ALL SYSTEMS RED: Martha Wells: 1 (Murderbot Diaries)

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this l'il shorty follows the events of book 4, and spins the POV away from murderbot's narrative voice into a close third POV of dr. mensah, recently rescued by murderbot and dealing (or not dealing) with the resulting PTSD of that situation.

Murderbot is now with Dr. Mensah and the other Preservation Station characters who Murderbot was protecting in the first book, All Systems Red, and the fourth, Exit Strategy. Preservation is an unusually liberal society in this universe, where single-minded, coldhearted corporate profit-making is the norm, and Mensah and her family and friends treat Murderbot, who they call “SecUnit,”as a person rather than as a possession. Mensah’s brother-in-law Thiago, however, is suspicious of Murderbot’s influence over Mensah, and Mensah’s adolescent daughter Amana considers Murderbot an annoyance, especially after it scared off someone she thought was a romantic interest (“Yes, it was hilarious”).

Not only a fun, fast-paced space-thriller, but also a sharp, sometimes moving character study that will resonate with introverts even if they're not lethal AI machines.” —Malka Older, author of Infomocracy Trigger-Happy: Doesn't exactly understand the concept of minimal force. Murderbot has to convince it not to resolve a hostage situation by blasting apart the vessel and then rescuing the hostages before they asphyxiate, then later the humans convince it not to rescue Murderbot by Colony Droping the villains along with everyone else in the city. We are all a little bit Murderbot... we see ourselves in its skin. And that reading about this sulky, soap-opera-loving cyborg killing machine might be one of the most human experiences you can have in sci-fi right now.."— NPR Corrupt Corporate Executive: Steals Maro, Rami, and Tapan's work, then tries to murder them to silence them. She becomes a skilled entertainment producer. This is entirely consistent with her fascination with media feeds such as Sanctuary Moon.

Do moral dilemmas come more tightly coiled up on themselves than this? And breathes there an author whose exploration of these intense and weighty issues is so delightfully deft and assuredly airy than Author Wells? There is a lot of action, a lot of cussing (I'm looking at you, MB), and loads of funny internal MB dialogue which is my favorite part about these stories. Although, MB's external dialogue is funny, too. MB is snarky internally and externally and I'm glad I get to hear it all. Culture Clash: Encountering people from the Corporate Rim drastically shakes her worldview as she processes the sheer power of the corps and the very real threat they pose to her family. She's stunned by the fact that corporations would force them to pay out for a rescue and morally outraged that she'd have to claim to own Murderbot under those scnearios. But since the thing that happened I don’t think I’ve had an emotion that wasn’t the visual equivalent of a wet blanket crumpled on a floor. Will I read on? Of course. Will I ever generally know what is happening plot-wise and where things might be going? Of course not. And I'm good with that.Robots Think Faster: To a greater extent than any other bot in the series. It leaves Murderbot's ability to hold five to six trains of thought simultaneously looking like a joke. It has everything that you've loved about Murderbot books in the past: pessimism and sarcasm, our bot trying to deal with its anxiety and trauma, deadly fights, a love of media pervading the plot, and musings on what it means to be human.