All Systems Red by Martha Wells

 

Reviewed by Ambrea

 

In All Systems Red, Martha Wells introduces her readers to “Murderbot,” a self-aware security android – or Sec Unit – which has learned how to hack its own governor module and selectively obey orders.  For the most part, Murderbot covertly downloads media (it’s a big fan of a space soap opera called Sanctuary Moon), pretends it hasn’t gone completely rogue, and spends its days tuning out its human charges.

 

For the most part, its humans are pretty boring.  As a SecUnit created and commanded by the Company, it’s met worse humans – much, much worse – and its faced worse jobs.  Protecting a handful of scientists conducting surface tests on a new planet is pretty easy.  Until, one day, a neighing mission goes dark and Murderbot discovers that someone is attempting to sabotage its mission and kill its humans.

Not that it cares.  Much.

I absolutely loved listening to All Systems Red.  I picked it up as an audiobook on Tennessee READS, and I think I listened to it in one day.  It’s not a long book – more like a novella, than a full-length novel – but it’s packed with tons of adventure, android angst, and humor.  Kevin R. Free narrates the audiobook version, and he does an excellent job of conveying Murderbot’s general antipathy toward humans. 

Despite its grim moniker – that Murderbot bit is privileged information – Murderbot isn’t particularly motivated to commit capital offenses.  It would rather covertly download and consume vast quantities of media, while pretty much ignoring the scientists it’s being forced to guard.  “As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure,” it admits. 

Although Murderbot is surely the star of the show, I found myself enjoying Mensah, too.  Mensah is the captain of the expedition.  She’s a scientist, but she’s one of those with a small streak of Indiana Jones in her DNA – just enough to make her feel a little like an action hero.  She’s smart, she’s commanding, and she’s very, very good at her job.

As Murderbot grew to appreciate her, I also found myself enjoying its interactions with Mensah and the rest of the crew of PreservationAux. 

One of the main things I loved about Murderbot was the fact that it wasn’t some cold, calculating, perfect robotic entity.  It was flawed – very flawed.  I mean, I’ve never imagined an android could have social anxiety, so it was very enlightening and it made for some very funny lines that I just adored, like:

 

“Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings.  The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency.  I’d rather climb back into the Hostile One’s mouth.”

 

Or…

 

“They were all so nice and it was just excruciating.  I was never taking off the helmet again.”

 

As an introvert who occasionally – admittedly, often – dreads social situations, I felt Murderbot’s plight deep in my bones.  I also laughed so hard I snorted.

 

Overall, I enjoyed All Systems Red immensely.  It’s probably one of my favorite science fiction novels – right up there with The Martian by Andy Weir and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – and it’s definitely in my top ten books for the year.  I loved reading about Murderbot, and I can’t wait to continue reading about its further misadventures.

 

All Systems Red is the first in a series titled “The Murderbot Diaries.”  It’s followed by:

·         Artificial Condition

·         Rogue Protocol

·         Exit Strategy

·         Network Effect

·         Fugitive Telemetry

Descender by Jeff Lemire

Reviewed by Ambrea

TIM-21 is an android.  Ten years ago, he was put to sleep—and never woke up.  Now, awakened, he’s discovered the universe has dramatically changed:  giant robots called Harvesters have destroyed worlds, robots are hated and even outlawed, while galactic alliances have reconfigured, not necessarily for the better.

Across the universe, the remnants of the UGC are fighting to stay afloat, while the Gnishans—a race of anti-robot, anti-technology zealots—are searching to start a war and the Hardwire, a robot rebellion, is brewing beneath the surface.  TIM-21 with his unique codex finds himself caught in the middle of it all, targeted by Scrappers who consider him dangerous and UGC soldiers who think he can help them understand the Harvesters and the Hardwire who believe he could be a savior.

I picked up Descender to mark off my “Read a Book from a Display” on BPL Book Bingo.  I liked the cover artwork and I was immediately intrigued by the premise of the book; besides which, I thought an intergalactic space odyssey might just hit the spot between reading Lonesome Dove and The Fellowship of the Ring.  Ultimately, I was glad I picked it up, because Descender is absolutely amazing.

Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, Descender is a fascinating series of science fiction graphic novels about an android.  The first volume, Tin Stars, starts the saga with a flashback to the Harvester invasion—when worlds were destroyed, and when the robot culls began in earnest—before settling on TIM-21, a companion robot in the shape of a young boy, and his journey to escape scrappers and uncover why his codex so closely resembles that of the Harvesters.

I was hooked instantly.  Although it picks up slowly in the first book, pulling together all the characters that will eventually be involved, Tin Stars sets an interesting tone that’s part dystopian tragedy and part rip-roaring space adventure.  It’s grim, but hopeful, “balancing the fear of the unknown with the spirit of adventure,” according to a blurb on the back cover.  It mingles together intricate political and social dynamics, creating a universe full of intriguing characters and heart-wrenchingly believable (sci-fi) situations.

The story is pretty complex, weaving together several different narrative threads, including TIM, Dr. Quon (the scientist who built TIM), Telsa (a UGC pilot tasked with finding TIM) and Tullis, and many others.  As the series continues, the story merely expands to include whole worlds, like Mata, an aquatic planet; or Ostrakon, a deserted planet that contains an extinct civilization; or Phages, known simply as “The Ghost World.”  The first book only brushes the surface, offering tantalizing bits of information about different worlds and the different peoples that populate them, while the rest of the series continues to give them depth.

I also loved the artwork in Descender.  Nguyen crafts a beautiful, eerie universe, using watercolors to create unique shading effects and utilizing vibrant colors to provide the greatest impact.  He intersperses soft edges and sharp lines, bringing each world to brilliant, breath-taking life.  Nguyen’s art and Lemire’s story work together seamlessly to create a gorgeous graphic novel that packs an emotional impact.

Besides The Mighty Thor, I think Descender is perhaps the best graphic novel I’ve read all year.  It has space travel, extinct civilizations, cosmic politics, aliens and robots, beautiful artwork—I mean, what more could you want in a great science fiction story?

The series continues in:

Machine Moon

Singularities

Orbital Mechanics

Rise of the Robots

The sixth volume, The Machine War, is due out in September of this year, and I absolutely can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Reviewed by Ambrea

Based loosely upon the Cinderella fairy tale, Cinder follows the story of Linh Cinder, a cyborg with a brain interface that has given her the uncanny ability to fix almost anything.  Her reputation as the best mechanic in New Beijing leads her to a surprising meeting with none other than Prince Kai, who needs a broken android repaired before the annual ball.  But when her youngest step-sister, her only human friend in the world, is infected with a fatal plague that’s devastated the Earth for over a decade, Cinder is blamed and subsequently volunteered as a test subject for plague research by her stepmother.

However, scientists discover something extraordinary about Cinder and her cybernetic interface:  a secret that will put her life in mortal danger—and change the balance of power between the Earth and the Lunar kingdom.  Now, gifted with this new knowledge, Cinder must fight to save the world she considers her own and rescue New Beijing from a devastating threat, total annihilation.

Marissa Meyer’s first book in the Lunar Chronicles is fascinating:  it’s Cinderella meets science-fiction; it’s a classic fairytale with a dystopian twist—and I found it invigorating.  Although Cinderella has been reimagined numerous times, revived in a million different ways, Cinder feels like a unique take on a fairytale that has been around for a very long time.

I especially loved the fact that Meyer completely revitalized the story, inventing a tough, intelligent and pragmatic heroine with Linh Cinder.  Cinder is smart, self-sufficient, and inventive.  She’s a mechanic—and a darn good one at that—and she doesn’t need anyone to rescue her.  She may eventually find her Prince Charming, but she’s more than capable of rescuing herself (a trait which I really liked about her).

Honestly, I devoured this book:  I finished it in less than two days, and then I promptly went online and bought the second and third books in the series (the fourth one, according to Meyer’s website, comes out in November of 2015 with a prequel having appeared in January).  I loved the characters, I loved the complexity of the story, and I even loved the tragic parts.  (Be forewarned, Cinder is tragic.  There is no happily-ever-after just yet, as this is only the first novel of four, which means Cinder’s story still has a long way to go.)

Long story short, I found Cinder to be a beautifully detailed story with appropriate amounts of suspense, action, and discovery to keep me invested from beginning to end.