Book Review
Title: All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries Book 1) by Martha Wells
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 5 Stars
I have heard tons about the Murderbot series and I finally decided to read it because each of the books are really short. As most of the books in this series are under 200 pages, my review will be a lot shorter than it normally is. We are introduced to the protagonist, Murderbot, who is on an assignment but we quickly learn that it has hacked its command system, so it is basically free to do whatever it wants but as it knows it will be disassembled for parts if it is found out, it tries to act as “normal” as possible. During this assignment, Murderbot ends up saving a scientist from a monster trying to eat it although both the human and Murderbot where badly injured in the process. I did like the way Murderbot was introduced and I am looking forward dot following it through this series.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we get to know Murderbot who has developed a liking of TV shows and music to occupy itself during its down time as it doesn’t really have much to do because its current assignment doesn’t really require it to do much, however, it is recording all of their conversations all the time. After the attack of the creature, they are calling Hostile One, Murderbot realises that vital information has been deleted from the data packets they were given on the environment they are currently living in and they have to find out who is responsible. They come to realises that there are several pieces of information that have been deleted and they only way to know whether it was deliberate is to go to these places on the map and see if there is anything interesting about them which they decide to do and Murderbot tags along. However, during this time we learn that Murderbot actually gets nervous around the humans as it doesn’t know how to act around them and when their leader offers to let him “relax” with the humans, Murderbot must look horrified as they quickly change their mind and it is a topic of discussion throughout the group for the rest of the day.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, everything seems to go back to normal when Murderbot is summoned again. This time it is told that their company can’t get into touch with another company on the planet, DeltFall. They decide to take a trip over to see if there is anything wrong as it doesn’t feel right to the human members of the group and Murderbot insists on being taken along as they have experience with the unknown that the other don’t. However, this trip could take a few days and only two members of the company are being left behind, part way through their journey Murderbot notices that the satellite has gone down and they need it for communications but they don’t want to turn back as if the DeltFall group is hurt or in need of aid they would feel bad but Murderbot doesn’t like the feeling it is getting about the situation but it can’t say anything without giving away that it has overridden some of its systems. So, far I was enjoying the book and following Murderbot as a protagonist but I was waiting for something to happen especially given the fact this book is so short.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, they arrive at DeltFall and Murderbot realises that something is wrong straight away and enters the habitat alone. In the habitat Murderbot finds one dead SecUnit and a lot of dead humans. It immediately concludes that the remaining two SecUnits must have gone rogue and decides it is best to kill them in order to protect its humans. However, during the fight with the two units, it realises too late that there are more which weren’t supposed to be there. Murderbot is badly injured and something is done to it but it can’t figure out what until it is back on the ship where it realises that a combat-override has been placed in it which will cause it to kill the humans unless they kill it but they won’t. Murderbot end sup shooting itself badly enough that it shuts down but it doesn’t kill itself. When it awakens the humans have removed the combat-override but they have also realises that it has hacked it governor system meaning they have no control over it. Murderbot convinces them that it is going to hurt them at the HubSystem is responsible for the sabotage because it lied to them when it said that Murderbot was immobilized. The humans also realises that Murderbot has acted to protect them even when it didn’t have to and even now it is working for their protection before anything else because it genuinely likes most of the humans.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, together with the humans Murderbot figures out that someone else is on the planet besides them and DeltFall and that that group doesn’t want them there for whatever reason and is making the SecUnits kill the humans they are charged to protect. However, they can’t control the SecUnits remotely so they had to be overridden manually. Murderbot informs the humans that they need to get away from the habitat as that is the first place the enemy will look for them and as they are preparing to leave Murderbot learns that there emergency beacon has been disabled and that the drones have picked up someone coming in from the south. As the whole group gets into the two hoppers they move away to the west, while Murderbot sends drones off to the north hoping to lead their enemy away and give them enough time to work out a plan for getting off the planet. During this time most of the team come to see Murderbot as a person rather than a robot and they not to inform anyone of the disabled governor unit even when their contract is over.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the PreservationAux team is hiding from the people chasing them when Murderbot realises that they are after them because they have been to the areas of the map that were wiped out meaning there is something important there. They come up with a plan to get in contact with the drones Murderbot left behind to try and figure out who these people are an what they want. These people are GreyCris and they leave a message for a meeting point which Murderbot knows is where they are going to try and kill them but Mensah’s status and a political leaders means they won’t be able to kill her because the following investigation would reveal everything and the rogue SecUnit story won’t hold up under investigation. Murderbot plays the role of a true rogue SecUnit and negotiates a deal with them telling them that someone is going to remotely access their beacon bringing an evacuation team in which GreyCris don’t won’t and also uses Mensah as a way of keeping everyone alive. As one of GreyCris’ SecUnit tries to kill Murderbot, it fights back and wins switching out the armour and taking Mensah “prisoner” as they head for the beacon which is much closer to the habitat than it should have been which might pose a problem when the others do remotely trigger it
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the situation between GreyCris and PreservationAux goes badly but Murderbot is able to save Mensah even if it was injured badly in the process and the humans protect it. When it awakes after healing it learns that Mensah has purchased its contract and it will be returning with them but it is conflicted about this. Murderbot does like the idea of living an existence where it can be whatever it wants to be but right now it doesn’t know what it wants to be and doesn’t want to be told how to live and have to change just because it is a bot so it decides to leave Mensah and strike out on its own especially since it was classified as destroyed inventory so no one will be looking for it. All Systems Red was an amazing introduction to the series and it didn’t feel overwhelming like some science fiction does because it was so short and I can’t wait to get into the rest of the series and see what becomes of Murderbot.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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