All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries

Martha Wells

May 2017 · The Murderbot Diaries Book 1 · Sold by Tordotcom

About this ebook

A New York Times and USA Today Bestseller
Winner: 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella
Winner: 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novella
Winner: 2018 Alex Award
Winner: 2018 Locus Award
One of the Verge's Best Books of 2017

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 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.

The Murderbot Diaries
All Systems Red
Artificial Condition
Rogue Protocol
Exit Strategy
Network Effect
Fugitive Telemetry
System Collapse


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

I really don't know how to judge this other to say I'm angry for having bought it. As a short story it just did not work. tbh, I'm not motivated at all to read any of the coming books either because I'm frustrated and feel like I've been ripped off. We spent what, about 90 pages building things up, then in the space of a few paragraphs ended the entire story with what? The conclusion is essentially then an unconscious 'bot not being able to even tell us what happened? If the coming stories cover all this, then quite frankly, my own feeling is that this pamphlet is a waste of time.

I have not read the book yet because i can't buy it. So I like to say that I like to look at all the book covers because they looks so cool, and reading other people texts on how the books go and so I was like wow this series seem incredible. So for the problem for many people that did not give the author a 5 star review because of on how pricey it is and tiny details that people did not like. So I'm only giving 4 star because I have not read it yet

At the outset I wasn't sure what to expect from this story, thought I'd give it a try. Whilst relatively entertaining, there was no drama or thrills to be had from situations that should have warranted some a of excitement from the reader. Don't think I'll be looking at buying the sequels unfortunately.

About the author

MARTHA WELLS has written many novels, including the million-selling New York Times and USA Today-bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, which has won multiple Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards. Other titles include Witch King, City of Bones, The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the Books of the Raksura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads and ending with The Harbors of the Sun), and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction.