All Systems Red

Loved the tight little plot. A great intro to the cast of characters and conceits of the series. Murderbot's intense interiority is such a great idea. It feels in a way like an autistic insert into this interesting universe of corporations and free worlds. Despite that, the story is kept very very local and immediate-stakes, and resists explicit worldbuilding.

IMO a masterpiece.

"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites.[...]. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.

That was a nice little entertainment. SecBot is a nice (but not new) mixture of laziness, virtues and superhuman skills and reminds me of Kvothe in the kingskiller chronicles. Thanks @reading tofu for the recommendation!

I am reminded of one comment I read some time ago from somebody talking about machine intelligence - tehy weren't so much interested in what art a machine would make for humans, but what they would make for one another. To some extent, this series explores that.

it's hard to pull off a sardonic robot protagonist, and I think this did it

It's a short novel so I can't expect much in character development outside of the main one, but that is my one critique: I'd like to know more about the other members of the crew and their situations.

But overall it was a fun listen; engaging, interesting, suspenseful.

A fun, quick sci-fi read.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The idea is simple enough. "Murderbots" are engineered constructs comprised of biological and mechanical components. They're created to kill things and follow orders but are capable of more under certain circumstances, such as those created via a hacked or malfunctioning "governing module." This is the story of one such entity, caught up in an unusual scenario when a "simple planetary survey mission" goes sideways. It's a solid read and works, both as a standalone and as the setup for the "Murderbot Diaries" series it kicks off. Highly recommended for those seeking a fast-paced, charming, and generally-lighthearted (despite a few somewhat-grim moments) introduction to modern science fiction but veterans of the genre will likely find a lot to enjoy as well.

It's good fun. Was a bit shorter than I expected so the ending felt a bit abrupt (reading it as part of a Tor ebook collection so couldn't see how long was left). Murderbot's an interesting character, and the story from their point of view is interesting, especially when there are so many hours of Sanctuary Moon left to be watched. The problem of that perspective is it makes it hard to distinguish the other characters from each other, but overall it's an enjoyable read.

Murderbot is the grumpy, reclusive, crunchy outer shell with a golden marshmallow heart MC I've always dreamed of.

Violence: yes Sexual Scenes: no

Very cute and awww and generally great. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Violence: Yes Sexual scenes: No

Honestly, what can I say that everyone else hasn't already said? Go read this. Then do what I did - because I am late to the party - and get the rest of the series.

There's a reason that everyone says "I love Murderbot!"

Bit of a quick read, but not going to complain. Personally I liked the storyline, the humour of the murderbot too.

I may or may not be (read : I am currently) throwing money at the other books right now.

This was a quick read, and I spent most of it struggling to decide how I felt about a narrator that sounds so HUMAN, yet seemed so disinterested in the notion of being owned -- that is, until I realized that hacking the governor and avoiding humans was very much an act of autonomy, and that much of the struggle for Murderbot isn't "Do I want to be free?", it's "What kind of 'free' could I attain, and which of my options is least repulsive?", at least at the end.

All in all, not bad, but I didn't really find myself caring about the characters or their fates, and that was a big detractor.