eBook, 156 pages
English language
Published Dec. 13, 2017 by Tor.com.
"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."
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.
I am reminded of one comment I read some time ago from somebody talking about machine intelligence - tehy weren't so much interested in what art a machine would make for humans, but what they would make for one another. To some extent, this series explores that.
it's hard to pull off a sardonic robot protagonist, and I think this did it
Content warning Vague spoilers involving Murderbot's character arc.
I loved the funny, witty inner voice of Murderbot, and I also love that it chose the name based on the coolness factor and not because it actually likes to murder. My mom has been bugging me to read this book for years, and I'm so glad I finally listened and read the first installment. I love how Murderbot grew to trust and care about the humans they were reporting to. 10/10, can't wait to read the next one.
It's a short novel so I can't expect much in character development outside of the main one, but that is my one critique: I'd like to know more about the other members of the crew and their situations.
But overall it was a fun listen; engaging, interesting, suspenseful.
I love the MurderBot series. Martha Wells does such a great job exploring what it means to be a sentient being that I'm often tearing up and laughing within the span of a couple pages. Rinse and Repeat. Start reading and I promise you'll love MurderBot and be aching to read the remainder of the novellas to follow its travels and exploits.
It's good fun. Was a bit shorter than I expected so the ending felt a bit abrupt (reading it as part of a Tor ebook collection so couldn't see how long was left). Murderbot's an interesting character, and the story from their point of view is interesting, especially when there are so many hours of Sanctuary Moon left to be watched. The problem of that perspective is it makes it hard to distinguish the other characters from each other, but overall it's an enjoyable read.
Murderbot is the grumpy, reclusive, crunchy outer shell with a golden marshmallow heart MC I've always dreamed of.
Violence: yes Sexual Scenes: no
Very cute and awww and generally great. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.
Violence: Yes Sexual scenes: No
If a movie is ever made, Tig Notaro should play Murderbot.
I LOVED All Systems Red. Murderbot might be my new favorite character in all of Sci-Fi. I had to read this for my first grad school class at Emerson, and it was an overall winner. Highly recommended if you like Sci-Fi, or if you like character-driven stories that are quick-paced, with decent action and good suspense. I will most definitely be adding the other Murderbot books to my TBR pile.
I read this a couple weeks ago and could tell you approximately nothing about the plot! I remember having a nice time reading it? It's short, which is to its credit. There is some stuff about untrustworthy corporations, and the main character is a robot whose robot-ness seems to be a metaphor for neurodivergence of some kind? I don't know. It never really came together but also, hey, it was short.
This was nice. Extremely pulp, but managed to get at some larger ideas.
Bit of a quick read, but not going to complain. Personally I liked the storyline, the humour of the murderbot too.
I may or may not be (read : I am currently) throwing money at the other books right now.
