All Systems Red
{5/5} “So I’m awkward with actual humans. It’s not paranoia about my hacked governor module, and it’s not them; it’s me. I know I’m a horrifying murderbot, and they know it, and it makes both of us nervous, which makes me even more nervous. Also, if I’m not in the armor then it’s because I’m wounded and one of my organic parts may fall off and plop on the floor at any moment and no one wants to see that.”
All Systems Red by Martha Wells, published in 2017
Murderbot is a SecUnit — its job is not combat, it’s security. Any operation on a new planet has to have a SecUnit with it for security. When it rescues a couple of people after an indigenous creature surprises them, the humans are appreciative. Murderbot has already hacked its governor module so it can do whatever it wants, but it usually follows orders. It has spent a lot of its free time watching shows like Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.
This is the 1st novella in the Murderbot Diaries series.
It’s about exploring a planet where pieces of your data about that planet have been deleted. It’s also about how a cyborg interacts with humans, ones who are mostly reasonable and empathetic.
It grabs you from the very 1st sentence — the narrator is a very funny character.
This is the 1st book I’ve read by Wells.