All Systems Red Audiobook By Martha Wells cover art

All Systems Red

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All Systems Red

By: Martha Wells
Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
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All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels.

All Systems Red tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

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.

©2017 Martha Wells (P)2017 Recorded Books Adventure Fantasy Fiction Hard Science Fiction Hugo Award Locus Award Nebula Award Science Fiction Series Essentials Funny Witty Feel-Good Scary Robot Diaries
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Martha Wells tells a great story, with a fantastic protagonist that I can genuinely relate to. While many people might think of a sci fi setting and picture themselves as a dating adventure hero, I think Murderbot might be the closest thing to how I would picture myself in such a setting; uncomfortable talking to people, would rather be relaxing and enjoying books or movies than pretty much anything else, and when called upon to do battle, might just have 40-60% of my body shot off. I enjoyed every bit of the story.

The good news is that it's a short novels, so I can easily listen to it again. The bad news is that all 4 of the novellas in the series cost as much as full-length books, which means it costs 4 credits (or $ equivalent) to get as much content as you would get in 1 or 2 standard novels. That part burns a bit, but all in all, still probably worth it.

#tagsgiving #sweepstakes

I just wish all four stories were one book...

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All Systems Red is the first Murderbot Diary, the adventures of a cyborg security unit who hacked its governor module, named itself “Murderbot” and promptly got addicted to streaming media.

This is its account of its adventures trying to keep a group of human scientists alive on a hostile and unknown world without them figuring out it has free will and leaving itself enough time to watch its soaps. The novella is sharp and witty, with a wry sense of humor and a sharp eye for what makes someone sentient and how freedom doesn’t always mean the same thing to different beings.

Kevin R Free as the narrator does a decent job, but somehow seems to miss the point of Murderbot. Murderbot sounds like a human in its own head, it’s a cyborg, it only pretends to be a robot for the humans. Free has it acting robotic all the time and I thought that made the wry humor a little harder to enjoy. Still it’s a great story with well-rounded characters and I recommend the print and audible versions highly.

All Systems Red does not disappoint.

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What a darling little story about this poor little, very sensitive “murder bot” with a mind of his own, loves to watch TV serials, and is quite a bit more human than he would like to believe. Like Dr. Mensa in the story I totally fell in love with this little guy and was rooting for him all the way to the end. Great narration! Kevin Free breathes life into this character, really making him come alive. Short and sweet, a good choice for when time is limited.

Loved It!

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This story just grabbed me. And how could you just not love Murderbot even if it didn't love you.

Unexpectedly wonderful

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Murderbot, a.k.a. Sec-Unit, is a composite being with both human and robot parts, legally a robot owned by a company that leases him out as a security unit. He's currently leased out to a survey team on an unsettled planet. It's a small survey team, and he's the only security unit.

What neither the clients nor the company know is that he has hacked his governor module, and obeying orders is a choice for him.

That will turn out to be a good thing for everyone.

There's another survey team on the planet, a larger one, on the other side of the planet. They can communicate but don't have a lot of reason to do so. There's also a third group, that they don't know about, and which has nefarious intentions, for something valuable on the planet, and for the survey teams that could frustrate their plans.

Murderbot is likable, surprised to find that he cares what happens to his clients, and despite crappy education modules, has learned a lot from his voracious consumption of entertainment videos.

At only a bit over three hours, it's short, lively, and enjoyable.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Entertaining, short sf mystery

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