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language: English
country: USA
year: 2018
form: novel
genre(s): science fiction
dates read: 22.1.24-23.1.24
All Systems Red, the first of the Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells, was fine. I enjoyed the plot, although the resolution was abrupt (the climax is partly concealed behind a fade-to-black). I wish at least one member of the survey team had actually died; as it was, it didn’t feel like the book had any real follow-through behind the sense of impending danger it was trying to create.
I did not love Murderbot’s POV. at first I thought maybe it was just that I didn’t love Kevin R. Free’s performance as Murderbot, but as it went on I came to the conclusion that I just didn’t really enjoy the perspective.
it felt a bit like the book was afraid to commit to any of what it was doing — any time it got close to some real emotion, real danger, real anything, it retreated back into self-effacing irony and jokes. but also the jokes were trying way too hard and mostly weren’t that funny. the best part was Murderbot’s social discomfort, but even that, part of the core of the protagonist’s characterization, it kind of shied away from.
anyway. the audiobook was an enjoyable enough way to spend a few hours; I didn’t feel strongly enough about it either way to make me want to write a fuller review than this. I will probably not be moving on to the rest of the series.
moods: adventurous