Book 4: All Systems Red


All Systems Red by Martha Wells made me happy. This story fulfilled the “Book Set in Space” category of the PopSugar challenge. I read it in a day. (It’s a novella or the first fourth of a novel.) I read a great deal, but I read slow. Like a turtle’s pace. I use audiobooks to increase my speed because I’m a book junkie and I need more books. More, faster! Anyway, reading the first Murderbot novella in twenty-four hours was light speed for me. I loved this book.
Funny story. I started reading it and nudged my husband. He’s a reader too but sticks mostly to hard sci-fi books like those by Alastair Reynolds, James SA Corey, and Greg Bear to name a few. After two pages, I chased after Hubby, singing the praises of this adorable, compelling robot book. He sighed and smiled at me. He’s a very patient man. “Ginny, I’ve been trying to get you to read that book for almost two years.” I blushed and backpedaled and we laughed hard.
One of our favorite tales is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. One of the reasons we got married stemmed from us both knowing what 42 meant. So, of course, he’d read All Systems Red and recommended it to me.
All Systems Red was a fun book. Great on the sci-fi humor, which few have mastered. (All hail Mr. Adams!)The story is told in first person by a sentient robot who likes to watch soap operas. The bot, who was designed as a killing machine and robot protector, hacked his governing module so he could view more TV. Basically, the book speaks to the modern person. I need to do all the stuff, but I’d rather binge on Netflix.
The book is a short adventure that introduces Murderbot (his name for himself) and his way of thinking. I thought the humor worked as well as the action scenes. I found zero faults with the book except maybe that it was too short. Then I discovered there were three more novellas. I devoured Book 2 and then recommended my new favorite book everywhere at work. (And I work in a library. Those peeps are well read.) My boss was thrilled. She’s a huge sci-fi fan like Hubby.
Five of Five Robots

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