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All Systems Red

(The Murderbot Diaries #1)

Martha Wells (Goodreads Author)

4.16 · Rating details · 157,827 ratings · 18,627 reviews

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant ...more

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ebook, 144 pages

Published May 2nd 2017 by Tor.com

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· 157,827 ratings · 18,627 reviews

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Start your review of All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Sep 07, 2017 carol. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: awards, desert-island, my-library-kindle, i-am-not-a-robot, favorites, sci-fi, novella, fast-and-fun

"Confession time: I don't actually know where we are.... I hadn't looked at the maps yet and I'd barely looked at the survey package. In my defense, we'd been here twenty-two planetary days and I hadn't had to do anything but stand around watching humans make scans or take samples of dirt, rocks, water, and leaves. The sense of urgency just wasn't there. Also, you may have noticed, I don't care."

I can relate to Murderbot, the misanthropic construct who is contracted to provide security detail fo "Confession time: I don't actually know where we are.... I hadn't looked at the maps yet and I'd barely looked at the survey package. In my defense, we'd been here twenty-two planetary days and I hadn't had to do anything but stand around watching humans make scans or take samples of dirt, rocks, water, and leaves. The sense of urgency just wasn't there. Also, you may have noticed, I don't care."

I can relate to Murderbot, the misanthropic construct who is contracted to provide security detail for a small expedition to a planet. Murderbot, as the A.I. calls themselves (MB is sexless and has not chosen a pronoun), is plainly uncomfortable with personal attention and has little interest in anything outside entertainment videos and the bare minimum required to do their job. I have to confess that sounds like me during most of my adolescent years at every family event, ever, just substitute a book for video.

Written as a novella, the plot takes off from page two. It isn't long before both Murderbot and the team realize they're facing multiple types of danger. Characterization is one of the outstanding parts of the story, with Murderbot's nature getting a lot of subtle build. The team never stood out to any great degree, but that's partly because until this expedition, Murderbot has had generally negative experiences with the people they have been contracted to protect and assumed this group would be more of the same. The leader, Dr. Mensah, soon distinguishes herself with crisis management and leadership, ("It was starting to occur to me that Dr. Mensah might actually be an intrepid galactic explorer, even if she didn’t look like the ones on the entertainment feed") while an augmented human, Gurathin, presents a different kind of challenge.

My one hesitation in calling it a five star book is the ending, which felt somewhat awkward and incongruous to the personality of earlier 'Bot, who displayed little curiosity or independence. I read the story twice, the second time doing the math on the length of time 'Bot has been independent. I'm guessing around four years, based on their own estimate of 35k hours since they "failed to become an uncontrolled killing machine." The resolution felt like a shortcut, and like a logic failure in 'Bot's circuts. But I'm open to discussion on it.

Final resolution aside, I certainly enjoyed the ride. I predict some kind of award nomination next season.

Note from 2020: This is the first novella in a series of four, followed by a novel. Technically, they all are independent installments, a lot like the serials 'Bot is so fond of watching. However, once I was able to re-read the four novellas as a group--instead of upon release--I found the overall emotional arc/plot even more enjoyable than as installments.

"I thought it was likely that the only supplies we would need... was the postmortem kind, but you may have noticed that when I do manage to care, I'm a pessimist."

Me too, Murderbot. Me too.

Four and a half stars, rounding up because. ...more

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Oct 27, 2018 Patrick rated it it was amazing

I'm painfully aware of the fact that most of my reviews end up being... well... not reviews.

Usually what I do on here is tell stories about how I feel about books. Or I muse about the nature of storytelling. Or I maunder on about some element of the book I read and use it as a stepping off point to discuss characterization, or tension, or something like that.

So let me do something that I rarely do in these reviews, I'm going to make simple declarative statement.

This is one of the best stories ...more

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Jun 07, 2018 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

(4.25) I related to Murderbot a bit too much…

Murderbot is a half robot, half human construct who’s job is to be a security guard to protect some humans while they do their research on a planet.

Thing is, Murderbot doesn’t really like humans and would rather watch entertainment videos all day.

Fun novella, I just want moooore!

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Nov 19, 2020 chai ♡ rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2020, adult, adult-sff, young-adult, novella, trope-grumpy-with-a-candy-heart, fiction, ya-sff

I'm so mad at myself for not picking up this series sooner, and denying myself the pure unfettered joy of meeting Murderbot.

