Reviews

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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andromeus's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

ebrooks5's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

amyapple's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5/5
A well written novella that I do recommend if you enjoy science fiction.

The world building has left me wanting to know more and the main protagonist is so funny.

The ending wasn’t what I expected. I need to read the next ones!

jefferz's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Don’t let the page count and novella length fool you, Martha Wells is a literary wizard for packing so much action and content into All Systems Red’s 150 pages. I kept seeing The Murderbot Diaries popping up in book lists and booktuber recommendations, and winning a Hugo Award certainly helps give it some critical street cred. Despite its short length, I thoroughly enjoyed this and breezed right through in one day. This is a pretty short read so I’ll try and keep this review appropriate short.

While many sci-fi works get bogged down with heavy exposition and detailed world-building, All Systems Red doesn’t have the luxury of length and immediately takes off running from the get-go. This novella is pure plot, though surprisingly a bit light in terms of fighting/gunfire action. Despite being called Murderbot, Murderbot isn't a killing machine (at least on paper) and acts as a defensive security unit for hire. And they’re a weaponized tool that could care less about what happens to their human clients, at least initially. The premise of an indifferent narrator is clever in concept, allowing the book to get away with skirting heavy world-building with an effective mechanism of “I never bothered to learn how this works because it doesn't matter to me”. I realize this sounds lazy or cheap on paper, but the manner in which this tactic is implemented is quite effective. The book is selective with its details that will add interest to the core storyline only and nothing else. And to Well’s credit, there is a good amount of world-building later in the book that’s spaced out out well, matching with Murderbot’s growing attachment and care for their human clients. The pacing of the story, the growing mystery of things afoot on their research expedition, potential espionage and betrayal, I have nothing bad to say about the book’s content.

In addition to the solid plot, it’s very much Murderbot’s deadpan, yet hilarious narration that ties it all together. It’s somewhere along the lines of tired dad humor and lowkey snark. It’s a sense of humor that isn’t laugh out loud funny or one that will work for everyone, but was perfect for me. There are so many great tired one-liners such as “The sense of urgency just wasn’t there. Also, you may have noticed, I don’t care.” Even better:

<blockquote>“This is why I didn’t want to come. I’ve got four perfectly good humans here and I didn’t want them to get killed by whatever took out <i>*Redacted Spoiler*</i>. It’s not like I cared about them personally, but it would look bad on my record, and my record was already pretty terrible.
-Murderbot</blockquote>

On a sidenote, Murderbot's gender is never officially stated. Murderboth themselves never touch on it and a lot of their human clients refer to them as "it" as it's not human. Murderbot even highlights their disinterest for human anatomy and parts, taking a non-descriptor stance on it.
That being said, a lot of readers (myself included) envisioned Murderbot to be male partly due to the audiobook having a male narrator and projecting or seeing themselves in Murderbot. If I accidentally slip and use male pronouns or references in these reviews, you can easily substitute them for she/they/it (Murderbot's words, not mine).

Refreshingly, All Systems Red isn’t just straight plot and action. Again, with only 150 pages to work with, Wells is somehow able to also incorporate a good amount of character growth for Murderbot that strikes the perfect balance between robotic and human dialogue/feelings. Coincidentally I’ve read quite a few books recently that involve sentient robots or AI’s developing human-like feelings, but Well’s writing style and approach to Murderbot is definitely one of my favorites takes on it.

A sub two hour read, this is an easy recommendation for any sci-fi or space expedition readers. The plot and mystery thriller element is great and while the length limits the amount of visual or contextual details it can include (I’ve seen this being one of the biggest criticisms leveled against this book), I don’t think it necessarily hinders the reading experience at all; it actually helps it avoid being overwritten or slow. Despite being part of a now long-running series of novellas and a few full-length novels, All Systems Red can also be read as a single standalone story with a satisfying ending that also leaves the door open for more adventures. But if you have similar taste in books like me, you’ll certainly be interested to see where the Murderbot Diaries goes (cause that ending, this series can really go anywhere).

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