Murderbot: All Systems Red Mini-Review!

December 2021: Good heavens this has been in my drafts since August of 2020. Uh…if you ever wanted to know my thoughts on this book here they are? 15 months later?

Hi friends! I’m here with a mini-review of an audiobook that I picked up on a whim, since it’s been on my TBR for far too long lol.

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.

Um…I’ve come to realize that sci-fi and I are not friends like fantasy and I are*. We’re more or less those acquaintances who pass by each other on the street and wave, and then continue on their way forevermore. So I definitely struggled with this novella more than I wanted. But! There were some stellar points that had me over the moon! (okay enough with the bad puns already this is why I don’t read sci-fi).

*my one exception always and forever: the lunar chronicles. they’re part of my literary coven of waffle witches aka my favorite books

• HAHA MURDERBOT IS ME. Literally, it’s faced with a problem and is like “okay but ON THIS TV SHOW I WATCHED THIS IS HOW THEY FIXED IT…” like same. It was lazy, lowkey wanted to just be left alone, clever but in a strange way, and pays zero attention to many important things. I mean, Wells just wrote me into a book. That’s all.
• I wish we’d gotten more development as far as the world was concerned? Of course, this is a novella so it’s unfair to expect much. However, I had no idea what was happening. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention but it genuinely felt like we were just thrown into a starry universe full of politics and missions and monsters and there was no explanation as to anything.
• It was exciting enough! I was confused 90% of the time but I was also not totally bored! The pace is even, and the banter is on point. I just was never really invested.

That’s about it! This is a 3 star read for me. Tell me:

Have you read ths series??

What are your opinions on sci-fi?

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