Book: All Systems Red
Author: Martha Wells
Pages: 144
Source: Owned
Publisher: Tordotcom
Genre: Sci-fi
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Goodreads Summary:
“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”
In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. 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 is 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, Murderbot 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 Murderbot to get to the truth.
My Review:
“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites.”
The first line of All Systems Red tells us everything we need to know about the main character. A bot construct programmed as a SecurityUnit (SecUnit for short), the self-named Murderbot would rather watch downloaded entertainment media than do the job it’s programmed for. Right now, that means watching a bunch of boring humans to make sure they don’t do anything to hurt themselves or others while they conduct a planetary survey. Sure, these people from PreservationAux seem nicer than those it has dealt with on other security contracts, but it would rather be watching The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.
That is until one of the humans nearly gets eaten by a burrowing creature that isn’t supposed to be there. Further investigation reveals deletions in the reports about the planet, and when the other survey team on the planet goes dark, it becomes apparent someone is going to extreme lengths to keep the planet and its resources to themselves. Now, Murderbot has to figure out who is trying to kill its survey team, how to get them safely off planet, and why it cares so much about these dumb humans anyway.
On the surface, All Systems Red is an action-packed, fun story about a sarcastic and depressed robot. The entire story is told from Murderbot’s point of view. The reader gets to see how it thinks and feels, which can range from panicked or apathetic to depressed. If Murderbot had its way, it would sit around and consume media while living exclusively inside its head. It has no interest in getting to know humans, and they make it incredibly uncomfortable. So much so that it frequently defaults to viewing conversations through security cameras rather than using its eyes.
While I love Murderbot, what I love about this book more is Martha Wells’ ability to seamlessly weave world details and background information into the story. It doesn’t take long to understand this world is run mostly by corporations, and it’s unusual for successful communities to exist outside of corporate control. Even if they do exist in relative freedom, political entities like PreservationAux must still rely on cooperating with these corporations for resources. This is a far from perfect arrangement.
In fact, Murderbot’s very existence serves to reveal how cruel and full of corporate greed this world is. SecUnits were created by corporate bond agencies to provide security as a condition of insurance policies for situations like planetary survey missions, dangerous trips, and meetings. Their creators needed something that could be controlled but still be intelligent enough to make decisions and provide security advice to clients. So, SecUnits were created using a combination of inorganic parts and cloned organic human material, and a governor module was added to punish and control the SecUnits.
Think about that for a minute. They intentionally created something with intelligence at least equal to a human’s, slapped some weapons and armor on it, then controlled it with pain through the governor module. It’s no wonder these corporations fear SecUnits going rogue or any SecUnit that has hacked its governor module as Murderbot has. What did they think would happen?
In case it isn’t already obvious, I really love this book. This is probably my third or fourth re-read of All Systems Red, and I am sure it won’t be my last. This time, I’m re-reading the entire series in anticipation of the next installment, System Collapse. According to Goodreads, there are at least two more books planned in this series, and I can’t wait to read them all!
My Rating:
I gave All Systems Red by Martha Wells five out of five stars. This short little book packs a punch! It explores complicated ideas about personhood with tact and a healthy dash of sarcasm. Murderbot is such a relatable character. It doesn’t see itself as human, and even goes to lengths to avoid becoming more human. However, that doesn’t mean it deserves to be enslaved by a corporation and viewed as nothing more than a tool either. This is an amazing sci-fi read that I would recommend to anyone regardless of their typical reading tastes.
Have you read any of the Murderbot Diaries? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
Tea Rex Reads 