Scan barcode
A review by booksthatburn
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
*I received a review copy as part of the 2021 Hugo voters packet.
ALL SYSTEMS RED is about a loner in a crowd, a Murderbot who just wants to be left alone to watch its serials. Unfortunately, someone is trying to kill the scientists it's there to protect.
I love this book, I love Murderbot. The setting is great, the background is told as its relevant to the story and mostly consists of slowly reinforcing how much the company will do whatever it has to to protect its money, and that simple calculus drives a lot (but not quite all) of the difficulties that the group faces. The scientists come through as individuals even though Murderbot is doing its best to ignore them. The narration is a delightful mix of Murderbot saying what literally happened and adding its own asides with the info that informed its decisions or give context to the events. Since the format is that this is a log of some kind (the series is The Murderbot "Diaries" after all), the style works really well to imply the bigger world but treat the reader like someone who is generally familiar with it and just needs to know what happened here. I love being thrown into a book in this manner and had a great time.
I'm very excited to read the rest of the series, I need to know what happens next to Murderbot.
ALL SYSTEMS RED is about a loner in a crowd, a Murderbot who just wants to be left alone to watch its serials. Unfortunately, someone is trying to kill the scientists it's there to protect.
I love this book, I love Murderbot. The setting is great, the background is told as its relevant to the story and mostly consists of slowly reinforcing how much the company will do whatever it has to to protect its money, and that simple calculus drives a lot (but not quite all) of the difficulties that the group faces. The scientists come through as individuals even though Murderbot is doing its best to ignore them. The narration is a delightful mix of Murderbot saying what literally happened and adding its own asides with the info that informed its decisions or give context to the events. Since the format is that this is a log of some kind (the series is The Murderbot "Diaries" after all), the style works really well to imply the bigger world but treat the reader like someone who is generally familiar with it and just needs to know what happened here. I love being thrown into a book in this manner and had a great time.
I'm very excited to read the rest of the series, I need to know what happens next to Murderbot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Medical content, and Violence
Minor: Ableism