"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.
But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Pretty awesome example of what happens when a writer finds a strong narrative voice. Murderbot is hilarious, focused, and one of the more commanding voices in literature. The story itself maybe not the most interesting to me but this is such a short read none of that matters.
4.5/5
Who doesn’t love a sarcastic and slightly shy murderbot? The story grips you from the start and the main character, a bot with human flesh incorporated into it is the perfect amount of robot who would rather watch TV and human who cares for saving those around it. Loved it! My only complaint was that I wanted more as it was a rather short book.
Very cute and awww and generally great. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.
Violence: Yes Sexual scenes: No
I read, what, all six Murderbot novels in as many days. Because of that hilarious photo on Martha Wells' website of her reading a Murderbot novel aloud to… search and rescue robots at Texas A&M University. Because I have friends who are just like Murderbot and ART in terms of sarcasm and assholery (respectively). But mainly because Martha Wells is a pen-wielding goddess, whom I humbly beg for more.
I’m not quite sure why this is loved so much… this was very much in “fine” territory for me.
I liked the very last pages the most. I thought that was an excellent way to end the story and showed something a little more nuanced. I honestly have my rating at 3 stars mainly for that! And for the fact that I think this is decent for what it is trying to be. I also did enjoy the middle suspense of the story when Murderbot is exploring the other habitat. I was sucked in for that part.
Otherwise… I was kind of bored. There are a lot of characters and names thrown at me at the start, and I never felt like I had them all straight. I think you could maybe argue that that’s how Murderbot sees them, but I don’t think so. She knows specific details about them …
I’m not quite sure why this is loved so much… this was very much in “fine” territory for me.
I liked the very last pages the most. I thought that was an excellent way to end the story and showed something a little more nuanced. I honestly have my rating at 3 stars mainly for that! And for the fact that I think this is decent for what it is trying to be. I also did enjoy the middle suspense of the story when Murderbot is exploring the other habitat. I was sucked in for that part.
Otherwise… I was kind of bored. There are a lot of characters and names thrown at me at the start, and I never felt like I had them all straight. I think you could maybe argue that that’s how Murderbot sees them, but I don’t think so. She knows specific details about them and doesn’t mix them up. Whereas I could not see any of them as individuals except for Mensah and Gurathin because they played some specific roles as the story progressed. I think that contributed to me just not caring about the story or their danger which maybe doesn’t speak well of me.
The ratings had my expectations too high I guess, I liked it enough but it was nothing extraordinary
A first space opera novella in a series about a security android. Good story, interesting protagonist.
This was fun! I see why this series is so beloved.
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!"
A good Sci-Fi short story, and sets up an interesting character for future stories.
Captivating sci-fi that explores AI consciousness in a meaningful way. I don’t really like the “novella” business model here. It seems like these short volumes could have been combined into one larger book. Anyhow, it’s better then trying to digest these 1,200 page tomes produced but other authors,
This was fun! I think it's a feat in and of itself to compact an introduction to a larger sci fi universe into a novella while also keeping it interesting and not chock full of exposition. While there was a bit of that in this book (I got lost a few times with the terminology that was thrown around), the story was very engaging and made me excited to read more. Despite it being so short, the characters were very well developed and the action was paced perfectly. I did think there was an attempt at humor here and there which didn't land for me, but I do appreciate the more lighthearted tone to the story as opposed to the countless dark, serious sci fi epics that are a dime a dozen. This world has me interested and I'm ready to dive into the next one.
Entertaining
Muy buena novela corta con mi androide consumidor de series favorito.
Con muy poco presenta muy bien a los personajes y te deja con ganas de saber más.
An entertaining mystery and caper, hosted by the most charming asocial robot this side of Marvin the Paranoid Android. I’m lucky I read this out of order; having peered into the future in Network Effect, it was easier to weather the uncertain ending of Murderbot’s first adventure.
Purchasable
https://www.ebook.de/de/product/28297712/martha_wells_all_systems_red.html.