My Goodreads review: All Systems Red

[ankh_hpl]

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A right-sized, straight-up SF mystery tale -- from the POV of a self-aware security android. This last bit makes all the difference. Murderbot (its own name for itself, due to a nasty piece of backstory) seems more aware of its own motivations -- and the motivations of others -- than any of the humans or augmented humans in this story.

I found Murderbot's quirky, brutally honest voice the most compelling thing about this visit to an Evil Corporate Future. The rest of the SF trappings are done well enough, but (for me) only this unique POV made the adventure stand out. I really liked Murderbot, which is why I'm sad about the Kindle pricing of future entries in the Murderbot Diaries. Novel prices for novella-length works, no matter how Nebula-winning, are pretty much a nonstarter for me

Fortunately, my local library has the next volume on order.





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