Review: All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

About the Book
"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.

Amazon / Goodreads

My Thoughts

I've been meaning to read this for what seems like forever. I've heard so many good things about it. There's been so much praise and I wanted to see what it was all about. Yeah, I understand it now. It's such a fun read! It's not a genre I read much of, but I probably should. I enjoyed it so much!

Murderbot is something else, lol! Hilarious without really meaning to be, oddly caring, totally awkward, and weirdly relatable. That probably sounds really strange, but trust me. Read the book and you'll understand.

There was mystery and intrigue, too, that had me reading as fast as I could. All in all, this was an awesome read, even better than I expected. 

Here's a few of my favorite quotes:

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. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.


So, I'm awkward with actual humans. It's not paranoia about my hacked government module, and it's not them; it's me. I know I'm a horrifying murderbot, and they know it, and it makes both of us nervous, which makes me even more nervous.


“All right,” she said, and looked at me for what objectively was 2.4 seconds and subjectively about 20 excruciating minutes.


Everyone stood there, quiet. I could tell from their expressions they were all thinking hard. The HubSystem that controlled their habitat, that they were dependent on for food, shelter, filtered air, and water, was trying to kill them. And in their corner all they had was Murderbot, who just wanted everyone to leave it alone so it could watch the entertainment feed all day.

4.5 Stars