book: All Systems Red (2017) by Martha Wells

An enjoyable tale told by the SecUnit (security cyborg, designed for lethal force) assigned to a prospecting expedition investigating an unexplored planet. The team discover lethal animals that weren’t included in the advance reports and then other anomalies, which they put down to the cheapness — sorry, “fiscal prudence” — of the company licensing the expedition. But, when the (supposedly) only other expedition on the planet is annihilated, our friends, and their SecUnit, realize they have human foes to battle against.

That’s the superficial plot, but the real story is about what I’d very tentatively call the emotional evolution of the SecUnit. It calls itself Murderbot because of its ability for violence and because, on a previous assignment, someone fiddled with its controls and persuaded it to kill dozens of people. Since then it has disabled its governor module, so it no longer needs to comply with the regulations supposedly built into it, such as obeying direct human orders. It uses its secret status as a rogue device to spend much of its time slyly watching downloaded soap operas, especially its fave, Sanctuary Moon.

Murderbot couldn’t care less about its assignment, or about the people supposedly under its protection. It tells us this quite frequently. It performs its required security functions to the absolute minimum level it can get away with. Not caring less is more or less its philosophy of existence. It prefers to fend off all emotions save nonchalance.

And then, as the rigors of their ordeal progress, it begins to bond with the humans in the team, even to become fond of them . . .

There’s lots of good stuff here. For example, Wells gets across very clearly the point that Murderbot isn’t a robot with organic components or a human modified with machine components, or any kind of half-and-half, but an integrated sentient individual who happens not to be a human being. Where I felt the tale fell down a bit was in the handling of Murderbot’s softening attitude toward the humans, which handling seemed to me a bit clumsy: it had the effect of imparting a staleness to a tale that was actually fresh. From about halfway through All Systems Red I could have told you with a fair degree of accuracy how this strand of the plot was going to resolve itself.

All Systems Red is the first in a series of four Murderbot novellas, with a full-length novel apparently scheduled for 2020. This opening salvo won a Hugo and a Nebula, among other awards, so clearly I’m being a bit of a sourpuss here: I found a great deal to like, but for me the book is far from a lifechanger.