All Systems Red by Martha Wells

2020-01-26 | #books

"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure."

Those are the opening lines of Martha Well's "All Systems Red," spoken by Murderbot, the non-binary part-human part-robot construct and main character.

Don't let Murderbot's name put you off. This is not some violence-laden Terminator-esque tale. All Systems Red is a funny, witty, sci-fi novela, the first in a series of six-ish stories. In the last 2 years or so, I've found myself returning and re-reading it, multiple times, including this week. Why? A few reasons:

• The writing in general, and Murderbot's internal dialog in particular, is very funny.
• It's short enough to read in a few hours. In fact the first time I read it I stayed up late to finish the whole thing, then promptly started re-reading it again.
• Fantastic world-building, without trying to explain everything. What is a corporate-political entity? What are alien remnants? How do feeds work? Dont worry, you will pick it up through context.
• Surprisedly suspenseful. There are twists, sudden changes, and action in short tight bursts that are fantastic to follow along.
• Way more about feelings, anxiety, and building personal relationships than I would have expected. These are not things I usually have trouble with, so it is interesting to me to read the inner monologue of someone struggling with those.
• Non-traditional families, people without gender, gender fluidity, and such are discussed without making that "The Point" of the story. This series is the first time I encountered non-gendered pronouns like Xe/Ze in content that wasn't specifically discussing non-gendered pronouns. It is refreshing to see these topics so casually included without making a big deal out of them, because we should be moving towards a world where you don't need to make a big deal out of them. They are just an accepted part of our culture and are not exceptional in the "exceptions to the typical" sense.

The Murderbot Diaries, as the series is known, consists of novelas, a short story, and a one full length novel. I highly recommend them all, in particular the first 3 (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol), as well as the full length novel Network Effect.

If you like hard science fiction, but without too-much science fiction, you should give these a read.

All Systems Red on GoodReads