New Scientists 11 of the best sci-fi books that transport you to another world

So I have to come out of my rage and sadness blanket fort to link to this:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2255452-11-of-the-best-sci-fi-books-that-transport-you-to-another-world/

Bad news: while exploring an alien planet, you are attacked by a monster.

Good news: you are rescued by the expedition’s cyborg security agent, a mandatory part of the service package you buy if you want to do something idiotic, like explore an alien planet.

Bad news: your CSA has a secret name for itself: “Murderbot”.

Martha Wells’s novella All Systems Red offers the sort of exploration of human decency no regular ethics class would ever dare to teach. Having hacked its governor module, Murderbot can kill. It just chooses not to. Much like the rest of us, then. And its patience is sorely tried in this deceptively frothy tale of skullduggery, explosions, betrayal, sabotage, more explosions and, yes, murder.

Comparisons to John Sladek’s Tik-Tok and Douglas Adams’s Marvin (the paranoid android) were inevitable, quick to arrive and well-earned. Be in no doubt, though: Murderbot is its own unique kind of grumpy, overly sensitive killing machine; consequently All Systems Red won Wells the Hugo, Nebula, Alex and Locus awards.

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