All Systems Red by Martha Wells
(The Murderbot Diaries #1)
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Science Fiction
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn't a primary concern.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied 'droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as "Murderbot." Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.
But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Overall Thoughts
"As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure."
At the word ‘murderbot’ I couldn’t help but get this book, and I was hooked and laughing from the first paragraph. I thoroughly enjoyed this story about Murderbot, a massively introverted and pessimistic SecUnit who just wants the humans to leave it alone so it can watch TV. If you’re looking for a Sci-Fi read full of laser-gun battles, this isn’t it. I was in it for the dry humour and Murderbot’s awkwardness and I thoroughly recommend it for all introverts and anyone interested in AI (but not if you’re squeamish about robots with human parts). I can’t wait to see what adventures await Murderbot in the sequel, Artificial Condition.
About Murderbot
Generally SecUnits are treated as equipment, owned by the company, and tasked with protecting humans on various contracts exploring new planets. This particular murderbot however, has hacked its governor module, becoming completely autonomous in the process. At this point, Murderbot could have become a mass murderer, but discovered the entertainment feed instead. It now pretends to keep following orders, so that the company doesn’t destroy it, and it can keep watching Sanctuary Moon.
Unfortunately, the people on this mission are nice to Murderbot and treat it like a person, as it does technically have a cloned brain and other organic parts along with the guns built into its arms. This makes Murderbot very uncomfortable.
"Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth."
I fully appreciate Murderbot’s awkwardness with humans, though I’m not quite as bad as to stand in the corner facing the wall when I get too much attention. This book has a dry humour that I loved, and Murderbot’s internal monologue is very entertaining.
Plot and Characters
There is not much action, and any fight scenes are over quickly. I enjoyed the plot of sabotage on an unexplored planet, even though this really does take a backseat to the plight of Murderbot being forced to interact with humans. I still found it exciting enough to be interesting. The ethical dilemma of treating something with a human brain as equipment is done in light-hearted way, which I enjoyed. The human characters round out the story nicely, though I didn’t get particularly attached to anyone except Murderbot.
"It was starting to occur to me that Dr. Mensah might actually be an intrepid galactic explorer, even if she didn’t look like the ones on the entertainment feed."
World-Building
The world-building is futuristic, of course, with humans exploring the galaxy, and even some augmented humans. The explanation of what Murderbot actually is builds up over time, and I definitely enjoyed the reveals along the way. One thing I found confusing was the ‘Feed’, which gets used a lot. Obviously Murderbot accesses the feed through the satellite connection in its brain, but I was never quite sure how the humans were getting it. Were they looking at screens, is it some sort of Google Glass, or is it in their brains as well? Otherwise things are pretty self-explanatory; the HubSytem, MedSytem, hoppers and habitats. I found it pretty easy to sink into this world, even though it’s a short novella, only about 150 pages.
"If I’m not wearing my armour then it’s because I’m wounded and one of my organic parts may fall off and plop on the floor and nobody wants to see that."
[Please note: I refer to Murderbot as ‘it’ because it has no gender and simply identifies as a murderbot.]
Happy reading!
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