ALL SYSTEMS RED: Martha Wells: 1 (Murderbot Diaries)

Product Information

Disney Death: Is deleted by the Targets, only to be reuploaded from a copy it left for Murderbot to find. Martha Wells excels at exploring emotions and interpersonal(or non-‘people’) relationships through unique and intense storylines and this might be one of the deepest and most heart wrenching of them yet. I say “yet” because WE NEED MORE, KEEP THEM COMING PLEASE. I really enjoyed exploring Murderbot dealing with really heightened moments of vulnerability, with the text often reading ‘ [redacted]’ to represent Murderbot repressing memories, feelings, etc. in a really heartfelt and empathetic exploration of mental health. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I had told Mensah. “I think you might know,” she had said. “You just don’t want to talk about it.”) There is a lot of action, a lot of cussing (I'm looking at you, MB), and loads of funny internal MB dialogue which is my favorite part about these stories. Although, MB's external dialogue is funny, too. MB is snarky internally and externally and I'm glad I get to hear it all.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. As to the writing itself, it alternates between engrossing, hilarious, heart-rending, and painfully accurate. You're going to identity with and relate to Murderbot so much that you'll find yourself (at least, if you're anything like me you will) also thinking of humans as an "other" during the course of your reading, as you mentally (or out-loud; no judgement if you're one of those people who exclaims aloud as you read; I rarely do, but this seems like an appropriate book series for that sort of behavior) shout at them to not do stupid things and just listen to their SecUnit, please! Liptak, Andrew (June 25, 2017). " All Systems Red chronicles the life of a robot that calls itself Murderbot". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018 . Retrieved March 31, 2018. The unique writing style is the best thing about these books (aside from character construction). It doesn’t follow typical storytelling constructs and often comes across as more conversational than anything else. There’s a great deal of punctuation used to convey Murderbot’s sardonic tone, and no shortage of profanity for comedic impact. I’ve never read anything that comes this close to how I communicate in my daily life, so even the bones of how the story was presented sang to my soul. There were a few occasions where the sarcastic voice was a bit heavy-handed, but this is one of the few cases I would rather a little too much than not enough. It still had the same great inner monologues and sarcasm from Murderbot. And I especially loved the passages of It trying to process Its FEELINGS from the events in NE. Introverts around the world can unite behind Murderbot as a character. Wells understands social awkwardness on a deep level and it has been a joy to see that celebrated in this series. The crew around Murderbot were also great, although I still struggle to keep all the humans straight, even after recently rereading All Systems Red where I was actively TRYING to distinguish between them. Regardless, it’s the machines and computers who are the most vibrant, anyway, and those entities were in full swing in this installment (sometimes literally).

In General

In a series like this, some parts of it will be more crucial than others. This is not a high-intensity (relatively to plot. All the books are action heavy. Yes, all!) book, it is the aftermath, psychologically and dealing with minor stuff like oh yeah what happens to the population of that planet now (just some hundred, at most a few thousand people...) and more worldbuilding and more (glorious) stuff on how those people (human and not. The non human are just chef's kiss..) deal with each other. It is not an ideas book, but it is a really well done element of a truly original series which focus on action with a lot of thought and care to the characters and worldbuilding. And it is really really well done, Martha Wells is just fully in control of the story. It is not a mind blowing story or a series crucial point, but so worth it (I voted for another book, Children of Memory for the goodreads reader choices awards for sf and I am not changing my vote. Because CoM goes deeper, in ambition and ideas about personhood and consciousness. This is just as good technically but it stays, intentionally, more at the surface). The Future of Work: 'Compulsory' by Martha Wells". Wired. December 17, 2018 . Retrieved February 4, 2019.

And she tells herself: you’re being very foolish. Because you were a hostage for a period of days, and it was a minor inconvenience compared to what Murderbot— No, SecUnit; she’s never been given permission to use that private name. What SecUnit went through. Privately Owned Society: There is nothing in the Corporate Rim that is not owned by someone. Including people. Eletra, a corporate "worker" in Network Effect, casually notes that when a company gets bought out, it's in the losing parties' interests to be as conciliatory as possible, or new management might take out their frustrations on the "seized assets"—the employees.It’s about being treated as a thing, isn’t it. Whether that thing is a hostage of conditional value, or a very expensively designed and equipped enslaved machine/organic intelligence. You’re a thing, and there is no safety.” It can’t really be read as a standalone story, but it’s a nice addition to Murderbot story arc. Seeing Mensah’s thoughts on Corporation Rim dehumanization of sentient being because they are “tools” and not supposedly persons Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Murderbot is annoyed by Miki's Pollyanna naiveté, but has to work with it as the only way to monitor the humans.