All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Everyone has been telling me to read The Murderbot Diaries forever, and I’m glad I finally did! I’m still trying to focus on reading books I already own, so I got this from the library and will have to wait a while until the second one comes in, but that’s honestly helping the anticipation build.

The general concept of the books is that they’re a diary kept by the titular Murderbot, though it doesn’t really have a name at this point in the series. It’s just a SecUnit (‘security unit’) robot that can be bought from ‘the company’ and used by ‘clients’ as security on important research missions. Maybe other things too. At this stage, I have way more questions than answers! This SecUnit in question has hacked its ‘governor module’ (one guess what that does) and instead of going rogue, all it chooses to do is watch hours and hours (and hours… and hours) of daytime TV. Relatable.

I’m definitely excited to read more, as I finished this in like three days. Most of the books in this series are fairly short, more novellas than novels, but this managed to pack in a lot of fun world- and character-building that make me excited to learn more. 

I also learnt, after reading the first book, that the audiobooks are narrated by Kevin R. Free, who I recognize as a voice actor on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, which I’ve listened to since I was in high school! I started the second book on my way home from work today and can attest to how good the audiobooks are.

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”