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A murderous android discovers itself in "All Systems Red", a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial intelligence. 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.… (more)
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But, for real, the book is about being a person. Murderbot, as it semi-ironically calls itself, is all of us who sit by ourselves and feel isolated and tell ourselves we don't like people anyway. It's anyone who has social anxiety. It's every person who has wanted to disappear in a crowded room.
And it's freaking great. The whole novella, told from Murderbot's perspective, is fast-paced and occasionally brutal, but not so much as to make one deeply uncomfortable. Instead, the intriguing discomfort comes from Murderbot's own frank observations of humanity and itself. The shift of its emotions are the real plot here and, as a person, I could completely relate to every single moment except for the actual murdery bits. (There aren't as many as you might think.)
I can't really explain this book except to say that it's one of the most inventive and most human science fiction stories I've come across in a long time. And now I'm off to read the next one!
The best part of this book is the narrating voice of Murderbot, who is profoundly uncomfortable with social interaction, although fascinated by it, as demonstrated by the chosen diet of entertainment programming. Despite some difficulties, the humans of the crew have a much easier time treating Murderbot as a person than Murderbot does in behaving like one. A human describes Murderbot as "shy," but that radically understates the difference of the construct's perspective and alienation from human interaction. For all that, Murderbot's professed laziness and apathy are endearing, as is its resentment for the incompetence of the avaricious corporation that has leased it to the crew.
I read this longish novella in two sittings. It sets up a longer series, but fully completes a plot arc within this first story.
The central character of All Systems Red, and of the whole series, is a “droid” supplied to planetary explorers and scientists somewhere in the distant future for security purposes when they are on the job far from any possible support or backup originating on Earth. The bots can be programmed and reprogrammed to perform various tasks, including becoming combat soldiers, as necessary. The particular group of scientists we encounter in All Systems Red has had the good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) fortune of having rented a bot smart enough to have hacked its own “governor module,” meaning that it is now capable of making its own decisions instead of always doing exactly what its humans tell it to do. Our bot, unknown to his humans, has dubbed himself “Murderbot.”
So what are Murderbot’s plans now? As you can tell from the book’s opening paragraph, not all that much, really:
“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. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”
Murderbot is perfectly content to turn into a couch potato while performing the minimum required to keep his humans safe until they can be transported home by the company. But then something funny starts to happen: Murderbot starts to develop a personal relationship with the humans around him. And he hates that thought because he does not want to feel anything even remotely resembling a human emotion. He can’t wait to get back to watching his space operas, not realizing that he is learning all about what it is to be human from those same serials.
Bottom Line: All Systems Red does turn into quite a space thriller with good humans and bad humans using their bots to maim and kill each other over the potential profits the unknown planet might generate. But that’s not the kind of thing that will necessarily make readers anxious to get hold of the next book in the series. What hooks readers here, I think, is the idea that Murderbot is in the process of figuring out all for himself the meaning of his life. By the end of the novel, he is his own man. And I, for one, can’t wait to find out what’s next for this killer with a heart.
So, I'm awkward with actual humans.
SecUnit is a construct, an android with both machine and organic parts, on balance more artificial than even the most augmented human, and very careful not to share the name Murderbot with anyone, using it only for inner monologue. When emergency surgery reveals the name, SecUnit chastises the humans for violating its privacy. The reader knows SecUnit calls itself a murderbot, but it's not entirely clear why. Evidently SecUnit itself doesn't remember everything.
While the plot and world-building are not especially innovative, they are well-crafted and serve a crucial function: providing a suitable context about which SecUnit can narrate. The results are subtle but profound, not simply tautological. WS Burroughs's insight came to mind:
Death needs time like a junkie needs junk. And what does Death need time for? ... Death needs time for what it kills to grow in, for Ah Pook’s sake.
Both the pacing of story and the efficient world-building are perfectly suited to SecUnit's self-discovery, and consequent revelation to the reader. It doesn't feel like SecUnit is keeping secrets from the reader in a deliberate scheme (though of course, it knows much more than it says at any given time, especially about itself), so much as SecUnit is unwilling to share things until events provoke it and make it unavoidable. In that sense, the premise and setting serve as a form of therapist for SecUnit, and a compelling character study for the reader.
The first mystery is revealed in this novella, but revelations about SecUnit's identity are only just underway.
I loved Murderbot. I loved its voice, its narration, its antisocial sense of humor. I loved its attempts to figure out who it is on its own, its determination to not let humans own it but at the same time, its (sometimes grudging!) desire to make sure its humans are
This was just such a fun, enjoyable read. I can't wait to get to the next book in the series!
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
I was also still doing my job, on a new contract, and hoping Dr. Volescu and Dr. Bharadwaj finished their survey soon so we could get back to the habitat and I could watch episode 397 of Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.
The self-dubbed “Murderbot” does what it has to avoid arousing suspicions about its hacked module and its binge-watching habits. But when things start going wrong, it has to work much more closely with its human clients than it would prefer.
AI-with-feelings is one of my favourite things, and this particularly AI is delightfully grumpy and introverted. But All Systems Red doesn’t just have an entertaining narrator, it also has a high-stakes mystery and some decent humans, and the combination is amazing. Well and truly exceeded my expectations.
I can’t wait for the sequels.
This is good
It's told from the point of view of an android who refers to themself as Murderbot. They have hacked their operating system and are largely autonomous. More
It was funny, wry and interesting and I really enjoyed it and then passed it on to my husband who is reading it with glee too.
Its not a bad story. Its just that everything in it is a stereotype and a cliche telling a very simplistic story wrapped up in the amusing conceit of a creature calling itself a Murderbot when that is ostensibly the opposite of its purpose. There's really nothing particularly new in the story, and the story telling is decent. If someone gives you a copy it's not a waste of the few hours to read it, but I wouldn't seek it out.
