Techno-Thrillers discussion

The April 2024 read is All Systems Red by Martha Wells, the first installment of the Murderbot Diaries series, which is mostly novellas, including this title.

Marketing Summary
A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid ― a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

This novella was quick (< 3hr read/listen) and catchy. See my review for more. It struck a chord, I wanted more, and next thing you know, ... ripped through the whole series.
- 7 books so far (mostly novellas)
- A few additional teaser short stories published in magazines/blogs.
- One full length novel (Network Effect)
- One novella turned short novel

These series isn't over per se, ... expecting more installments the future.

Apple TV+ optioned film rights, and started filming in Toronto in March 2024 for an upcoming series.

So far, 8 of us have read it ... and at least 1 or 2 were reading when it was our April 2024 read.

Feel free to share/discuss your thoughts/questions/likes/dislikes/etc. ... with spoiler tags as appropriate for those who haven't read it.

Love Murderbot! Great thriller-escalation + suspense, and interesting characters to root for (and against). The first one sucked me in so well I immediately read the first five (forcing myself to take a break now).

I find it really interesting that a robot/cyborg/partial-AI is (view spoiler)[the hero who must save humans from other bad humans. AIs are usually the baddie--fun twist. (hide spoiler)]

I also enjoy the Western genre element running through these stories: Murderbot is (view spoiler)[a powerful-but-reluctant hero who must battle with powerful villains to save weak, rule-of-law-abiding citizens (hide spoiler)], which is the classic theme/element running through Westerns. Does this make it a space opera? Not sure, but I love Westerns!