Books by Martha Wells are consistently mentioned in social media science fiction groups as favourite reads, so I decided to read one of her novels to see what her imagination and writing are like. I chose All Systems Red as it is about a sentient android. The subject of sentient artificial intelligence fascinates me. I have read a number of novels in this science fiction subgenre.
The story takes place on a mostly unexplored planet. An exploratory team has received permission from an all-powerful corporation to explore a part of the planet. They are warned not to stray from their assigned areas because of perceived dangers, so a reader will immediately think the corporation is trying to hide something on the other parts of the planet.
The small exploratory team is assigned a company-supplied self-aware android SecUnit for security and to probably spy on their activities. The story is told from the point of view of the android, who refers to itself as Murderbot due to its involvement in killing many humans on a previous assignment. The android is supposed to be linked to corporate control so they can get it to do their bidding if needed, including possibly wiping out the exploratory team if they discover something valuable to the corporation. However, Murderbot is a clever android who has managed to hack his system, so the corporation is unaware that it does not have ultimate control over him.
Of course, the exploratory team strays into other areas, and bad things happen. When they can’t contact another exploratory group on another part of the planet, everyone, including the reader, knows that Murderbot will have to save them from whatever happened to the other group. But will the android be able to prevent the corporation from regaining control of its systems or prevent its warlike nature from killing or deserting its team in self-preservation?
All Systems Red is a well-written science fiction adventure novel. As such, it is an entertaining, quick read. But it has little new to say about the relationship between sentient androids and humans. Its theme of keeping an android’s free will in check to use them as killing machines is somewhat overdone in science fiction. For a more nuanced look at sentient androids, I suggest reading novels like Autonomous by Annalee Newitz, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro or Annie Bot by Sierra Greer.
All Systems Red is a well-written page-turner but lacks inspiring, original and challenging ideas. It did have a bit of a surprise post-denouement, probably so the author could move the story to a completely new setting for the second novella in the series. I did not realise when I shelled out $22 (AUD) on Amazon for the book that it was only a 152-page novella. I doubt whether I will be purchasing the other novellas.