All Systems Red by Martha Wells - A Review
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries (The Murderbot Diaries, 1)
So, after reading Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, I needed something short to capture my attention. My ADHD brain just doesn’t handle long books like it used to. I had purchased All Systems Red (ASR) a few weeks earlier, and it’s probably the shortest book on my bookshelf at the moment. So, that’s what I read.
I do plan to working my way back up to longer novels. I just need to retrain my brain to read again…
I remember when the hype around Murderbot was at an all time high. I’m aware that I’m late to the game, so this is going to be a spoiler-filled review. You have been warned. If you haven’t read this book, I’ll cut to the chase and say that I HIGHLY recommend that you do. It’s technically only a novella, so most normal people can finish it in an afternoon. For me, it took a little over a week.
THAT’S FAST FOR ME, OKAY?
Ahem. Back to the review.
I went in blind on this one. I didn’t know much about the story. All I knew was that it was funny sci-fi.
But I found out it is not comedic sci-fi that intends the reader to laugh on every page. The humor was just an aspect of the narrator’s style, which I enjoyed. A lot of it was sarcastic humor. Some of it was situational humor (no slapstick, thank goodness).
ASR is actually very serious sci-fi/space opera with a kind of cynicism baked in. This took me off guard. The story is really about a repressed teenager (which is essentially what Murderbot is emotionally) who is now learning who they are for the first time. It has a lot of heart. The plot and action were really good, too.
What I enjoyed most was Murderbot’s interaction with the humans, and how, over time, it began to claim the humans as its own (“my humans”). I found it an incredibly sweet and optimistic take on human/AI relations. I was half expecting her to be betrayed by someone like Mensah at the end, but when that didn’t happen, it was bewilderingly refreshing.
Murderbot has a hard exterior, but is really a softy on the inside. Its awkwardness with humans was at worst, very awkward and at best, hilarious.
Wells has a great writing style that doesn’t give away too much. Like, I have no idea what Mensah actually looks like, but I know her by her actions and her compassion for Murderbot. Wells doesn’t focus on what her characters look like so much as who they are within. The lack of detail did not bother me in the least.
Because I was too busy trying to figure out the mystery of the plot.
As it turns out, there is no solving this mystery. I had one major theory: someone was a traitor. That wasn’t the case at all. The ending isn’t something you can guess or work out on your own. The story gives you the answer. Some might find that annoying, but I didn’t. I was enjoying the plot too much.
And, as I mentioned, the ending hit the sweet spot for me. Murderbot saves the humans from certain death, is given its freedom, then sets out on its own on a journey of self-discovery. But this is just the beginning of Murderbot’s story. There are, like, seven novellas. Go crazy.
All in all, I loved this story. I loved Murderbot. I can’t wait to get to the next one in the series. My ADHD brain is very happy that they are all short.
