All Systems Red

it's hard to pull off a sardonic robot protagonist, and I think this did it

I was surprised that it was only the length of a novella, but it's a fun read.

It’s rare to find a compelling sci-fi book that also has a hefty helping of humor and sarcasm baked into its tone. I will definitely be reading more of this series. 

From the plot alone, this novella would be a bit of perhaps cliche science fiction. What makes it both unique and compelling is that the story being told from the perspective of the "Murderbot" (hence The Murderbot Diaries), a cyborg generally treated by society as a piece of equipment.

Martha Wells's writing does a good job of showing Murderbot's personality, its particular anxieties, its relationships towards humans, and general attitudes towards life. Even if the plot is cliche, Murderbot as a character is the opposite.

A socially awkward, traumatized by PTSD, has executive dysfunction, and just wants to be free and watch entertainment streams ... Murderbot is very relatable.

This was nice. Extremely pulp, but managed to get at some larger ideas.

I haven't been so compelled to read since a teenager. Murderbot sucked me in completely.