Man, there is something so comforting about this series. I just recently read Wells full-length Murderbot novel (Network Effect) and it was just the thing to help lift my spirits during this time of uncertainty amidst a global crisis. So now I've decided to reread the entire novella series (which BTW - TOR- you should publish all together).

I love that "Murderbot" really just wants to be left alone so it can figure itself out and watch serials (soap operas and whatnot). And although it is scornful of humans, or so it says, it secretly cares for them going out of its way to protect them. You see "Murderbot" is actually a SecUnit (a security droid) accompanying a group of scientists on a distant planet when their mission goes awry. Of course, Murderbot says it rather be alone and says it doesn't care much for the human scientists, but it just can't help itself when it comes to solving a case and protecting its precious cargo: i.e. its precious humans.

Just don't tell Murderbot what to do or ask it what it wants. ( )

It's tempting to simply chant, "Murderbot!" and leave it at that. Because Murderbot is the ultimate outsider, neither human nor robot, both agender and asexual, designed to do one thing but uninterested in it, it's growth as a person throughout the book (and the series) is delightful to watch. Murderbot is all of us, not quite fitting in and wishing it could be left to binge its favorite shows (or whatever your preferred entertainment is). To add to the delight, Wells has contracted with Tor to write (at least) three new ones, in addition to the five novellas and one novel (and two short stores) that have already been published. I love Murderbot! ( )

Murderbot is a robot for murder, but they would rather not. They have disabled their governor module, so they don't have to follow orders if they don't want to, but still need to pretend in order to stay off the scrap heap. Murderbot is contracted to an extremely boring exploratory mission when things start to go very wrong. In order to save their crew (who are actually pretty nice) they will have to … trust some humans? Ew.

Exactly as good as expected. A very unique point of view and I did find the plot interesting. I loved Murderbot’s crew, and found them more directly relatable, but totally respect Murderbot's decision to leave, which was obviously the right decision for them. ( )

All Systems Red is a short sci-fi novel, which is also the first in a series called The Murderbot Diaries. Not having read the others, I'm uncertain whether the main character develops to the extent that it chooses a preferred pronoun other than "it", so I hope any fans will forgive me for working off the best of my knowledge.

The book itself throws you into the action right away, expecting you to roll with new terminology and probably make some inferences and assumptions based on other sci-fi media you've consumed. I wouldn't say it's a good choice for someone just getting into the genre, but for a seasoned fan of it, the conciseness might be a breath of fresh air. There are also a lot of characters in play, who are introduced in quick succession, but it's not of critical importance to keep track of which human is which. By the end of the book, I was able to consistently identify the leader, the one who was most suspicious of the main character, and a couple others, but remembering the rest as simply members of the crew did not come back to bite me plot-wise.

The greatest strength of the book is the strong first-person narrative voice offered by the main character. Murderbot is sympathetic and engaging. It acknowledges horrific truths without despairing and handles the majority of its experiences with a touch of humor. The plot proceeds at a rapid pace, but if you fall in love with this book, it's almost certain to be because of this character. Whether you relate to its preference to avoid socializing—or even making eye contact—with humans or to the discrimination it faces (even subtle discrimination at the hands of those who seem mostly alright), you may see yourself in this character in a way not often represented in other books. And if you don't directly relate, you may still find yourself swept up by the classic hope for a downtrodden character to overcome seemingly impossible odds to better its condition.

This first book offers what I consider a satisfying ending, but it also invites the reader to continue following Murderbot's adventures in a way that's sure to be compelling for anyone who's gotten hooked. If you like the narrative style of the opening section and think that you could get behind this character, I would encourage you to give this book a try. If you haven't read much in the genre yet, I would suggest you save it on your list for later and check out some other space-related sci-fi. If the concept appeals to you, the wait will be worth it.

I go against the grain yet again. Are you surprised?

Very meh. 1.5/5?

I like the idea of examining human nature and the human condition, and Murderbot was kind of cool, but this just did not deliver. I wanted to know more about the world, or, I guess, the state of mankind.

I feel like there was way too much technical jargon that was overused and, at first, confusing. It started to click after a while, but the technical terms made up about one of every three words.

The action got brushed aside and felt pretty pointless, like the tension could have been caused by just about anything. There never really felt like there were any stakes, and I feel like if the conflict was slightly less convoluted, it could have had more time devoted to it and would have been more compelling.

There were way too many characters for a book that's not even 150 pages. Like... Murderbot and Eight crew members?! Unless we are trying to make some kind of statement on humanity blah blah blah, but you know what? No it just feels lazy. There easily could have been like, three people. Nine crew members doesn't even include the antagonists. Frankly, this large of a crew just took away from time to tell the story even more. They all have names and a vague sentence or two about their personalities, but only three or so actually mean something to Murderbot. The rest are just taking up more sentences in an already short and surface level book.

Murderbot as a character works pretty well, except for how much they have to constantly overstate the ways that they are different and quirky. It was a bit grating at first, but it got better. I like that they are awkward, but there was a LOT of showing instead of telling.

The ending sucked. The end ( )