All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1)
by Martha Wells
Tom Doherty Associates, 2017. 152 pages. Sci-Fi.
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.
I looooove a fun robot story. Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot and The Positronic Man are on my personal “best books” list, I always sympathized more with C-3P0 than Luke Skywalker, a Lego model of Johnny 5 sits on my desk at this very moment, and Star Trek’s Mr. Data is my all-time favorite fictional character, hands down. That said, I don’t know how I completely overlooked Martha Wells’ hit series The Murderbot Diaries before now! But I finally took notice and am working to rectify my error. Book 1 is already a winner in my eyes. Murderbot, as the narrator, is a snarky delight. It has named itself for its potential to be an unstoppable killing machine now that it is free to make its own choices. It’s plain from the start, though, that Murderbot has much more in common with Data and Andrew Martin than with The Terminator, possessing an innate sense of right and wrong and a real “heart” buried beneath the circuits. (Its favorite pastime is binge-watching terrible TV shows, it's practically human already!) All Systems Red is a fast-paced origin story, introducing us to the Company-controlled future of humanity and setting Murderbot up for further adventures. I’m looking forward to seeing where my grumpy new robot friend goes next!
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-LAH
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