All Systems Red

This introduction to Murderbot is swift, concise, and light. While I read it in a single two-and-a-half-hour sitting, I wouldn't say it hooked me. Rather, it provided the same level of entertainment as a run-of-the-mill genre film. Martha Wells delivers on her authorial promise but doesn't offer compelling prose, deep character work, or much in the way of worldbuilding. I found myself underwhelmed, especially after the endless hype I've heard over the past few years. This is another classic case of "I'm not the target audience".

This book was just a simple joy to read, a lot like traditional first-person sci-fi from an intelligent robot's perspective. Of course, by the title of the series, you probably will figure out quickly that this robot is a murderbot, and he's having some emotions about things he's done in the past... and the story evolves quickly with the team he is contracted to work for, with a bit of a twist. Overall, this was a fun and interesting story. It evolved quickly and read like a simple first-person descriptive tale of the bot's experiences and thoughts, but it leaves me wanting just a little bit more. Of cousre, it's a series, so I'll read more and expect that desire will be satisfied as I learn more about Mr Murderbot. I recommend this book!

From the plot alone, this novella would be a bit of perhaps cliche science fiction. What makes it both unique and compelling is that the story being told from the perspective of the "Murderbot" (hence The Murderbot Diaries), a cyborg generally treated by society as a piece of equipment.

Martha Wells's writing does a good job of showing Murderbot's personality, its particular anxieties, its relationships towards humans, and general attitudes towards life. Even if the plot is cliche, Murderbot as a character is the opposite.