I read this novella in one single, viciously delighted bite. I sank deep into the story, lulled by Murderbot's grouchy, mordant and eternally vexed yet crushingly vulnerable voice, and never wanted to resurface. I knew I was so, so deeply in trouble from the very first page when I decided that nothing bad can ever happen to Murderbot.

I mean, come on, 1) it's a robot who sai ...more

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Apr 21, 2020 Nataliya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hugo-nebula-nominees-and-winners, favorites, 2020-reads, locus-winner, 2021-reads

2021: Yup, I read this again. “Murderbot Diaries” for me are just as important as “Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon” is for Murderbot. ‘Nuff said.
————

“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 loved this so much that I can’t shake off a sneaky suspicion that somehow inexplicably it w 2021: Yup, I read this again. “Murderbot Diaries” for me are just as important as “Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon” is for Murderbot. ‘Nuff said.
————

“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 loved this so much that I can’t shake off a sneaky suspicion that somehow inexplicably it was custom-written just for me. It’s like someone hacked into my brain and saw what kind of story makes me tick. So I don’t know whether to be happy about it or slightly paranoid.

“I don't know what I want. I said that at some point, I think. But it isn't that, it's that I don't want anyone to tell me what I want, or to make decisions for me.”

Murderbot is what our narrator, a cyborg that secretly has hacked its ‘governor module’ this allowing it to go rogue and free from company commands, likes to call itself. Its current job is being a Security Unit to a bunch of surveyors on a remote and seemingly unremarkable planet - while spending most of its time secretly binge-watching space soap operas and convincing itself that it only cares about its current bunch of weird humans (who insist on treating it as a person, not a high-functioning security system) only as much as the job requires. While being a pessimistic introvert and a murderous sarcastic grumpy snarky secret softie all at the same time.

“I’m always supposed to speak respectfully to the clients, even when they’re about to accidentally commit suicide.”

The plot takes off immediately as is necessary in a novella-length story and speeds along without faltering, making it impossible to look away from the page. And what’s amazing is that the tight plot in a short book in no way sacrifices characterization which is solid.

“That can’t happen. I have too much to hide, and letting one piece go means the rest isn’t as protected.”

This book manages to be funny and serious and touching at once, and seems to do all that effortlessly. I inhaled it in one sitting and it immediately carved out a permanent spot in my heart. Instant book-love - how can you argue with that?

“Gurathin turned to me. "So you don't have a governor module, but we could punish you by looking at you."
I looked at him. "Probably, right up until I remember I have guns built into my arms.”

5 stars.

————————

My review of the second novella, “Artificial Condition” is here.
My review of the third one, “Rogue Protocol”, is here.
My review of the fourth one, “Exit Strategy”, is here.
My review of the fifth story (and the first full-length novel), “Network Effect”, is here.
—————

I think I’ve listened to this novella at least 6 or 7 times now. I love Murderbot more and more each time. The narration by Kevin R. Free is perfect for how I envision MB’s inner voice. Best find of 2020 - so at least this godawful year had something good about it. ...more

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Jul 30, 2018 Petrik rated it liked it · review of another edition

A super short and quite fun read.

This will be a short review. All Systems Red is the first book in The Murderbot Diaries quartet by Martha Wells. I've heard tons of praises about this novella and series; All Systems Red in particular received plenty of awards and because of that I was super excited to start this. The first 30% was honestly fun to read, I laughed and smiled a few times and I loved just how much of a spirit animal Murderbot is. And then I realized that the only thing from the book ...more

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Mar 06, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hardback-own, kindle-own, sci-fi, own

First time around I was on crack and gave this 4 stars. Now it’s in it proper place at 5 stars! I loved the hell out of it. The book was awesome for such a little novella...

********
Omg! I love MurderBot!! She’s awesome and she’s a she to me. <— that was all kinds weird and rhyming!

Anyway, I love MB’s personality! I don’t feel like rambling on so I’m just going to add a few quotes! They will contain some SPOILERS so be warned!

••••••••••••

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.

••••••••••••••

Mensah came to do her own check of the hopper, and told me to pack some extra emergency supplies for the DeltFall staff. I did it, and I hoped for humans’ sake we would need them. I thought it was likely that the only supplies we would need for DeltFall was the postmortem kind, but you may have noticed that when I do manage to care, I’m a pessimist.

