All Systems... Bread??? (All Systems Red D.A.R.E Review part 4: Evaluate)

 

I apologize for the horrid visual pun.

         Hello and welcome back to the blog responsible for puns so bad tat they should be considered crimes against humanity as a whole. I am your constantly sleep-deprived host, and right about now we're at the last segment of the MurderBot DARE review! Right about now it's time for me to let loose and absolutely go ham with gushing over what I believe to be one of Martha Wells's best works on account that this series has been the only work by Martha Wells I have read during the school year. Not to worry, as I've actually quite a few of her other novels in my backlog so I'll certainly get around to those in the summer. Without further ado, it's evaluation time!

        I'll keep this part short and sweet because you've probably heard my ramblings fifty times over in the past few blog posts. "All Systems Red" is a novel I highly recommend, both for pleasure reading AND for the AP test, given the protagonist is an absolute relatable chad of a robot, not to mention the literary complexity of Martha Wells's work allows for many an analysis to be made about the complex protagonist that is Murderbot. 

        The thing about literary complexity, though, is the fact that it just gives off the vibe of "not fun" when you hear it in this context. It's like the Chris D. Funk of writing. Moment you hear that name, not to mention its scary older brother "thematic depth", you know it's time to bolt in fear. But I just want to say, that's not really the case for murderbot. Yes, Murerbot is complex, it has layers, but there's something oddly fun about the series. It hits both sides of the brain hard. Not only is it thought provoking in the least annoyingly pretentious way possible, but it also manages to hit the reader right in the feels. If you're anything like me and never cry when reading a book, I'd be willing to bet that at the very least, you'd want to by the time you get to book 5. And at most, you'll be crying yourself to sleep like a student after the district finds out that they've learned to think for themselves, and not just mindlessly contribute to Chris D. Funk's massive paycheck. This is coming from a person who hasn't really cried from a piece of media since Wall-E and the Iron Giant. I have no idea how Wells made the protagonist this likeable, but it works so well.

        In summary, I highly recommend this novel, and even the rest of the series to go with it. I sound like I'm being payed or held at gunpoint to say this, but no, it's actually surprisingly one of the few non-horror and non-giant robot novels I genuinely enjoy. I can neither confirm nor deny my hyperfixation on the series.

But Funk Can.