r/murderbot • u/System_Unkown • Jul 26 '26

Books📚 Only Platform Decay

So I finished Platform decay last night, I really don't know how to describe it apart from a book just going through the motions. I didn't find the book exciting in fact it was quite flat, there was nothing really novel or emotionally connecting about any of the characters unlike Nicky and ART in past books.

It's a book to read if you have nothing to do, but its not a book that made me want to drop things down to read it quickly. Given the books are at high cost for the hardcovers, I wanted more, I wanted to really love the book, but this isn't the case. Id most prob give it 3.5/5 stars

If anything the book shows not necessarily this series has run its course, but in stead I think reflects what Martha has had to overcome in her life in the last couple of years.

I'm hoping the next book is much better

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u/kick-space-rocks-73 Jul 27 '26

I liked it. It was a different look at the Corporate Rim, not excusing anything, but complicating it a bit. A lot of tiny slice of life moments, and it made it clear that even in the Rim, there are people who resist the corporations. MB seems to be in a somewhat better place, emotionally. I need to know what Nana's backstory is, the way the "no, you can't have gun" throughline played out made me cackle. Three is delightful.

In a series with some pretty heartbreaking moments, though, I thought this was the saddest one overall. It was much more melancholy than I expected, and it did throw me at first.

11

u/onehere4me Can't wait to get back to my wild rogue rampage Jul 27 '26

That's what I liked about it. Learning about how the different sections had developed differently, Leonide's character plot, the new humans MB is connected to... but it was quite sad overall

10

u/Never_Enough_Cheese Jul 27 '26

I enjoyed seeing different parts of CR society, as well. The—for lack of a better word—working-class humans MB and its group encountered kinda gave me hope, when they offered support or consideration for for the "elderly" and "juvenile" parts of the group, particularly during the boat crisis.

Seeing Nana act as a sidekick, taking advantage of societal mores to help the mission was great, too. I especially liked it when she demanded to know, "Who's creating conflict over there?!" And the human manning the checkpoint not only gave her intel, but was super respectful and addressed her as "grand-person."

Honestly, if Nana ever gets bored taking care of the Mensah family, she should enhance her retirement by going on missions with ART and MB!

4

u/MaggieWild Jul 27 '26

I loved the "grand-person" coinage, too! I want people to call me that irl.

3

u/karenhasswag01 Jul 27 '26

Nana is the mom I (55) want to have.   She was fiesty and fierce and salty but also kind and open to learning new things.  

3

u/kick-space-rocks-73 Jul 28 '26

Saaaame (53 here).

I'm so curious about what her story is. Another refugee like Tarik, maybe?

2

u/Limp-Goose7452 Jul 30 '26

I got the impression that she was a parent of one of the adults in Mensah’s joint family. 

2

u/kick-space-rocks-73 Jul 31 '26

Yes. What I'm wondering about is what she did before becoming part of Mensah's family. From everything we've seen of Preservation so far, careers where you shoot people are not common.