•••••••••••••••

This is why I didn’t want to come. I’ve got four perfectly good humans here and I didn’t want them to get killed by whatever took out DeltFall. It’s not like I cared about them personally, but it would look bad on my record, and my record was already pretty terrible.

••••••••••••••

Everyone stood there, quiet. I could tell from their expressions they were all thinking hard. The HubSystem that controlled their habitat, that they were dependent on for food, shelter, filtered air, and water, was trying to kill them. And in their corner all they had was Murderbot, who just wanted everyone to shut up and leave it alone so it could watch the entertainment feed all day.

•••••••••••••••

The problem I was going to have is that the way murderbots fight is we throw ourselves at the target and try to kill the shit out of it, knowing that 90 percent of our bodies can be regrown in a cubicle. So, finesse is not required.

•••••••••••••

What was I supposed to do, kill all humans because the ones in charge of constructs in the company were callus? Granted, I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked the real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.

Happy Reading!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

MY BLOG ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 megs_bookrack rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A enthusiastic, mechanical thumbs up to my new relationship with Murderbot and its creator, Martha Wells!

This novella was such a delightful surprise.

Bringing all of the good humor I love in my SciFi, I definitely plan to continue on with The Murderbot Diaries.

In All Systems Red, we are introduced to our beloved protagonist, Murderbot, a sentient Security Unit. In this installment, it accompanies a group of scientists on an exploratory mission of an uninhabited planet.

It comes to their attention ...more

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Apr 09, 2018 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, tor-tor-tor, the-shorts

Feb. 2019 reread, just for fun! And to see if my rating would change now that I've read the full set of MURDERBOT DIARIES novellas (spoiler alert: it didn't, but I did enjoy this reread a little more than my initial read). All Systems Red won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella, not to mention several other awards. There are (so far) three sequels and I loved them all! ... even more than this first book, truth be told, though maybe it just took me a while to really warm up to Murder Feb. 2019 reread, just for fun! And to see if my rating would change now that I've read the full set of MURDERBOT DIARIES novellas (spoiler alert: it didn't, but I did enjoy this reread a little more than my initial read). All Systems Red won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella, not to mention several other awards. There are (so far) three sequels and I loved them all! ... even more than this first book, truth be told, though maybe it just took me a while to really warm up to Murderbot. It's definitely a series that's worth reading, and this first book is just $3.99 for the Kindle version.

Review posted on Fantasy Literature:

The narrator of All Systems Red is a once-nameless cyborg security unit or SecUnit that has given itself the name Murderbot (for reasons disclosed midway through the story). Using its own unprecedented and highly unauthorized initiative, Murderbot has hacked the governor module software that controls its actions and obligates it to be obedient. But instead of going on a killing spree, as one might expect given the name it adopted, Murderbot elects to spend its spare hours watching countless hours of video entertainment and trying not to interact more than is necessary with the group of eight humans that it’s responsible for protecting, a survey group of eight scientists called PreservationAux that is exploring the natural resources on an uninhabited planet.

Murderbot’s self-isolation and studied lack of caring starts to break down, however, when potentially deadly accidents start to occur with suspicious regularity. Dr. Bharadwaj is almost killed by an alien creature that explodes out of the bottom of one of the many craters along the coast, and the group finds that data has been deleted from the warnings and fauna sections of their planetary survey package. The autopilot of their “hopper” aircraft cuts out without warning, which could have led to a fatal crash. And then there are the automated data updates that Murderbot is supposed to be uploading (and would have, if it hadn’t disabled its governor module).

Matters only get worse when the group decides to visit the only other survey group on the planet. Murderbot is painfully shy and vastly reluctant to get too close to the humans, and even more, to share their secrets. But it becomes clear that the group won’t survive without Murderbot’s help and active involvement.

All Systems Red is a breezy, fast-paced science fiction adventure wrapped in a light mystery. There’s not nearly as much murder and mayhem as the title and Murderbot’s name might lead one to believe. Instead, All Systems Red has something serious to say about the ideas of free will and autonomy, and about the difficulties faced by introverts in day-to-day life. Murderbot tells itself that it just doesn’t care about the humans, but its excruciating shyness soon becomes clear to the other characters and to the reader. Murderbot hides its human face behind helmet with an opaque faceplate, and awkwardly withdraws from conversations that become too personal, choosing to stand facing the wall instead.

