All Systems Red [Dramatized Adaptation]

Martha Wells, David Cui Cui, Michael John Casey, Rayner Gabriel, Khaya Fraites, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Aure Nash, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Megan Dorminy, Natalie Van Sistine

This book might be part of the Murderbot Diaries series.

(8 reviews)

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 …

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."

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.

Performed by David Cui Cui, Khaya Fraites, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Aure Nash, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Megan Dorminy, Natalie Van Sistine, Michael John Casey, Rayner Gabriel, Shanta Parasuraman, Tanja Milojevic and Wyn Delano.

9 editions

Audiobook

English language

Published by Graphic Audio.

ISBN:: 979-8-89055-052-1
Copied ISBN!

Subjects

Human-computer interaction
Life on other planets
Artificial intelligence
Androids
Robots
Interplanetary voyages
Fiction
Fiction, science fiction, general

Reviews

Optional reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

That's a green light from me

4 stars

Lighthearted, fun, and quick!

Read my full review

Arnaud Launay reviewed Défaillances systèmes by Martha Wells (Journal d'un AssaSynth, #1)

Bonne découverte

3 stars

J'ai commencé par la série #Apple avant de découvrir le livre... On sent bien la différence. Le livre est court et se lit vite, et pose les bases d'un univers intéressant, posant plus de questions que de réponses. On verra les tomes suivants !

En revanche, la traduction... Avec des "iel" à toutes les sauces, je hais cette mode. Dans mon dictionnaire français, il existe "il", "elle", et pour les objets, il existe "ça". Ce style de traduction n'est spécifié nulle part. Si j'avais su, j'aurais pris la VO. J'ai les yeux qui saignent à chaque fois que je tombe dessus, avec une très forte envie de le corriger... Pourquoi ne pas faire une édition "vieux cons" et une édition "jeunes woke avec orthographe 90 en prime", afin que chacun ait ce qui lui convient ?

Bref: - le livre: 4/5 - la traduction, 2/5.

Note totale, 3/5.

Tilde Lowengrimm reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Just as good as I remember

5 stars

After finishing the show (which has been renewed for a second season!) I thought I'd go back and check out the original to recall exactly what changes they made for the screen.

There weren't many — the show is pretty darn close to the novella. I guess having such tight clean source material means there isn't as much you need to cut. A lot of it was pretty streamlined — a couple of characters were merged, human thoughts and feelings get more screen time, making it more of an ensemble piece, and the addition of Leebeebee to make Murderbot more visually scary for us.

After finishing the show (which has been renewed for a second season!) I thought I'd go back and check out the original to recall exactly what changes they made for the screen.

There's less detail to the tech/interface/hacking/hub system interactions. I don't think I've ever seen a hacking scene I really liked which both felt genuine and was visually interesting. (If you're wondering, the two best onscreen hacks are: 1. Trinity's use of nmap and the SSH1 CRC32 exploit in Matrix Reloaded, which is realistic but visually mundane and only appears on screen for a few moments, making it more of an easter egg than anything else, and 2. Hugh Jackman assembling a hacking cube from an ancient server in Swordfish, none of which has any relationship to reality, but which is very flashy on screen and includes Hugh Jackman.

The biggest thing which felt different to me was the absence of Murderbot's ubiquitous use of micro drones and remote cameras as extensions of its sensorium. In the novella, I really felt like Murderbot was deeply connected to the feed and that looking through a remote camera or accessing a database was was as natural for it as reaching out a hand or looking in a particular direction is for us. There were definitely nods to this — it wasn't exactly forgotten — but it was considerably less ubiquitous and visceral than in the novella.

And I think this contributed to making it more of an ensemble piece. In the novellas, the reader doesn't have any senses: we're not watching or listening. We are reading an account composed by someone whose sensorium & perception are comprehensible but alien to us — like reading a cuttlefish talk about light polarization and how it's using chromatophores. And in fact I think that this is one of the deep strengths of the series. Murderbot is a killing machine with guns in its arms who experiences the world through drones & feeds and minimal fear of pain or death. But also, it's an autistic nerd treated as less than a person in a corporate dystopia and just wants to be left alone to watch its shows, just like the reader.

Anyway, this novella continues to delight. If you enjoyed the show and like to read, check it out. The books are very short and easy to get into, which makes it very easy to start and equally disappointing when you run out.