All Systems Red (July 2020) Buddy Read Discussion - Eléonore & Mina & Jen K & Breanna

[Aless, Discord/Readathon Procrastinator]

Welcome to All Systems Red Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on July 1st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each week we will be reading by chapters. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 7/1
July 1: Chapters 1-4
July 2: Chapters 5-8


PARTICIPANTS
~ Eléonore
~ Mina
~ Jen K
~ Breanna

[Eleo Emil]

Hello ! Thanks for joining this Buddy Read.
I have just finished reading the first two chapters and I am feeling a mixture of excitement for their mission and boredom because everything seems to remain too much on the surface. However, I do appreciate Murderbot's humor.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I read the first 4 chapters and I have to say that I agree with the boredom and things being on the surface, but since this is so short I'm not expecting something super explained.
Murderbot's attitude is amazing :D Not wanting to deal with humans is so me 😅

[Breanna]

I’m trying to listen to it on audio but I’m not liking the narrator at all!! I’ll have to switch to physically reading it later tonight when I get home from work so I won’t be able to say much about my thoughts until then.

[Breanna]

I've read the first four chapters and I will say it's definitely starting to get better. I was a bit concerned with how rushed and unexplained things were in the beginning. It was action right from the get go and I felt very disoriented at first. There are definitely points that are rushed through or tossed over, but like @Mina said, it's a short book so I wasn't expecting anything super detailed.
I'm liking the crew, and I think Murderbot is a fascinating narrator! Very relatable. I'm not sure the story is going where I thought it would, but I'm definitely liking it! Interested to see what the rest of the novel is about.

[Jen K]

Finished the first four chapters last night. I agree that there was a quite a bit of jargon and setting up of the company, the Hubsystem and such to start. It was a bit confusing but necessary.

I adore the personality of Murderbot. It is so well done. I love it's reaction to the team trying to humanize them. I'm totally drawn in and excited to continue today.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I listened to the audiobook while also reading it, and I also didn't like the narrator. For some reason I thought, and was really convinced, that Murderbot is "female" so I was surprised when I heard a male voice in the audiobook.

I liked the novella, however I wish it was a full novel. Hopefully, reading the rest of the novellas it'll feel like a full novel.

[Breanna]

I finished earlier and I really enjoyed this read! It definitely got better as the book went on, though I definitely don’t understand everything about the world yet and still have some questions. I’m very curious to see where the next books go. I also wonder whether or not we’ll see any of the other characters in this book again. Regardless I absolutely loved Murderbot and am definitely gonna continue in the series!

[Jen K]

Ha ha, I also kept thinking that Murderbot was female and somehow got it stuck in my head that the name is Martha (author's name)...

I finished on my lunch break because I had to know how it ended. So good. I now understand why people were so excited when the latest book came out recently. I need to see where Murderbot goes next.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

@Jen K SAME 😂😂 I thought it's name was Martha. I think we thought that because the author's name first catches the eye, it's white and bigger than the title.

[Eleo Emil]

I'm glad you enjoyed your reading too. I liked MurderBot very much, but I see them more as non-binary, as the pronoun "iel" is used in French. I became attached to the characters and now I want to know the rest of their story.

[Breanna]

You know I never had that problem, but maybe it’s because I started by listening to the audiobook by itself and so just assumed it had male features (though I also think of it as non-binary, since that’s how I assume it thinks of itself.) I did however expect Murderbot to be an actual robot and was pleasantly surprised that it was partly organic/human.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Oh, I thought it was female waaaay before I started the novella. But after listening to it I started seeing Murderbot as non-binary too, it was just a surprise.