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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book 46 The Kiss Quotient

Image
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang fulfilled the “Debut Book” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. Ms. Hoang's book debut to great acclaim in 2018. It is a steamy romance with a happy ending. The book is perfect. I’ve studied romance writing for about ten years. The natural arc of a romance has been tattooed on my brain by many workshops, professional books, and colleagues. If you read Romancing the Beats by Gwen Hayes, it sounds so easy, so formulaic. But trust me, a good romance has that arc well buried under layers of great story, interesting characters, and conflict. Ms. Hoang perfected the model on her first go. The story depicts a wealthy Asian woman with autism. She wants to find a soul mate or at least a date and settle down, fulfilling the expectations of her parents. Her intellectual mind says “hire an escort and practice” to get versed in sex and relationships. Thank goodness she finds the right guy on the first try. The Kiss Quotient
Read more

Book 49 Lost in Austen

Image
Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emily Campbell Webster fulfilled the “ Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book ” category of the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. As a child of the 80s, I read Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories voraciously. In fact, I can remember with the first five writing all the page numbers and rereading until I hit every page. I’m not obsessive. Why do you ask? When I saw the category, I was thrilled. Tons of the new versions have come out in the last thirty years. (Man, I ’m old.) I recently found The Oregon Trail Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. There are two old obsessions rolled into one, right there. I joked that every ending but one had to be “Your party dies of dysentery.” But for this super serious blog, I wanted a grown-up novel. But not too adult that it wasn ’t super fun. Because I’m six. I was thrilled to see the huge list of books in this genre for adults. In fact, I found one very adult story the other day. Choose-Your
Read more

Extra Book 2: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

Image
The puzzle book was another category I doubled up on. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello ’s Library by Chris Grabenstein fulfilled the category “Book revolving around a puzzle or game” in the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge. I read the book for the challenge not realizing I had already fulfilled the category with The Lying Game . I went with Ruth Ware’s book instead of this one because it was a kid’s book. I have a great affinity for children ’s stories. Some of the greatest stories ever written were intended for children. But I didn’t want to bog the blog down with too many choices in the children’s lit category. The blog is for adults and how many adults still read kid’s books? I know you’re out there but not the majority. The story was perfect, an escape room in a novel. My family has become obsessed with escape rooms. I ’ve always loved a good puzzle. Many of the computer games I enjoy are puzzle-oriented. And this book hit all my favorite things. The tale begins with thre
Read more