Book Review: "All Systems Red" by Martha Wells

 

4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.” 

I listened to All Systems Red on audiobook and absolutely fell in love with the “Murderbot Diaries” science fiction series! 

Our fearless protagonist is Murderbot, a generic corporate security unit, until one day, he hacks his own programming to have some measure of free will. (He does this after he is forced to carry out a massacre and does not want to be coerced into doing something like that again. The name he chooses for himself also helps him not to forget where he came from.) 

But, his latest clients, a survey team from a non-corporate political entity, cannot know. Another thing that they cannot know is his addiction to the corporate entertainment feed, which he watches obsessively, on and off the job.  

“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed.” 

Murderbot’s snarky, of course, but a bit insecure about a few things, like social interactions with the scientists he is tasked to protect on their planetary survey. (I can completely empathize.) For a bot, he is very human (he has an organic skin layer over the inorganic parts, but you know what I mean.) So, Murderbot won my heart early on and I was rooting for him.

 

“And in their corner, all they had was Murderbot, who just wanted everyone to shut up and leave it alone so it could watch the entertainment feed all day.” 

Murderbot:

 

The scientists are trying to pry Murderbot out of his shell (literally, in the case of his sleep pod, and metaphorically), and one scientist in particular, Dr. Mensa, seems to succeed the most. It is this dynamic of trust that allows Murderbot and Dr. Mensa to team up to protect their crew when things start getting weird and going wrong.

 

It starts with the team noticing certain parts of the planetary map are missing, then it leads to a parallel expedition whom they were communicating with suddenly going dark. When they go to check on them, they find a bunch of dead bodies and dead security units like Murderbot. Soon, they find a mysterious assailant on their tail as well.

 

Can Murderbot and the scientists discover the truth behind this deadly expedition in time before they too become victims?

 

As I stated at the top, I really enjoyed the introduction to the endearing character of Murderbot and the story overall. While not an exceedingly long story, it is engaging, witty, and flows smoothly. I am sad to see the scientists go—I found the dynamic between them and Murderbot hilarious and alternatively poignant—but am excited to see where Murderbot goes after this.

 

Here’s to a newly discovered sci-fi series! There is nothing like finding a new series you connect with immediately.

 

Happy reading!

 

--BookOwl