Marty Fried's Reviews > All Systems Red

I enjoyed this book a lot. My only complaint is that it was too short, but fortunately there's more.

It's a little hard to categorize a book like this. The main character was a specialized android who instead of dreaming of electric sheep, dreams of serialized entertainment, movies, music, etc. He doesn't particularly like interacting with humans, even though his job is to protect them at all costs. But he doesn't seem to care so much about them as about his own job security. Having his humans killed or damaged isn't good for his job. However, I think he cares more about them than he realizes, and is actually more human than he realizes, too.

The story itself was somewhat secondary to the development of the android, self-named Murderbot. But the story was interesting enough to keep the reader going. Considering the small size of the novella, the author did a pretty good job with the story.

The book's style reminds me a little of The Martian in its narrative style. This might be influenced by the fact that both were audiobooks for me, and the narrators had a similar style. But they were both told in a sort of matter-of-fact first person narrative with subtle humor mixed in.