All Systems Red is the first book in Martha Wells’ series the Murderbot Diaries. It is actually a novella rather than a full length novel. As I sit here on the back deck, I really don’t know what to say about this book. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I am interested enough that I have ordered more books in the series from the library. Ultimately it did not move me – I neither loved it enough to gush, nor hated enough to complain. 

It was not what I expected, which I suppose is something. First from the title, I thought Murderbot was more actively killing humans. It wasn’t. I was mildly surprised that its job was security – but very low end security. 

From a friend’s review I also expected it to be funnier than it was. There were no laugh-out-loud moments in the story. 

I was interested in how Wells developed the character and dealt with a constructed lifeform. I thought the setting was different enough and the future of mega-corporations fine – not new, but certainly concerning. 

I struggled a bit to learn and follow the humans in the story. Their names were confusing as was the use of pronouns. I don’t know if I struggled because the pronouns did not match my expectation of gender for the names or if they were intentionally misleading because Murderbot didn’t care.  Aspects of the world were difficult to understand. Were all the researchers on the planet corporations looking for mineable resources? Are there any governments in this future space setting, or only money making corps? How are constructs different from augmented humans? What parts are organic? 

Certainly there are some interesting questions about personality and defining life. And I do give the author huge props for creating a shy, apathetic artificial construct who wants to spend all its time watching the entertainment feed. 

Overall, the writing is strong. The author is able to raise some interesting points about humanity and our future. While I found it a bit confusing, other readers may not. It was not something that resonated with me, but it was a well written book (novella) – 4.5 stars out of 5. 

We will see how the other novellas go.