Murderbot comments that it has no gender or sex-related parts; claiming that only sexbots in brothels have those. Understandably, it has an asexual personality, another unique aspect to this main character. Murderbot fast-forwards through all of the sex scenes in the serials it watches, finding them boring (“I think that even if I did have sex-related parts I would find them boring”). Murderbot also narrates this novella with a large dose of snark:

They had talked it 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. I can’t do even the half-assed version of this stupid job if I have to talk to humans. … At least Mensah and Arada had overruled the ones who wanted to talk to me about it. Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful that I dropped to 97% efficiency.

Murderbot is a unique, well-developed character but, other than the leader of the survey group, Dr. Mensah, and one other person who is somewhat antagonistic to Murderbot, the members of PreservationAux aren’t particularly distinguishable personalities. We learn that Overse and Arada are in a lesbian relationship and that Volescu is in a four way marriage back on their home planet, but Wells never really attempts to make them or any of the others fully fleshed-out characters. It’s possible that that is a deliberate approach, a feature rather than a flaw, meant to evidence Murderbot’s unwillingness to engage with members of the group on a personal level.

All Systems Red is an enjoyable, quick read, and a good introduction to the new MURDERBOT DIARIES series. It’s a credit to Wells that the last chapter is such a solid conclusion to the story. I appreciated how Murderbot’s increased confidence is reflected in its ability to show its human face in public. It’s strong enough that it could have been a stand-alone novella, even though the ending leaves the door wide open for Murderbot’s further adventures. The following three novellas are really great, and I strongly recommend not stopping with this one!

Content note: violence and a couple of F-bombs. ...more

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Sep 09, 2017 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, 2017-shelf

When I heard the premise I expected a light robot killer story from the PoV from the robot. Probably a PI mystery kind of thing because that seems to be pretty hot right now. I can rattle off a handful of titles like this right now.

So. What did I get? A fun and light robot murderer who hacks herself to have free will and she stops murdering to watch SF sitcoms instead. :)

Honestly, that's pretty cool. Yeah, her official bruiser job is still there but her mechanical heart isn't really into it. Who ...more

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Mar 03, 2018 Elle (ellexamines) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, elle-recs-list, identity, favorite-squads, z-2018reads, y-2017releases, z-2018faves, favorite-characters, 5-star, sff-specfic

“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.”

These novellas are a story of what it means to be h ...more

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May 19, 2018 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

”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 was well over 35,000 hour 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.”

photo 25af3a01-eeb9-434b-aac5-6cec5cc1594f_zpst28wgryr.jpg

He is an android SecUnit assigned to a group of scientists who a ...more

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Nov 29, 2021 MarilynW rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, hoopla-libby

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1)
by Martha Wells (Goodreads Author), Kevin R. Free (Narrator)

2021 Hugo Award for best series: The Murderbot Diaries

I've been wanting to listen to The Murderbot Diaries series for a while now and I finally was able to get started on the first of four short books. Murderbot is the name that a self-aware Sec(urity)Unit, part machine, part cloned human, gave to itself. Not that it would tell the people that leased it what its self appointed nickname is. No ne ...more

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May 18, 2018 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it it was amazing

I now have a Booktube channel! Find me at: The Obsessive Bookseller

Niki's Narrative Novella Review [Part 1/4]: All Systems Red seemed to have everything I’d been hounding for in a good sci-fi – an interesting character, a compelling mystery, exploration, and some cool technology shit. Five pages into this novella and I was able to check off all the things. Hell, one sentence into this book and I knew we were going to get along (Wells is so good at opening lines. I haven’t even read The Wizard Hu ...more

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Apr 09, 2021 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: tor-novellas

This is why I didn't want to come. I've got four perfectly good humans here and I didn't want them to get killed by whatever took out DeltFall. It's not like I cared about them personally, but it would look bad on my record, and my record was already pretty terrible.

i am bad at sci-fi. i struggle with the unfamiliar; with visualizing stuff i haven't seen and keeping track of invented proper nouns, so even though this is just a little novella, i freely confess that i got muddled with all the ment ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Lois Bujold rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Having been seeing reviews and mentions of this novella for quite a while, I finally got around to it. (Besides being quite interested in what other authors are doing with the newly-freed-by-e-publishing novella length these days.)

