I really thought I was going to read all of the novellas this year but I did not. This series became my work break readers as I had them in the kindle app and could read them on my phone. That and I do not get reception where I work so it was a really nice lunchtime treat to read but as I’ve been working from home. I stopped reading at lunch as it would have been quite rude to ignore my family while at in the house.
Murderbot is the protagonist of this series and it is a former security protocol robot designed to protect those who hire its services. Our Muderbot though hack its system and released itself from the its directives. Now it spends down time watching futuristic soap operas and cruising the internet. Murderbot is antisocial and doesn’t like revealing its face when it doesn’t have to. It prefers to interact with people as little as possible as such interactions make it uncomfortable. Murderbot is all of us this year. It is basically what all of us would be if we were robots. Each novella tells a small enclosed story but all, so far, are connected in a larger story arc.
The first novella, All Systems Red, introduces Murderbot as the security robot for an exploration team 
of scientists but there is a strong hint of corporate malaise and suspicious things start happening. Murderbot has to protect its clients and figure out what is happening. The second novella catches Murderbot on a journey to uncover what led it to hacking its system and freeing itself from the company, yet remaining in hiding. It is a story about the present that explores Murderbots history.
I can’t wait to read the others in the series. Even if this is not your normal kind of book, Murderbot is such an interesting and engaging character that the first novella is worth a try.
I feel like Murderbot has tapped into a zeitgeist.
The Murderbot books were among my best reads this year! While you may not have made it through them this year, it gives you something to look forward to for Cannonball Read 13.