Murderbot Just Wants to Chill – All Systems Red by Martha Wells, A Murderbot Diaries Review

“I’m not a combat murderbot, I’m Security. I keep things from stacking the clients and try to gently discourage the clients from attacking each other.”

Meet Murderbot, an Imitative Human Bot Unit construct that is part machine, part cloned material. Kind of lazy and cheaply-built, our SecUnit is in charge of the security of humans for a greedy interplanetary bond company that hates spending money on equipment and facilities (“you could tell that by looking at the recycled upholstery on the habitat’s furniture").

Sometimes it’s research groups, other times mining, biology or tech companies. But for Murderbot, it doesn’t really matter who its clients are. Because all it wants to do since it was able to hack its own governor module is to avoid all people and responsibility to binge-watch its serials, the latest favorite being Sanctuary Moon (I'm sure it'd be over the moon to find out that its life is being turned into a serial, premiering on Apple TV on May 16th 2025).

“I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites.”

But despite all this, it still continues to do its contractual job—or an half-assed version of it—mostly to avoid “getting caught and dismembered.”

And so we follow Murderbot, with its sacastic commentary and oh-so-relatable dislike for social interaction, as it’s deployed with a small and tightly-knit group of human researchers. This group behave differently to the corporate people it's worked with in the past, though. They are smart, and kind of endearing and entertaining in their exchanges. But also awkward and unsufferable. They’ve clearly never worked with a SecUnit before.

They seem to actually care for Murderbot, they try to engage in polite conversation, and...*gasp*... treat it like a person. It just feels excruciating. “Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency.” For Murderbot it's much better to always keep its armor and helmet always on, and to watch its humans via the camera rather than looking them directly in the eyes. Overall, it'd rather take being ignored and spending time on its own any time of the day over talking about emotions.

But something happens during the mission. As they’re exploring a crater, two researchers get unexpectedly attacked by a beast, and the planetary survey package they were given at the start of the mission—it turns out—is missing some data. The planet system seems determined to kill them, but why? Could they've been tampered with? By whom? And for what reason? The mystery that ensues is full of adventure, explorations, fighting, unknown enemies, and possible sabotage.

Let’s not beat around the bush, All Systems Red is an incredible story that blends action, humor, and witty social commentary. It is simply fantastic!

If you want to see a socially awkward, sarcastic deadly machine navigate human emotions while also saving everyone’s life, this is the book for you. Full of fast-paced action and adventure, it is snarky, self-deprecating, and incredibly relatable, with just the right mix of tension and human emotion.

Martha Wells Murderbot Diaries sci-fi series is a phenomenon of interplanetary success. For a reason. Without much pretension and all within one action-packed novella, the author explores themes of society, autonomy, identity, and what it means to be human. Ultimately, if it's the sci-fi's popularity that might have you to this series, it is its human core that will win you over. At least this was the case for me.

⭐ 5/5 – Would trust Murderbot with my life, and choose it as my Netflix and Chill buddy any time of any day.