All systems red by Martha Wells

Plot

 This is the first book in the murderbot diaries. One of my favorite series.

Murder bot is a secunit a security construct rented out by the company to provide security for research expedition on an uninhabited planet. But after two of the researcher nearly got killed by dangerous fauna that wasn't in the information packet. Large parts of their map is blank and when they loose contact with the only other expedition on the planet. It becomes clear that they are not as alone as they thought.

Murderbot must reveal that they are in fact not controlled by the habitat security system and haven't been since they hacked their own governing module month ago. 

My Thoughts

It's short I think its technically a novella and I read it in two days. But though there is places that could be stretched out I don't mind that they weren't. This isn't a suspense full book, the focus is on the mystery (who is messing with them and why) and outwitting them. Even more is about Murderbot´s anxieties about their changing circumstances. 

The whole book is from Murderbot´s perspective and it has captured it well both the anxiety and the in-humanness of them. A usual flaw of first person limited stories is how to incorporate conversations and events they weren't present for. This neatly solves that, the company records everything in the habitat to data-mine for trade-secrets. Murderbot, as part of the security system, can access these when they want. Beside using nearby cameras and drones as much if not more than their eyes. 

Interesting to see the expedition members reaction to realizing that Murderbot is less like a robot and more like a person than they thought. A somewhat traumatized, introverted person who gets overwhelmed by being talked to but who is also very capable of killing them all. 

It's surprisingly relatable. Murderbot doing the bare minimum of work to keep the Company from getting suspicious and reconnecting them to the system. All the while just wanting to watch their series. About the Company it's unnamed and while not really evil they are somewhat the antagonists they are just the worst of capitalism. Greedy and cheap, cutting corners where ever it can and will do the right thing only to avoid paying damages. 

Murderbot can be bought at Amazon