All Systems Red

by Martha Wells

eBook, 156 pages

English language

Published Dec. 13, 2017 by Tor.com.

(9 reviews)

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

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.

3 editions

mouse reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

what a fun little read

No rating

it's hard to pull off a sardonic robot protagonist, and I think this did it

Michael Shotter reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Review of 'All Systems Red' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A fun, quick sci-fi read.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The idea is simple enough. "Murderbots" are engineered constructs comprised of biological and mechanical components. They're created to kill things and follow orders but are capable of more under certain circumstances, such as those created via a hacked or malfunctioning "governing module." This is the story of one such entity, caught up in an unusual scenario when a "simple planetary survey mission" goes sideways. It's a solid read and works, both as a standalone and as the setup for the "Murderbot Diaries" series it kicks off. Highly recommended for those seeking a fast-paced, charming, and generally-lighthearted (despite a few somewhat-grim moments) introduction to modern science fiction but veterans of the genre will likely find a lot to enjoy as well.

Anathema reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Love a grumpy MC

5 stars

Murderbot is the grumpy, reclusive, crunchy outer shell with a golden marshmallow heart MC I've always dreamed of.

Violence: yes Sexual Scenes: no

slayra reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Review of 'All Systems Red' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A group of scientists is exploring a planet and they have a security bot to keep them safe. However, said bot is more of a free agent than they supposed as it hacked its own module. This gives it more time to do what it enjoys: watching series. That is, until its crew gets into trouble.

I wa surprised by this book. It's shorter than it should be, there's some great and very quotable sentenced and I can't wait to read the next! I hope we get to learn more about Mensah eventually.