All Systems Red

I liked this enough to want to read the next one. And maybe the one after that. Let's see how it goes.

Screams in delight! This book was pure joy in a space opera form. I adore the found family of it and the character is so charming. I would reread this a thousand times

Not sure what all the fuss was about. Maybe you have to read more in the series to fully appreciate Murderbot.

This was a totally fine little novella with some fun action and decent archetypical characters, but wasn't really anything more than that. I might continue the series just because they are so short.

I did enjoy the first book and was looking forward to continuing the series until I saw the price of the rest of the books. The next book is about 7 cents per page and while this is fairly good I do not see it justifying that price point for a book that is only 149 pages. Checking the rest of the series and they are all similarly priced with the exception of book 5 which is full length and just over 4 cents per page.

Maybe I am missing something but I just don't see how the book justifies the price.

3.5

“Yes, talk to Murderbot about his feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97% efficiency”

5/5

Writing felt very mediocre, the general plot was overall poor, and murderbot was annoying and I'm just happy to be done reading this lol

Bobiverse lite. Not as good though.

Honestly, I'm not sure I've ever identified with a character more than Murderbot. This book had me chuckling to myself so much. This particular volume worked really well as a novella and had me eager to continue on with the series.

Awww, Murderbot! How can my heart be squeezed by a more-robot-than-human construct? Yet, I'm ready to side with Murderbot against the galaxy and chase down more stories. My first Martha Wells, but not my last.

Short in the good way. Incredibly memorable character.

-Loved Murderbot.
-Liked that the side characters are actually smart & not annoying.
-Good world building. Lot of people complained about it, I personally thought the details described were enough to trigger the brain to create images of the different settings. Not everything has to be spoon fed.
-Didn't like the villains. They seemed creepy when they pulled that shit off at the other side of the planet but later turned out to be a bunch of stupid idiots.
-When it was finally time to turn the action up, the third act disappoints it's very rushed. It's a shame because I enjoyed the book a lot until that point.

A good book, it uses a little more than the first half to build an intriguing mystery, atmosphere & seems to be on track for an exciting showdown which unfortunately never arrives.

This is a short novella introducing the character of Murderbot, a free agent security android on its final contract with a surveying team on an uninhabited world, as it tries to avoid interacting with the clients (the humans) as much as possible and chill out watching serials and reading books. An introvert's dream!Unfortunately for Murderbot, the world is not as uninhabited as the team were told and Mb takes some serious damage rescuing two of its client scientists from the maw of a very large, very chompy hostile entity. Investigating how The Company could've neglected to warn the team about the local fauna highlights some discrepancies they have to work together to figure out and escape the planet alive. Much to Murderbot's annoyance as those serials won't watch themselves!The story is told first person by Murderbot and this adds to the appeal of this story as Wells successfully gets us to empathise with and root for a rogue AI who has dubbed itself MURDERBOT (not the most sympathetic of names, is it?) but who really just wants to be left alone. The action is fast-paced but not rushed; the world building is just right for such a short book and the ‘touchy-feely' parts that Mb hates so much make you think. A good all-round balance and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kevin R. Free, which was 3h 40m long, and while Free's narration style sounds an awful lot like [a:Wil Wheaton 37075 Wil Wheaton https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1356706649p2/37075.jpg] it definitely fits well with Murderbot's sarcastic and misanthropic demeanour.

This book crossed my radar due to its popularity. I waited until my local library re-opened for business and then snagged it with greedy hands. I zipped through the story, gobbling it up ravenously, often snickering. Heh-heh-heh. Wow, this was good. I not only have to read this whole series, I now need to read more by this author. And soon!

My gosh this was so much fun! The Murderbot's personality was more of a bored human's, than that of a killing AI machine

A warm thanks to Tor Books for the free copy.

I was expecting some Tarantino-like action kinda plot. I mean, have you read the series name? It is by all means a fun and quick read but probably a bit overrated, in my opinion.

SecUnit felt more like a cyborg than a robot to me. I'm guessing it could be related to the fact that he (?) hacked his own governor module, or is it just how self-aware AI robots are supposed to work here? I found the worldbuilding to be thought-provoking, I wanted more background on that.