Three things I have realized I need to enjoy a story in any genre are an interesting and congenial narrative headspace (not the same thing as viewpoint, more the sense of what flavor of author's head I am entering); good interiority (which is in the character viewpoint ...more

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Feb 03, 2019 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, 4-star-reads

All Systems Red is funny and sarcastic and it really will resonate with a lot of readers and introverts. This quote says it all for me, and it’s one of the best openers I’ve read in a long time.

"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 was well over 35,000 hour or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little u All Systems Red is funny and sarcastic and it really will resonate with a lot of readers and introverts. This quote says it all for me, and it’s one of the best openers I’ve read in a long time.

"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 was well over 35,000 hour 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 doesn’t like people. He wants to be left alone so he can watch television all day. He doesn’t like reality; he wants to immerse himself in the make-believe. And that says a lot about his personality. He is an extremely capable individual, though he feels so different to people that he wants nothing to do with them. It’s not really surprising considering he is a synthetic being specialising in death with absolutely no social skills.

So as a character he made the book quite compelling. His interactions with the world are awkward and weirdly accurate for many teens and those with social disorders. Have you ever been in a room full of people and felt so far removed from everyone in it? Muderbot goes his own way; he doesn’t care what humans think about him or how isolated he is: he is simply happy to pursue his own passions. Fuck everyone else, that’s his attitude. And I loved it. Martha Wells really understood her audience when she wrote this like Neil Gaiman did when he wrote The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s a book that’s really meant for dreamers and readers, for those that would rather pursuit art and the make-believe than reality.

The plot revolves around other bots that have started killing the crews they have been assigned to protect. This goes against Murderbot’s sense of morality (yes he does have one, as strange as it is.) It becomes his mission to end the rogue robots whilst protecting his own crew from their deadly arsenals. He is even willing to end himself if his programming becomes hacked and he, too, becomes a threat to human life.

This is a good bit of fun, and it’s short too. I read it in less than two hours. It’s worth checking out!

FBR | Twitter | Facebook | Insta | Academia ...more

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Apr 22, 2020 Kevin Kuhn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

I’d been hearing a great deal about Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series, so when Tor offer the first four books for free on their website this week (current week only), I snatched them up. “All System’s Red” (the first novella), won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award, all for Best Novella. The ebook is about 144 pages. When the combine the short length, plenty of action and intrigue, with the fact that it’s an easy read, I tore through it in two days. It’s a complete story that has a proper end I’d been hearing a great deal about Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series, so when Tor offer the first four books for free on their website this week (current week only), I snatched them up. “All System’s Red” (the first novella), won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award, all for Best Novella. The ebook is about 144 pages. When the combine the short length, plenty of action and intrigue, with the fact that it’s an easy read, I tore through it in two days. It’s a complete story that has a proper ending but left me excited about the series.

There are a couple of things about this novella that make it shine. The writing is clean, there is almost no exposition and most information about the characters, story, and worldbuilding are revealed seamlessly throughout the story. I didn’t notice any infodumps. It’s written first-person from the prospective of the Murderbot and I guess there are a few longer internal dialogs that explain things, but those never felt like info dumps to me.

If there are any negatives about this novella, it would probably focus around the characters. The Murderbot and two other humans are well sketched-out, but the rest of the characters are pretty shallow. In addition, the writing is never descriptive, relying on the character’s thoughts, dialog, and action to reveal the setting and surrounding world in a very basic manner. It’s not as if an Android is going to wax poetically about a planet’s flora and fauna.

The main character is some sort of android/cyborg that is this fantastic combination of a naïve, rebellious, extreme introvert, obsessive watcher of the future’s version of Netflix, and a badass, dangerous killer. When I read the blurb, I expected the Murderbot to be a baddie, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Feels a bit like Holden Caulfield, if he was a futuristic Cyborg murder machine. As I stated in the opening, Wells does a great job of dropping us in the middle of this Universe, and then continuously feeding us details throughout the story, without it ever feeling confusing or obtuse. The writing is straightforward, but the players, plot, and backdrop are so fun, it all really works wonderfully. You’ll want to know more from the first page to the last. Four and a half stars for this amazing launch of a creative and well-told tale in the first of an already well-respected sci-fi series. ...more

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Jun 29, 2018 J.L. Sutton rated it really liked it

“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...As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

This was a perfect and quick reread; once again, it was lots of fun and it primed me to read the rest of the series!

