Our Discussion of All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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. -Goodreads

Below are a sampling of our comments:

• I liked it – the story moved fast with an interesting character who is trying to find “itself”
• The author packed so much into 150 pages and filled in all the characters
• I enjoyed Murderbot’s character and its quest
• Different readers gave Murderbot either a female or a male voice, at least initially
• Murderbot’s character was interesting – shy, with no interpersonal skills and very unsure of its reception with humans
• Because it had hacked its governor module, Murderbot was unique
• Did the entertainment feed help it develop empathy?
• Why was Murderbot a cyborg? How was it created?
• Apparently, ships enjoy the entertainment feed, too…

Please add any additional thoughts or comments you may have about All Systems Red. We gave this title the codes ROB, AI, ETH, AGE, POL & CUL with an average rating of 4.7.