All Systems Red

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Published by Tor.com on January 22, 2019
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 176
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 1250214718
Goodreads

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.

I thought I had this series on my TBR for years but apparently this first novella was only published in 2017 lol. Well okay I guess that’s still 3 years ago! But still I thought it was longer. Anyway! I finally read the first novella today! And it was funny and enjoyable and relatable and I’m really glad I read it.

Let’s just start off with the first paragraph of the novella so you can get an idea of the tone.

“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 35,00 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

Martha Wells, All Systems Red

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The star: Murderbot-human interactions

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A bot designed to kill who hacks its programming and spends its time…watching tv. Yep, sounds on brand for a lot of us haha. Murderbot, as it calls itself, is incredibly socially awkward – and because of that, it is super easy to relate to. Reading about its interactions with the team of humans it has been tasked with protecting is hilarious and heartwarming. Watching Murderbot come to care for them as people and not as clients is great. And on the flip side, seeing the clients warm up to Murderbot and come to accept it as one of them is wonderful too.

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Perfect length novella!

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This is a novella that I think is actually the perfect length. I recently read the Wayward Children series, and from those I want MORE. In this case, I found the actual plot to be a bit weak and not very compelling. The plot is vague until the very end, which I found to be a bit unsatisfying. However, I think that made the length perfect – this way the plot didn’t drag on too long and become tedious and boring.

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More Muderbot!

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I’m glad there are more novellas to read! I honestly just like reading about Muderbot as a character, I think it is interesting and hilarious. So here are some final quotes I’ll leave you with!

“…I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”

“They had talked it all over and all agreed not to “push me any further than I wanted to go” and they were all so nice and it was just excruciating. I was never taking off the helmet again.”

“Yes, talk to Muderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97% efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth.”