kalebprice 's review for:

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

3.0

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A SecurityUnit robot (cyborg?) on an alien planet with an science team has hacked its own programming so that it has free will. It uses that will to watch lots of soap operas it has downloaded. It calls itself Murderbot.

When another crew on the planet is found murdered, Murderbot realizes there are discrepancies in the maps and data on the planet. A third crew is trying to take out the other two to mine resources without going through the proper channels.

Murderbot’s crew set off a rescue beacon and escape the murderous crew. It is given its independence by the leader of its crew, but it sneaks off to be anonymous instead.

The plot is fine even if a bit bare. The exploration crew has 7 or 8 people in it but all but Mensah, the leader, have the same personality and run together. Murderbot is incapacitated towards the end so misses much of what actually happens. He’s “quirky” but  it mostly amounts to him only wanting to watch TV.