All Systems Red by Martha Wells begins The Murderbot Diaries, a new science fiction action and adventure series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or lain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. In a corporate dominated s pa cef a ring 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.1 Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.
But when a neighbouring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Murderbot is funny, y'all! I did not expect that, and I honestly did not really expect something called "Murderbot" to be so damn relatable. All it wanted to do was watch its equivalent of Netflix and be left alone, and who among us hasn't felt that? My only real qualm is that it took me a long time to get to know some of the characters and who was who... and I didn't love the turn that the ending took? I mean, takes me the whole novella to end up liking all the characters, and then you ditch 'em? Why you doing me dirty, Murderbot? Overall it was super enjoyable and I definitely will be picking up the next one. Bonus points for me being able to finish in one sitting.
