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  • All Systems Red

  • By: Martha Wells
  • Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
  • Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,008 ratings)

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All Systems Red cover art

All Systems Red

By: Martha Wells
Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
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AUD $16.45/mo after 2 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.

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Publisher's Summary

All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels.

All Systems Red tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

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.

©2017 Martha Wells (P)2017 Recorded Books

What listeners say about All Systems Red

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good fun, well written, good main character

So I've been on a bit of a binge of sentient AI stories over the last couple of years - the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor, A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, The Imperial Radch by Anne Leckie, probably others. I wasn't sure I wanted to try another one, but the blurb intrigued me and all the others have been so different I gave it a go. I was glad I did. Not amazing writing, but Martha Wells strength is in her main character and her universe.

There are a few negatives - I dislike when I feel like I'm smarter than the characters and can figure out the mystery (or most of it) ahead of them, but it wasn't too bad this time, I'm trying to avoid spoilers so won't say any more. Most of the supporting characters are very one (or maybe two) dimensional. The strengths are many. There's no unnecessary scenes, the author only gives as much info about her universe as is needed for the story, and I really enjoyed the likeable portrayal of the main character. The action wasn't over the top heroic - all violence had a cost to all involved, and - as I said before - no unnecessary scenes.

I wasn't hooked at first on the narrator, he doesn't do voices well IMHO, but I got used to his voice after a while so no real issues there.

Overall this is a great book if you love the sentient AI genre of sci-fi, and a good book if you're ambivalent. At three hours and 17 min it's a little on the short side, so if you hate it then your suffering won't last long. I'm definitely buying the next one.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Way too short for the price

Fine in of itself, had the story kept on for maybe another 5 or 6 hours, it would have gotten a solid 4 stars. my bad for not checking the run time before shelling out my hard earned cash.
The plot is relatively thin, but redeemed by the emotional complexity and quirky internal monologue of the outwardly butch protagonist.

I see a worthwhile movie in there somewhere

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Autistic robot decides he doesn't want to kill

Concept was engaging but execution poor. The murderbot just didn't seem robotic at all, less of a sentient AI and more of an autistic kid that lucked his way into PMC work. The audio volume varied greatly, performance wasn't too bad though. Definitely not worth the usual price - got it on the daily deal and would've been upset to use a credit on it. Good buy for $2 though

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Humans arnt.to be trusted

Hang out with the humans? or stay in the cargo pod?
mmm....easy choice.
I burned through this audiobook, darkly funny, action packed.
If you are somewhere on the spectrum, gay or just seriously distrust people, this book is for you.
I know who I was barracking for.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Saving the rest of the story for vol 2 I guess

Interesting story but just ends half way through. Tone of narration is a bit meh

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • baz
  • 06-01-2021

more a short story

liked it but a short story, not worth full price, shame as main character could be great.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great but short

Very funny and worth listening to. But its so short needs to be double the size

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Short, simple, and highly entertaining.

Who doesn't want to hear about the adventures of a disenfranchised murder-bot?

Lot's of fun, the story was quite entertaining, and the world building was interesting enough. I'm only slightly disappointed that the murder-bot was more of a cyborg than a straight-up robot.

There's not a lot of depth as far as exploring how AI's might fit into or interact with society, and the story is relatively unrelated to AIs. I would still very much recommend it as a fun little story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • BW
  • 18-03-2024

Great character development

For a short story the author does a great job building up the main protagonist. The story is well paced and engaging throughout.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Glad I persisted

It took me a while to connect with the characters and enjoy the story but I am glad I persisted. I appreciated the neurodivergent flavour of Murderbot, with it's literal interpretation of statements and dry humour.

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