot very much did not ask for. Set after the events of Network Effect and System Collapse, this eighth entry in the Murderbot Diaries balances Martha Wells's sardonic humor with real emotional stakes.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

TenseThought-ProvokingFunny
Found FamilyReluctant Hero

Genres

Military Sci-Fi Space Opera Science Fiction

About the author

M
Martha Wells

Martha Wells (born September 1, 1964, in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.A. in anthropology in 1986. Her first novel, The Element of Fire (1993), opened the Ile-Rien sequence; she has since written the Books of the Raksura, the Emilie young-adult novels, tie-in fiction for Star Wars and Stargate, and the standalone fantasy Witch King. She is best known for The Murderbot Diaries, beginning with the novella A...

Characters

Murderbot (SecUnit)Protagonist

A self-aware security android that has hacked its own governor module and now navigates the fallout of a new emotion-processing upgrade while entangled in an escalating conflict with a rival faction.

Leonide (Murderbot Diaries)Antagonist

A supervisor for the Barish-Estranza corporation, which runs the station and is holding Dr. Mensah's family in indentured servitude.

Dr. MensahSupporting

Murderbot's closest human ally from the Preservation Alliance; her family is being held in indentured servitude on the corporate station Murderbot volunteers to rescue them from.

Three (Murderbot Diaries)Supporting

A SecUnit that Murderbot freed from its governor module; Murderbot deals with the fallout of that decision over the course of the rescue mission.

All characters in Platform Decay

Frequently asked questions

  • Where does Platform Decay fall in The Murderbot Diaries reading order?

    Platform Decay is the eighth entry in Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries. It follows the events of Network Effect and is set after the climactic events of System Collapse, book seven.

  • What is Platform Decay about?

    Murderbot volunteers to help rescue Dr. Mensah's family, who are being held in indentured servitude on a space station run by the corporation Barish-Estranza. The rescue mission forces Murderbot to spend time with unfamiliar humans, including children, while dealing with the consequences of having freed another SecUnit named Three.

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