All Systems Pain (All Systems Red D.A.R.E Review Part 3: Reflect)

        Hello readers and welcome back to the blog whose owner can't think of a good joke to hook you in with right about now. It's your wonderful procrastinating host, and we're back at the Reader in Yellow for another instance of me gushing over Murderbot. Buckle up because today's topic is reflecting, and oh dearie do I reflect hard on everyone's favorite space-netflix-watching-cybernetic-organism!

I'm reflecting almost as hard as the light on the helmet of Russian-Cover MurderBot

 

         To sum up Murderbot's character: Murderbot is an absolute introvert legend, as many an internet user hath once spake. While I myself do not consider myself an introvert (I hate not having people around me, although I'm really bad at talking. I do it anyways, I just sound like a fool when I do), I can relate super hard to Murderbot's predicaments, especially during moments when it has to pretend to be the most competent and composed person when it very clearly isn't. 

        Probably the only thing I tooootally can't relate to is the fact that Murderbot seems like it is in constant denial of being depressed even though it totally is, while I'm pretty sure I'm not depressed because there are many moments in my life when I am happy. Although yes I'm very aware that my mental state is not always the finest, hence the joke. Pretty sure I'm not depressed, though. That aside, in "All Systems Red", when Murderbot first removes its helmet and startles the other members of its crew with its humanoid face, I felt taken back to distance learning when some folks who had their cameras off for a while suddenly turned them on. It was a huge "so THAT's how you look like!" moment for me and I feel like that's probably how the supporting cast of Murderbot felt at that very moment.

         Hilariously, adding to the above, Murderbot kind of got me through quarantine. I actually found the series while my mental health was falling pretty bad, and I read it on a whim alongside a slew of other novels that I was expecting to be horrible. It sounded like it was going to be "friday the 13th from the perspective of Jason X" or something, but pleasantly surprised me, and what little laughter it gave me during that time really did help. Heck, I'd even go as far as to say it helped me improve my own writing skill, by noticing the little subtleties thrown in and going ham with creativity on how I could apply those little tricks myself. 

        Obviously, I can't go a single post without mentioning Chris D. Funk, and thus I ought to thank him (although at this point I hardly blame him, given he's resigned and all), I guess, alongside any other board members that contributed to this hamfisted distance learning plan, for ruining my mental health to the point where I actually could find this novel and get fed up enough to read it in spite of having judged it by its cover out of desperation for a good escape from the world. If there's one benefit to distance learning, it's probably that I've rediscovered my love of reading because of it.

Apparently now I'm blaming him for myself finding out that this wonderful series exists.

        That depressing note aside, I feel like literally anyone and everyone can probably find some aspect of the Murderbot series relatable. So there's that.