Review

Murderbot (self-named) is a SecUnit security guard cyborg who has hacked its governor module, so that it’s essentially autonomous and can thus watch entertainment (e.g. a long-running space soapie called Sanctuary Moon) in its spare time. Its clients (a scientific research team) don’t realise its independence, and that suits Murderbot just fine. The last thing it wants to do is talk with or be around people, even this okay-seeming bunch of people. That makes it feel uncomfortable. It just wants to be left alone to do its job and watch its media.

But when the research team is unexpectedly attacked and tech starts going rogue, Murderbot realises that there’s sabotage afoot… and, on a strange planet, facing an unknown and ruthless enemy, it is the only thing that could help its humans survive.

*

I’d heard great things about this, so I was curious to read it. I found it mildly enjoyable and kind of refreshing. I do enjoy a good narrative voice, and Murderbot’s is amusing in a very dry and understated way.

I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realised I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.

I love the premise of the machine with a (sort-of) conscience and consciousness — not a new one, I know, but still. I love that it could have done all sorts of evil but decided to take advantage of free streaming instead. (My lottery dream: subscriptions to everything.) It’s also not a vigorous do-gooder, but a fly-under-the-radar slacker, which is fun. Reminds me a bit of Marvin the paranoid android from Hitchhiker’s, except it’s not depressed. On the internet, Murderbot’s viewed as autistic-coded, due to its discomfort with eye contact and talk-about-feelings.

At times I found the action a bit hard to follow, but I was quite happy to skim along until I was on firmer ground. It’s quite a short book, a novella. I’m interested in reading another one. (It’s the first in a series.)

Suitable for year 7 & up. 160 pp.

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Sci-fi violence, e.g. alien monster attacks, rogue cyborgs shooting people, explosions, deaths & injuries; Murderbot is thought to be autistic-coded; the humans mention slavery and briefly discuss the ethics of treating cyborgs like robots; Murderbot killed fifty-seven people (backstory) due to a defective governor module.

*

Wells, M. (2017). All systems red. Tor Books.

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