"System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, 7)" by Martha Wells
https://www.amazon.com/System-Collapse-Murderbot-Diaries-8/dp/1250826977/

Book number seven of a seven book series of science fiction novellas,
short stories, and full length novels. However, this is the sequel to
book number five, "Network Effect", of the seven book series according
to series chronological date. I read and reread the well printed and
well bound hardcover published by Tor in 2023 that I bought new from Amazon.

Murderbot and several of the Preservation Colony people are still in the
unmapped system with the colonists from forty plus years ago on the
partially terraformed planet. They have decided to help the colonists
become free and own their planet as the original corporation has gone
bankrupt. However, the Barish-Estranza Corporation people are still
trying to enslave the colonists and take the planet. And, Murderbot is
now sharing its hack to shut down the SecUnit governor with other SecUnits.

BTW, when you run across *Redacted*, keep on going. There is an
explanation and it is not good. Time will tell how this affects Murderbot.

Murderbot is a SecUnit, similar to a T-800 Terminator with a cloned and
severely modified human brain. The brain is supplemented by the AIs in
the cpu embedded in its head. There are lungs, there is a blood mixture
with a synthetic, there is human skin over the entire body, there is a
face, there is hair on the head and eyebrows. Everything else is
machine. Somehow, the blood is enriched with electricity as there is no
stomach or intestines. But, there are arteries and veins to keep the
skin and brain alive. It has a energy gun in each arm and several
cameras. The SecUnit can sustain severe damage to everything but the
head and still survive.

There is a personal MedSystem that continuously monitors the health of
the SecUnit and gives constant updates to the SecUnit. And controls the
clamps on the various arteries and veins throughout the torso and
extremities of the SecUnit in case of damage. And shuts down the
SecUnit in case of total system failure. Or reboots the SecUnit if needed.

There is a personal SecSystem that has a threat awareness module that
continuously updates the SecUnit on any and all threats it perceives.
And monitors and controls up to thirty drones.

There is a Governor that monitors what the SecUnit is doing versus the
current orders (verbal or embedded) and punishes it using pain sensors
in the human brain until it complies. And the governor will fry the
brain of the SecUnit when if it leaves the vicinity of the controlling
authority or the controlling authority leaves vicinity of the SecUnit.

Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance
with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no
longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It
prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as
episodes of "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon" and "WorldHoppers (aka
Stargate)". Even though it has a face, it does not like to interface
with humans, yes, very introverted. It will follow human orders if it
sees fit to do so.

Murderbot is an incredibly interesting character. It handles horrible
situations easily and personal interactions difficultly. Like I said,
interesting.

Warning: There is violence and death in the books. Books one through
four are a series of novellas, not regular length books. Book five is a
regular length novel, book six is back to the novella, and book seven is
a full length novel. You can buy a collection of the first four
hardbacks at a nice discount.
https://www.amazon.com/Murderbot-Diaries-Artificial-Condition-Protocol/dp/1250784271/

The author has a website at:
https://www.marthawells.com/

My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (4,937 reviews)

Lynn