All Systems Red

Well, I can finally check this one off my “I really should read this” list. There’s a handful of books I feel obligated to read as a librarian and just never get around to, because there’s only so many minutes in a day, and new books are shiny. I was mostly pleased with this, and I think my only real hangups center around it being a novella and not a full novel. Things felt rushed in places, but when you only have under 200 pages to tell a story, things get streamlined.

The “shy murderbot” shtick is mostly funny and relatable, but I will say that towards the end it felt layered on a little heavy. Like the joke had been told just one too many times, and you’re left thinking “yeah I get it” rather than being amused. The ending was especially on-point with the MurderBot character, and I liked that the author played it the way she did.

So, only a very minor complaint to a short, enjoyable read. Definitely will read more in this series, especially to pad out a Goodreads Reading Challenge at the end of the year.

The first entry in The Murderbot Diaries is a short sci-fi adventure with cool, unusual concepts.

The story is told from first person perspective by a kinda security robot which has some social issues and likes to watch a lot of tv series.

Also there is a bit of tense action and are some mysterious detective moments. And on top of that it has an open ending...

Can't wait to read the next one!

Originally posted on Geeky Galaxy.

The Plot

I know this is novella lengthed, but it seemed a little rushed to me. There's clearly word count left, but it seemed like the author wanted to write The End and move on before it was ready. They seemed to jump around from point to point just a bit too quickly, not allowing situations to fully develop before moving onto the next thing. For example, there was one part where they were hiding. It seemed to me like this would be perfect downtime from the action. Raise a little tension at the thought of being caught, get some more characterisation in of how the characters are reacting to the stressful situation they were in, etc. This didn't happen. I felt like we moved on before there was this opportunity. Other than the feeling that everything is a little fast, I did really enjoy this story. The idea of an unshackled bot and what would come of it if anyone found out was great.

The ending was well-rounded, sealing everything up with a pretty bow on top. I know there are more books, and there's more to Murderbot's story, but I didn't get the burning desire to read the next one straight away. Or maybe at all... I'm not sure.

The World

The setting of All Systems Red is well-built, with subtle pieces of information woven in, rather than it all being thrown at you at once. The reasons for the characters being where they are made sense and the description of this alien world was mostly good. I did feel like I wanted a little more occasionally. Like they're on a minimally surveyed alien planet with all sorts of weird and wonderful flora and fauna, right? I'd love to hear a little more about what that actually looked like. I'm just a sucker for good world-building that makes me feel like I'm stood on this alien planet right alongside the characters, and this didn't give me that feeling.

The Characters

Murderbot

Murderbot has some of the best quotes in this book. Murderbot doesn't have a specified gender that I saw, but because I related to Murderbot so much, I'm going with she. She's not a social person at all and I totally relate to that. I feel like some of the things she's said about humans have crossed my mind once or twice before. The voice this character was written in was just unique, and since this was told from her point of view, I really enjoyed seeing how she thought and processed things as a mostly bot with some human bits thrown in for good measure. I feel like Murderbot made up for some areas of this I felt were a little lacking, because of how relatable she was.

The accuracy of the below quote!

“Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency.”

There's more characters in this, of course. Murderbot is a SecUnit, which means her purpose is to provide security to the survey team she's with. However, Murderbot is clearly the key character. This series is called The Murderbot Diaries after all. The other characters did feel very secondary, like they were there to be protected and did serve a purpose, but not in any meaningful or memorable way.

Would I read it again? Maybe? I'm not 100% on this.Will I be picking up the next in the series? If it's on sale, sure.

Would I recommend it? It's a short, quick read. Murderbot is a fun character, so sure.

Is it going on my favourites shelf? No.

The story here is relatively straightforward - it is, after all, a novella, where there isn't too much space to make things complicated. Essentially, a scientific survey team on an alien planet finds itself in trouble when they suddenly lose contact with their teammates at another base. There's not too much special here, but what makes the story good is the protagonist. This is the partially organic robot assigned as the group's security and the story is told in first person from its perspective. Murderbot, as it secretly refers to itself, only wants to be left alone and feels uncomfortable having to interact too much with humans, but nonetheless has to protect them. It's a witty story about a sympathetic yet deeply antisocial and cynical individual who has to put on a different face to the outside world, as well as having something to say about how different people react to something that's only supposed to be valuable property but which is capable of thinking and feeling.

Murderbot is a great and original character with potential for more stories to come.

The star of the murderbot diaries is murderbot, the neuroatypical, disaffected cyborg filled with ennui and a desire to binge TV. Certainly, the series was sold to me that way but much as I liked murderbot, the true heroes of this first novella for me were Wells' fascinating setting playing out the corporatocharcy of the 21st century and a cast of characters that were united as a team to communal ends (as shocking to murderbot as it was to the reader!)

