Book Review: ALL SYSTEMS RED by Martha Wells

ALL SYSTEMS RED by Martha Wells (Tor Books, May 2017) The Murderbot Diaries #1. Paperback, 152 pages. 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

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.

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     The smartest thing about this novella is Wells' decision to tell the story from the point-of-view of the "bot", from his alleged journal entries. Brilliant. 

     It's a taut, compelling tale with numerous asides that shed insights into the makeup of the main character and it is fascinating. I look forward to reading more of this.

     I'm also two episodes into the Murderbot mini-series on Apple+ TV and also enjoying it. So far, it's fairly faithful to the events of ALL SYSTEMS RED with a few changes.

    However, as much as I liked this, it's hard for me to understand how popular this became. I think hearing all the word-of-mouth praise and favorable reviews jacked up my expectation levels to a point where they would never be met. Too bad I didn't discover this on my own, but you can't keep up to date with all the multitude of choices we are presented with. Overwhelming.