___

2018 review:

Charming, I think, is the right word to describe Martha Wells’ All Systems Red. It wasn’t what I’d expected. I had seen t ...more

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May 11, 2018 Jilly rated it really liked it

Shelves: novella, sci-fi

*Edited to add*
I met Martha Wells today!!

I'm on the left. Yes, my hair is lavender.
I am finally starting a blog. It is about time, yeah? Only a thousand reviews to add onto that site. www.jillyshmilly.blogspot.com

This book takes several pages to get acclimated, and also to get some understanding of our narrator. He (I'm using "he" although Murderbot doesn't have a gender) is part human/part robot and is really very much like April Ludgate on Parks and Rec, or maybe a honey badger, because Murde ...more

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Jul 25, 2019 Melanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, buddy-reads, sci-fi, read-in-2019

I really enjoyed this! And it had such a great discussion on what it means to be human and what we are all willing to do in the name of trust. I can't wait to continue on with this series! <3

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Buddy read with Lea! ❤

❤ I read this for The Reading Rush, 2019! ...more

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Apr 26, 2021 Lex Kent rated it really liked it

Shelves: novella-or-short, favs-read-in-21-not-pub-in-21, het-sci-fi

4.25 Stars. This was really good. I have so many books to read but I could not keep looking at this book just sitting on my Kindle. Plus, it’s only a novella. I can put off my ARC’s long enough to read a novella right? Well, that’s at least how I convinced myself to read this today. While this book was good sci-fi fun, what really made the read special for me was Murderbot. Only one novella and a short story read and I’m already in love with Murderbot. The story had some good action and a decent ...more

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Jun 04, 2020 David Putnam rated it really liked it

Loved this book, it's a four point five and would've been a full five except for the ending.
For me, great scifi is when the author doesn't start out telling me how this new world works. I'm far more interested in how the characters act/behave/ survive in this world that is unfamiliar to me. Good scifi hits the ground running giving the reader enough credit to keep up as the author slowly metes out the world building while setting a very dynamic conflict.
My favorite scifi of late is Old Man's Wa ...more

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Jun 05, 2017 K.J. Charles added it

Shelves: fun-fun-fun, novella, sci-fi, oh-god-where-is-the-next-book

Magnificent. Tor.com continue to rock it with this fantastic tale of a self-hacked cyborg security unit with a gloriously bad attitude. It just wants to sit there downloading soaps but HEY HO SABOTAGE, PEOPLE TO SAVE, PEOPLE TO KILL.

Terrific writing, lovely characterisation, very funny, and there will be more! Consider me glued.

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Nov 12, 2017 Karl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-09-books-bought

Entry #1

I will be starting to read this book in a few hours. I just found out that Ms. Wells has sold a total of four (count em (4)) novellas in the Murderbot series with the second titled "Artificial Condition" (16.99 for a hardcover and 9.99 for the kindle) to appear somewhere near the beginning of 2018 and upon a bit of research found the the book here at GR ->

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...?

Book 3 is scheduled to be a hardcover titled "Rogue Protocol" (The Murderbot Diaries #3) fou ...more

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Dec 04, 2021 mwana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series-tbr, hall-of-fame, sci-fi, favorites-2021, action-suspense-thriller, novella

As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.
Its name is Murderbot.

Assigned to a group of scientists who are conducting studies on a hostile planet. No sooner have we met and loved Murderbot, than a creature attacks them.

The hostile that had just exploded up out of the ground had a really big mouth, so I felt I needed a really big gun.

Murderbot is sometimes good at its job, so it rescues its charges and goes on its way.

There's one thing about Murderbot though, al ...more

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Dec 27, 2021 chan ☆ added it

Shelves: 2021, sci-fi

eh. i had high hopes for this and was cautiously optimistic about my foray into other scifi after reading and enjoying Project Hail Mary but this was just okay. certainly not bad but i really don't get the hype. i didn't think Murderbot had enough personality to carry the story. ...more

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Oct 06, 2017 Philip rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, 2017-releases, author-woman, novella, hugo

3ish stars.