Now that I've read 3 sequels it is a delight to come back to this stunning miniature tour de force.
In this installment we meet his clients who continue to feature throughout the series. Murderbot particularly like and respects Dr. Mensah, the head of the survey group he is protecting. When it is clear a rival group is trying to kill his clients, Murderbot steps up to the plate.
But if it sounds like all violence, action, and adventure, it is more than that. Murderbot’s dry sense of humor, sardonic wit, and constant existential angst are supremely entertaining.
From everything I'd heard about this series, I was pretty sure this was one I was going to really enjoy, and, happily, it very much lived up to expectations. I became instantly fond of Murderbot, and found it sometimes almost disturbingly easy to relate to. (Oh, buddy, I, too, like feeling emotions about reality much less than I like feeling them about fictional stories.) The writing was a lot of fun and I found the plot, which starts with one of Murderbot's clients nearly being eaten by a scary animal they really should have been warned about and gets more dangerous from there, very engaging.
The ending definitely made me feel some of those emotions I like feeling about fictional stories, too. I am absolutely going to be on board for the rest of this series. In fact, I've already ordered the rest of the books.
I know how beloved this novella (and the whole series) is here on LT and when I started it, I wasn't initially certain whether it would be for me. The novella drops you straight into the world and doesn't do any hand holding, making it a bit of an adjustment both to the world and the writing style. But once I adjusted I was just as delighted as I'd been led to believe I would be. How can one not adore a robot who wants to be left alone so it can watch soaps? I look forward to reading Murderbot's further adventures.
Although officially
What his humans don't know is that their SecUnit has a broken governor, meaning that it is actually an independent agent. It follows orders because it wants to, not because it has to. What's more, it is capable of giving orders, which it does when necessary to save lives from a murderous foe on a distant planet.
The adventure of eluding and eventually conquering this unknown enemy proves exciting enough, yet the novel's real appeal lies with its central character. The shy murderbot prefers isolating itself from humans so it can watch the thousands of hours of secretly downloaded video episodes about fictional interplanetary adventures.
When it writes, "Now they knew their murderbot didn't want to be around them any more than they wanted to be around it. I'd given a tiny piece of myself away," our hearts melt, as if it were 100 percent human.
She can chalk one up in the win column, because I enjoyed this soooo much more than I thought I would,
This was a fast audio listen and I thought Kevin Free did a very credible job. He does speak unnaturally slow overall, but he brings Murderbot to life and gives it personality. I’ve already started the second one, Artificial Condition.
I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series, and I love that they are so short. The story gets straight to the point, and doesn’t get sidetracked with unless info.
Totally worth the read!
LT recommended
I was looking for some quick reads to try and make my '75 books read in 2018' quota in the last couple of weeks in December. I found this as a Kindle single deal and since this has been getting a lot of (favourable) noise on LT
This novella is told in the first ... er ... person from the Murderbot's point of view. It (although, for some reason, I think of it as feminine) is a cyborg (part organic, part robot), rented out by The Company (which is never named) as a security unit to a scientific team which has an option to investigate an area of a new planet. There is another, larger team (on a different area of the planet) which rates more SecUnits rented out by the company but, as a robot, Murderbot feels no affinity to them. In fact, it has infiltrated it's governor module which is normally used by the company to give it instructions.
The novella opens thus:
'I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realised 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. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.
I was also still doing my job, on a new contract, and hoping Dr. Volescu and Dr. Bharadwaj finished their survey soon so we could get back to the habitat and I could watch episode 397 of Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.'
The Murderbot has to be careful that no-one finds out that it has gone rogue but it does also seem to have developed a conscience as well as an addiction to space soap operas.
The mission goes disastrously wrong (possibly sabotage - but who?) and it has to make decisions that will save the humans it has been assigned to - but only by going against the programming from the governor module.
I don't tend to read much sci-fi and when it is, it's space opera like the Vorkosigan saga and I haven't read AI pretty much at all since I read most of Assimov's I, Robot series about thirty years ago, so this genre was quite fresh to me. I liked the protagonist and the team it worked for. The team was a good mix of (Earth) ethnicities and genders and I liked the way they approached situations relatively calmly. What surprised me was the way the Murderbot thought, rationalised and (despite constantly convincing itself otherwise - or trying to) cared. The ending was bitter sweet, but it opens the way for further [Murderbot Diaries].
Nicely done. A sentimental view of a 'non-sentimental' being.
4.5 stars
But Murderbot is different. It has been able to hack and disconnect its governor unit and so, unknown to humans, it has free will. It also has some memories of its past in which it was involved in an incident where many humans were killed – the reason it has given itself the name Murderbot.
On its newest contract, Murderbot finds that even without the governor, it wants to see its human contract holders succeed and avoid injury and death. When hostilities break out on the remote planet they are researching, Murderbot knows that it is their only chance against very tough odds..
Murderbot is a sympathic, self-aware character that downloads reams of human media shows to binge watch when it is bored or stressed. It also has a lovely, snarky sense of humor, and is very shy when humans see it without its armor, especially its opaque helmet which Murderbot enjoys hiding within.
A short, enjoyable novella. I have the sequel in hand, and am looking forward it.
Probably the best review I can give this is that I immediately pre-ordered the next book, [Artificial Condition].
I just loved being inside Murdebot's head. Grumpy, introverted, snarky, lazy, fighting any emotions or
The worldbuilding with greedy corporations had a fond déjà vu for me of H. Beam Piper's works--but, original rather than derivative.