Another pending series added to the huge pile.

The star of the murderbot diaries is murderbot, the neuroatypical, disaffected cyborg filled with ennui and a desire to binge TV. Certainly, the series was sold to me that way but much as I liked murderbot, the true heroes of this first novella for me were Wells' fascinating setting playing out the corporatocharcy of the 21st century and a cast of characters that were united as a team to communal ends (as shocking to murderbot as it was to the reader!)

Although the central mystery was decently compelling, most of the tension in this book comes from Murderbot's reluctance to be treated as a person, concern that people will see their face and assumption that all people are dumb, profit-motivated and ready to betray the group at any time. It's rare that the first book in a series isn't the strongest, but I just really enjoyed the later books where more character and setting development really shined.

Picked this up on a whim: a chance RT from someone I follow on Twitter. I was expecting it to be lighthearted and funny; was not prepared for it to be thoughtful, smart, touching as well. Murderbot turns out to be a surprisingly complex character, with a sophisticated moral sense, and haunted – in fine noir tradition – by ghosts we see only hints of.Interesting and disturbing to read this in parallel with [b:Lost Children Archive 51344574 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580193922l/51344574.SX50_SY75.jpg 62525285]: I found myself marveling that this cyborg has more empathy, reflection, and self-awareness than the human narrator of LCA. Likewise upsetting to read this in 2020, finding more integrity and decency in this murderbot than in forty percent of the U.S. electorate.

“And in their corner all they had was Murderbot, who just wanted everyone to shut up and leave it alone so it could watch the entertainment feed all day.”I'm not a Science Fiction fan. I'm not especially fond of novellas. This one, though...I can't even really explain what appealed to me about this novella: Murderbot neither really feels like a robot nor like a person but still strangely... plausible.Murderbot's actions feel logical, yet simple. It does what it has to do. Its ambiguity as an artificial lifeform makes it feel both familiar in, e. g. its shyness and some other emotions - not to speak of its entertainment addiction. Plus: An artificial lifeform that (sometimes) acts more humanely than its human counterparts? Fascinating!Murderbot is literally strange enough to go through a contrasting melange of emotions as well. This contrast, the SecUnit's conflicting feelings and survival strategies are probably what made this story so wondrously attractive for me. All in all, the novella is based on an interesting premise with a good mixture of characters and a lot of suspense. Spice that up with Murderbot itself and its diverse clients and you get a modern, fresh approach to science fiction.Highly recommended. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram

I gotta admit, early into this I wasn't feeling it.

There's something about an introduction into a new sci-fi universe that can be daunting, if not downright grating. A lot of modern sci-fi can be really good but fail in the opening chapters of creating a setting/world/universe that the reader can feel and get a grasp on. A mental image.

This was definitely one of those cases. I continued to read out of obligation to the book and I was ultimately happy I did.

This was enjoyable and flew by. I'll definitely keep reading.

The eponymous Murderbot has to be one of the strongest refreshes of the ‘paranoid android' themes that I have seen. The main character is a tragi-comic figure. A robotic security guard that has the very human trait that they would rather be watching TV than actually having to do anything. It is intriguing that the robot at the center of the story provides its heart.

These short novellas provide nice bite sized chunks of story. I like this as a way of story telling

O.W.L. Readathon - Potions
Shrinking Solution - Read a book under 150 pages

I read her voice like Glados the entire time and it was glorious

I was expecting dense, stuffy sci-fi, and this was anything but. Murderbot has a surprisingly relatable personality, and its narration is a delight to consume.

Apparently this was the first of 4, with a 5th new one coming out later this year?! Color me interested.

3.5/4 Stelle

“I was one whole confused entity, with no idea what I wanted to do. What I should do. What I need to do.”
-MurderBot

Un personaggio secondo me brillante, è come se un robot o androide, iniziasse a pensare e vivere la propria vita, non capendo cosa sia una vita. Non è umano quindi non pensa come noi. E' qualcosa lì in mezzo... affascinante.