All Systems Red

I haven't connected with a character like I did with Murderbot since the first time I read Green Rider! Just wanting to be left alone to watch shows while the world happens around you is so relatable, and I couldn't get enough. I read every book in the series in less than a week, even the short stories.

I very much enjoyed the atmosphere of this book as well. It was very reminiscent of the first Alien movie. Creepy, dark. Not really gory. I love a good creature flick and I've rarely read a book which captured that so well.

It's a fresh, terrific take on the sci-fi/techno thriller.

As a lifelong lover and reader of science fiction, I’m always impressed when I come across a modern book and series that feels fresh or novel to me. That’s precisely what I got from The Murderbot Diaries at a time when I really needed it, which has made it one of my go-to sci-fi recommendations in recent years, particularly as someone who appreciates a bit of tasteful humor and snark in my futuristic adventures through space.

I love sarcastic main characters, and this applies double when they are not human—something about such a very human trait in some other life form is delightful. The main character in this book is a security unit cyborg who has secretly hacked the module that lets humans control it.

It calls itself Murderbot, and all it wants to do is binge-watch its soap operas in peace, and man, do I relate (except for the killing part). But there is weird stuff happening, and humans are dying, and Murderbot needs to find out why. This is a delightful romp full of… show more.

I fell in love with SecUnit, aka Murderbot, the main character in this book, because its voice is so authentic and lovable as it explains how it detests humans with their feelings and tendency to ask questions, leak fluids, and try to have relationships with it.

Having successfully escaped an electronic control that amounts to slavery, it just wants to be left alone. But that doesn’t happen. I found Murderbot most endearing when it was denying most strenuously that it cared. I couldn’t wait to read all the Murderbot stories after discovering this first one.

I could appreciate the… show more.

This entire series is awesome. The humor is out of this world funny (pun intended). It didn’t take me more than a few pages to warm up to Murderbot, even if he/she is a robot. Oh, there’s enough of a human brain stem left to ensure a soul filled with humor and the best parts of humanity: self-sacrifice, empathy, and cleverness, not to mention a bad attitude towards life and work in general that I could totally sympathize with.

This first adventure includes kidnappings, rescues, intrigue, and burgeoning friendships. These books are a mix of space opera and science fiction.… show more.

I heard so many people rave about the Murderbot Diaries (this is book 1) that I launched my own one-person boycott—until someone gave me a copy. Then, I wondered why I had resisted for so long. It’s fantastic! I love Murderbot’s dry delivery—very similar to my own style of humor. The story is fabulous—full of action, technology, and danger—and Murderbot slowly reveals its backstory and personality as it carries you through the story.

I loved that the built-to-work-tirelessly Murderbot is instinctively lazy, prefers to watch soap operas over doing its job, and cleverly hides those “failings” from the people it… show more.

I’ll admit it. Usually, when I see an “award-winning” book, I’m turned off because I’ve seen so many of these books fail to live up to the hype. This book was an amazing exception. It deserved its 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella and Nebula Award for Best Novella.

The entire book can be summed up with this one tongue-in-cheek sentence from the protagonist: “As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.” This android is very capable of killing efficiently and coldly. But it’s also very “human.” Humans are exploring other planets and security androids are mandatory. Murderbot… show more.

I grew up on the science-fiction greats: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury. I’d been hankering for science-fiction like this for some time, and then I discovered Murderbot.

It’s all here—the innovation, imagination, humanity, and economy of language—but it’s that little something else that made me swoon for Murderbot. Murderbot is a sensitive neurodivergent. It speaks to every one of us who’s ever wished for an Owner’s Manual to explain the overwhelming feelings and sensations.

As I embrace my own newfound identity as a sensitive neurodivergent, Murderbot’s journey resonates with me: that isolating sense of uniqueness, escaping from… show more.

I fell in love with Murderbot in the first paragraph. Every book afterward in the series just made me love it more.

The hero of the Murderbot Diaries is part robot, part humanoid, and all done-with-everyone’s-crap. Everyone seemed to think that if a construct like it gained its freedom, it would rampage around killing everyone. Instead, it just wanted to be left alone to watch some good shows, and read a book or ten. Been there.

I cracked up at the sarcasm, got pulled in by the action, and felt the compassion that drove Murderbot to jump into the mouth… show more.