“So the next time I get optimistic about something, I want one of you to punch me in the face.”
If you’re a fan of System Collapse, the seventh entry in Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series, you’re probably a fan of pulsating action, sharp humour and the compelling AI protagonist. The Murderbot Diaries series has helped push the science fiction genres to new frontiers, utilising complex characters and futuristic environments to explore concepts around identity, autonomy and morality. Which is why we here at What We Reading thought we would curate some of our favourite books like System Collapse that capture the same feel as Wells’ bestseller. These reads all feature AI characters, cyberpunk worlds and stories where the boundaries between humans and machines begin to blur.
Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) – Ann Leckie
First up on our list of books like System Collapse is Ann Leckie’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel, Ancillary Justice and her wider Imperial Radch series. On a remote, desolate icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing nearer to completing her quest.
Once, she was the Justice of Toren – a sprawling starship with an artificial intelligence tying thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy, together. Now, a dastardly act of treachery has taken all of that away. She has now been left with just one frail human body, countless unanswered questions and an intense desire for revenge.
Starter Villain – John Scalzi
Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, his one dream is to open a pub downtown. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves Charlie a surprising inheritance: his supervillain business, complete with island volcano lair.
Nevertheless, becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant death rays and shark-infested swimming pools. Jake had many enemies. Enemies that have now got their crosshairs centred on Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-school supervillain, but these new guys are the real deal. It’s up to Charlie to win the supervillain war his uncle kickstarted, and he’s going to need all the unionised dolphins, talking spy cats and terrifying henchmen he can get. John Scalzi’s Starter Villain is one of the most quirky sci-fi books similar to System Collapse for any readers looking for more humour, reluctant protagonists and complex morals.
A Closed And Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2) – Becky Chambers
Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in a new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what happened before. As she learns to navigate the universe and unearth who she is, Lovey encounters Pepper, a giddy engineer keep to help her learn and develop. Together, the pair will soon discover that, no matter how vast space appears to be, two people are capable of filling it together.
One of the best space opera books like System Collapse, A Closed and Common Orbit is the standalone sequel to Becky Chambers’ acclaimed debut novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
Service Model – Ardian Tchaikovsky
In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 2024 sci-fi book Service Model, readers are introduced to a future where humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial service and labour. When a domesticated robot receives a nefarious idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner.
The robot then discovers that it is capable of doing something else it never has done before: run away. After fleeing their household, they set out into a wider world they never knew existed. The age-old hierarchy of humanity being at the apex is collapsing, and a new robot ecosystem devoted to human well-being is starting to find a new purpose. Like System Collapse, Tchaikovsky meditates on the complicated dynamics between humans and AI through its protagonist as it grapples with its programming, autonomy, self-awareness and free will.
Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs #1) – Richard K. Morgan
Four centuries from now, humanity is stretched out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the odd sunlight colony voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Consciousness can be digitally transported between the stars and downloaded into bodies.
Ex-envoy and now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into an ex-thug with an addiction to nicotine. He has been contracted by a billionaire to discover who murdered his last body. In Altered Carbon, Kovacs soon finds himself embroiled in a deadly conspiracy that spans the stars and to the furthest reaches of the top of society. Like System Collapse, Richard K. Morgan’s novel is a dystopian story brimming with themes around identity and autonomy.
The Jinn-Bot Of Shantiport – Samit Basu
Lina is a daughter of revolutionaries, and has no desire to escape Shantiport, once a gateway to the stars but now a collapsing city whose rulers are only interested in helping themselves. She however loves her city and will do anything to help its people. Her brother, Bador, is a small monkey bot with a big attitude and even bigger ambitions. He is eyeing up an opportunity to leave this dead-end planet and explore the universe on his own terms. But, that would mean leaving his family behind.
When Shantiport’s local tech billionaire enlists Lina’s help in retrieving a powerful artefact, rumoured to possess the capability of reshaping reality itself, forces from before their time begin coalescing around the siblings. Throw in a piece of sentient tech with the ability to grant three wishes for good measure, and none of Shantiport’s elites will know what’s about to hit them. One of the best Cyperbunk novels like System Collapse, Samit Basu’s The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is a big-hearted and outlandish science-fiction romp.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