Although the central mystery was decently compelling, most of the tension in this book comes from Murderbot's reluctance to be treated as a person, concern that people will see their face and assumption that all people are dumb, profit-motivated and ready to betray the group at any time. It's rare that the first book in a series isn't the strongest, but I just really enjoyed the later books where more character and setting development really shined.

I genuinely don't know where to begin.

I loved this novella - it was excellent. Sure, because of the shortened form factor you get thrown right in with minimal world building/exposition. But world building isn't necessarily what this book is for. Instead, I fell in love with the characters, particularly Murderbot.

I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling things, but give this book a read. It's absolutely worth it.

Wow. This book isn't like anything I've ever read before, yet it's so easy for me to relate to the main character. It's hard for me to find words when a book moves me this much.

I will try to write something longer in the future. I hope that there is an audio version of this book released at some point, but either way, I know I'll be rereading it.

Love it. Witty, humourous, original and fresh.

The title of “Murderbot Diaries” is what caught my curiosity. The story is told directly from the point of view of the murderbot which makes for a utterly new take on the alien-type stories where shit (always) goes bad.

The murderbot itself is an really refreshing take on the future of bots, who through first “person” storytelling, mostly wants to be by itself, avoids talking about it's feelings, dislikes any eye contact and general doesn't really give two hoots about anything except for their TV binge watching.

I really enjoyed this short story, reading it in (about) one sitting on holiday. Now the only downside is that it is a short, I finished it so quickly and I don't get to enjoy more of the murderbot protagonist. I guess I'll be buying the other three books (though for anyone considering this book, this short book stands alone and you don't need to invest in the full series).

All Sytems Red é a primeira novela da (longa) série de livros chamada The Murderbot Diaries, escrita pela autora Martha Wells.

Nesse primeiro livro nós conhecemos Murderbot, uma SecUnity (‘Unidade de Segurança', que é um tipo de guarda-costas para humanos) que está em uma missão com a equipe científica da PreservationAux para explorar um planeta desabitado. Não demora muito para eles descobrirem que não estão sozinhos nesse planeta.

Logo de início nós aprendemos que Murderbot não é uma SecUnity normal: Murderbot hackeou o seu Governor Module, evitando que o HubSystem soubesse que Murderbot não se comporta como um robô normal e que não obedece todas as orientações indicadas.

Murderbot é sarcástico e pessimista, mas ao mesmo tempo é engraçado, adora assistir séries e, no fundo, se importa com os humanos da PreservationAux, por tratá-lo bem e confiarem nele mesmo depois de descobrirem que ele hackeou seu governor module.

Por ser uma novela, All Systems Red não consegue fazer tudo. Esse primeiro livro tem como objetivo estabelecer o protagonista Murderbot e por causa disso os outros personagens e a construção de mundo ficam pra trás. Bom, a série se chama ‘The Murderbot Diaries' por essa razão.

Murderbot é um protagonista muito fácil de gostar e divertido de acompanhar, por isso curti a leitura, apesar do que escrevi logo acima.

Murderbot is the lovable, cynical, introverted killing machine you didn't know you needed in your life! This is a snappy adventure story with a surprising amount of heart.

WARNING: the series is addictive, delivering a short, discrete story arc in each volume, with Murderbot's personal story serving as the connecting thread across books. I can't stop buying and obsessively reading them!

The eponymous Murderbot has to be one of the strongest refreshes of the ‘paranoid android' themes that I have seen. The main character is a tragi-comic figure. A robotic security guard that has the very human trait that they would rather be watching TV than actually having to do anything. It is intriguing that the robot at the center of the story provides its heart.

These short novellas provide nice bite sized chunks of story. I like this as a way of story telling

I'm not a SiFi reader, but Reddit got me again with this one. Been wanting a quick series to read and this was on Kindle Unlimited, so I read it. And I'm in love with MurderBot. The writing was really quick and kept me engaged, plus the short length of the book made it so there was no fluff-which was exactly what I was expecting based on the Reddit recommendation. I'm onto book 2!

I've been going through a thing where I'm craving some military sci-fi. I think it comes from the same instinct that's gotten me reading a lot of historical fiction - its the most removed from my everyday life I can get. However, I think I need something a little more immersive than a novella like this. I liked the character work - Murderbot has a charming voice, and its refusal to recognize its developing attachment to its human clients hit me right in the feels. But the conflict and setting didn't really hold my interest, and I think I skimmed most of the action sequences. The sci-fi isn't really the draw here - Murderbot is. I love me some sarcastic robots, but I think I need something deeper.