Peter R. S. Thomas

Tag: novella

  • Book Review: All Systems Red

    Book Review: All Systems Red

    In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

    But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

    On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

    But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

    All Systems Red by Martha Wells is the first instalment of the Murderbot Diaries, published in 2017. So, yes, I’m a little late to the party.

    This is my first Murderbot read, and my first Martha Wells read, too. And I loved it. This is short-form sci-fi at it’s best. The main character, Murderbot, is an endearing mixture of insecure, anti-social, and self-effacing. Murderbot is part machine, part organic, but wholly constructed as a security unit. And it is able to hack into its ‘governor module’, the part of its circuitry that forces it to abide by external commands and protocols, and become self-determining. 

    Despite its best efforts, Murderbot, who would rather watch endless serials from the entertainment feeds, becomes attached to the human scientists who have rented it from the ‘Company’, a corporate entity who supply subpar supplies and materials for interplanetary exploration.

    To keep the book short and accessible, the world-building is fairly light, focusing around familiar themes of rogue robots and hacked computer networks, in a universe dominated by corporations and corporate interests. This works well, and the reader is able to focus on the characters and their relationships to one another—Murderbot, of course, as our perspective character, but the others, too: the calm leader, the sceptic distrustful of Murderbot, the empathetic scientists keen to draw out Murderbot’s emotional side. Through their interactions with Murderbot, we get a window into their different personalities. We also explore our protagonist’s anxieties and struggles—showing that, despite being a SecUnit, Murderbot could be just as human as the scientists it’s protecting. Throughout, the robot bounces between analytical and emotional, detached and invested.

    At the heart of the plot is a mystery that unfolds at a steady pace across the pages. It thumps along with a steady staccato, with revelations at each stage that keen the reader interested. The unraveling of the mystery is satisfying and helps flesh out the broader world that Murderbot and the scientists are operating in. So, in learning more about the mysterious forces at play, we learn more about how the corporate universe works—an effective use of words in a short novel!

    This series came recommended to me by a number of people, and I am deeply thankful for that. The novel takes familiar sci-fi elements (AI, corporate dominance of space) and explores them through the lens of an engaging and relatable protagonist. I am happy to pass on the recommendation to anyone who hasn’t yet read All Systems Red!

  • Book Review: Thornhedge

    Book Review: Thornhedge

    There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

    Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

    If only.

    Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

    Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher is a beautiful novella that both honours and subverts traditional fairy tales: This is, after all, not a story about the princess in the tower!

    One of the most striking aspects of the novella for me was the writing style. Kingfisher has a way of writing where the words seem strange and unusual together, but they’re formed in such a way that help you understand what the characters are feeling. Even something like this:

    She would never be able to describe the ride. No one ever asked her, but she would have liked to have the words to fit around it, if only for herself. It was like a dream that went on for many hours, and in the morning the fragments still lay dusted across her shoulders.

    It just reminds me why I love reading. When done well, writing is such a beautiful art form.

    The magic system is well crafted—simple, but effective, and aesthetically very pleasing. Toadling, the main character, is able to draw on the water around her, and that gives the magic a ‘wetness’, which lends itself well to analogies:

    The drops became a stream, became a torrent, and then Toadling was swimming in the magic, surrounded by it.

    The novel’s structure is equally sophisticated. We move between past and present with a growing urgency. As the narrative progresses, these switches happen more quickly as the book goes on, with the backstory and current events drawing closer together until they finally meet.

    And, of course, at the heart of the story are its characters, Toadling and Halim. Toadling in particular is irresistible. Her quirks and imperfections only make her more endearing. She forms a relationship with the self-deprecating and overly apologetic Halim in a way that feels natural and authentic.

    Together these elements combine in a way that feels fresh in a space so heavily saturated—fairy tales and fae are, of course, long-written and well-read genres. But I think even seasoned readers will find something new in this novella. It is a short read that will stay with you for long after you finish.