Some heavy themes wrapped up in what is otherwise a relatively fluffy novella. The plot's straight-forward, the prose is decent, and it's charming and witty. Murderbot, who repeatedly says that she'd rather be netflixing, is surprisingly relatable. One of my favorite parts is when Murderbot is faced with the prospect of spending time with people and is (understandably) horrified. She can't control her facial reaction which in turn makes the human crew she's assigned to uncomfortable t ...more

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Jun 29, 2021 Zoeytron rated it liked it

Shelves: public-library

First book in the MurderBot series. Science fiction is not a preferred genre for me, but I like to keep the proverbial hatch open and make the occasional exception. This was far lighter fare than I was expecting. Or perhaps I am missing the whole point of the exercise, always a possibility. Augmented humans (pretty sure I know some of those!), going rogue, robots of all different types. MurderBot loves his entertainment downloads, feels a bit shy around humans, and sometimes feels the pang ...more

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Jan 13, 2019 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-reads, 2020-reads, buddy-read, awesome-audio, audio-challenge-2020, 4-5-stars, beautifully-broken-bastards, sci-fi, no-kissy-kissy, bb-b-2020

Rereading Just in Time for the Next Book in this Series.

Just as much fun the second time around. Short, action packed and just enough of a story to make you fall for a Murderbot.

Original Review

I totally enjoyed this. As a book recommended to me by multiple good reads friends I knew that there was a high probability that would happen but what I didn’t expect was to fall in love with a SecUnit (fancy talk for cyborg) with a malfunctioning governors unit (more fancy talk for something that makes yo Rereading Just in Time for the Next Book in this Series.

Just as much fun the second time around. Short, action packed and just enough of a story to make you fall for a Murderbot.

Original Review

I totally enjoyed this. As a book recommended to me by multiple good reads friends I knew that there was a high probability that would happen but what I didn’t expect was to fall in love with a SecUnit (fancy talk for cyborg) with a malfunctioning governors unit (more fancy talk for something that makes you behave).

“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 assigned to a group of humans exploring a planet to see if it can be terraformed for a new colony. It is basically doing the least amount of work possible, just half-assing everything more worried about the serials it is watching that doing its job. Really it is just going through the motions for most things until everything starts going wrong for the team it is protecting and now Murderbot has to step up their game or all of the humans will end up dead and it will end up reprogrammed or worse.

The humans in the party notice that something is maybe a little off about Murderbot just after one of its members is almost eaten by a huge wormish thing and all the trouble starts. Murderbot doesn’t enjoy one on one interaction with the team at all and it is hilarious some of the stuff it thinks while trying to learn how to by an integral member of the team and keep them alive.

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

The story is short but completely entertaining. It is what I always hope I’ll find in a SciFi book but rarely do. A fun story with a great cast of characters that doesn’t get too caught up on the geekiness factor and try to overexplain everything. This was just a great ride with a funny, pessimistic cyborg that has problems dealing with real people and prefers to hide behind an opaqued mask. I can totally relate to most of that anyway. But Murderbot is completely endearing in their own way.

“Gurathin turned to me. "So you don't have a governor module, but we could punish you by looking at you."
I looked at him. "Probably, right up until I remember I have guns built into my arms.”

I’m completely hooked and will definitely catch up on the series as this seems like it is going to be a great ride.

D.G. was the first friend to recommend this to me but not the last so thanks for the great recommendation guys. ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Do I have to read the murder bot series in order or can I just read in any order I want	1	9	Oct 28, 2022 10:32PM
Challenge Corner: The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells -> Starting September 2nd, 2022	26	17	Oct 04, 2022 11:56AM
Action/Adventure ...: June 2022 Heroic Robots/AI Group Read: All Systems Red and Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells Spoilers	6	14	Jun 24, 2022 07:22PM
Skokie Public Lib...: Question 1: Listen or Read	13	24	Feb 07, 2022 10:13AM
Skokie Public Lib...: Question 2: First Line and Favorite Passages	21	16	Feb 07, 2022 10:13AM
Play Book Tag: All Systems Red, by Martha Wells - 3.5 stars	10	41	Feb 05, 2022 02:57AM
Skokie Public Lib...: Question 8: Anything else	32	16	Jan 31, 2022 08:29PM

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About Martha Wells

Martha Wells

12,787 followers

Martha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, The Death of the Necromancer, the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, The Murderbot Diaries series, media tie-ins for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won a Nebula Award, two Hug ...more

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Quotes from All Systems Red

“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.” — 213 likes

“Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth.” — 158 likes

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