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All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)

By: Martha Wells
Narrated by: Alejandro Ruiz, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Michael John Casey, Zeke Alton, Rayner Gabriel, Natalie Van Sistine, David Cui Cui, Khaya Fraites, Aure Nash, Megan Dorminy
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Publisher's summary

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

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.

Performed by David Cui Cui, Khaya Fraites, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Aure Nash, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Megan Dorminy, Natalie Van Sistine, Michael John Casey, Rayner Gabriel, Shanta Parasuraman, Tanja Milojevic and Wyn Delano.

©2017 Martha Wells (P)2023 Graphic Audio LLC

What listeners say about All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Should have considered the story’s legacy

The work (book—narrative) is so good that it deserves better than this. Another reviewer’s critique addressed speed of delivery and gender and age of key characters, and nailed the disparagement of what comes off as an amateur review performance. Dramatic presentation of the Murderbot Diaries is desirable! But this isn’t it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

funny and action packed

murderbot is a delightful and funny narrator! it's nice to see such a great representation of a nonbinary, introverted character, I cannot wait to read more in the series. full cast recording is excellent!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mediocre version of the audiobook

Multiple voices and sound effects don’t make the story any better than the original. Movie in the mind is a little bit of a stretch

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mismatch of story & casts

The story is excellent, I love the dramatized effects (the clings and clangs). and the narrators are established performers, but this production is a mismatch.

First, this version is too fast. The original audiobook is 3 hours 17 minutes, and the dramatized version is 2 hours 30 minutes (the last few minutes in this version is a sample of another book). Just because the story is fast-paced, it doesn't mean the reading needs to be rapid. The book sounds to me like the narrators want to finish reading the book quickly and finish it. A more leisurely narration helps the readers to enjoy the story and the special effects. The people can talk fast, but the narration needs to be stable and clear.

Second, the narrator for Murderbot reads everything in a monotone - the story narration, the actions, the inter-thoughts, and the dialogues - everything sounds more or less the same. This technique could be good for non-fiction, but what's the point of dramatizing a book if the narration is flat?

Third, the voices of some characters sound out of character. For example, the voice of Dr. Mensha, who is an established middle-aged woman and a fearless leader, sounds too young. Yes, in real life, someone in her shoes could technically sound like that, but in an audiobook, we, the readers, want the character to sound like what we expect him/her/them to be unless there is a good reason for otherwise. Also, I (and my friend, who has only read the books and not listened to the audio versions) think Murderbot's voice should be lower. I do like the casts for Ratthi and Gurathin - they fit the personalities.

If you are new to the story and intrigued by the story, please listen to the original version narrated by Kevin R. Free. If you are a fan and curious, try this at your own risk. (I know about the risk, but I still can't resist.)

If you are looking for outstanding dramatized audiobooks, check out: "Good Omens - A Full Cast Production" by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, and narrated by the main actors in the TV show; "The Graveyard Book: Full-Cast Production" by Neil Gaiman; or "The Sandman" by Neil Gaiman, all three books, which are straight-out full cast books, not dramatized version of audiobooks, but the best dramatized audiobook ever.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love the story, not the performance

I love The Murderbot Diaries, and have read them several times so I decided to try the audio versions for my work commute. The audio version of Network Effect was pretty good so I decided to get the whole series. Unfortunately All Systems Red is poorly cast and poorly performed. The reader for SecUnit is light, chipper, and going way too fast. SecUnit is anxious and depressed and it expresses that in sarcasm and dry humor. To convey that you need a slower pacing and emphasis for emotional weight. Also, the reader for SecUnit mispronounced a few words - was there no director? Was the director not paying attention? And Dr. Mensah is described as having very dark skin and being calm and mature but the reader for her sounds like a 20-something white woman. I returned the audio and Audible returned my credit so I have no complaints there. I'll listen to samples before I buy next time. Maybe the series will be re-done after the Apple+ show.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Maybe the printed version was better???

For it’s award pedigree this dramatized version makes the material seem to be the writing of a novice. Should I give the book a read ??

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I am a fan of the written novel and of the original audio production, but not of this version. The production quality of this dramatization is good, except for the pacing. I usually speed up playback of audiobooks a bit. This listen is the first time I've had to slow the playback, and dramatically at that. Otherwise, Murderbot's sarcastic humor is lost and it comes across as just weird. Murderbot's character comes across as cheerful in this production, and that's all kinds of wrong.

The other character voices present a fresh take on these characters, and I enjoyed them. However, Murderbot's dry sarcasm is the entire point of the novela, and I miss it. This is not a response to the voice of David Cui Cui, which is fine, but in this instance he did not nail the essence of Murderbot.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My 4th Copy!

This is my 4th copy of this book. I own a hardcover, a digital book, a regular audiobook, and now this full audio drama version. And I do not regret a single one. The story is epic and I relate to Murderbot so much! The performances and sound effects were a great enhancement to the way everything played out too! Now I just need the movie!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This is Terrible.

The cast was competent, but the pacing destroyed an otherwise excellent book. I really enjoy Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, and while I was sad to see that Kevin R. Free was NOT cast as Murderbot, I was glad to see the series get enough attention to rate a full cast.

Overall, the acting was competent. Not great, and most were clearly not familiar with the wider corpus of the series, but good enough to be an enjoyable listen, if not for the glaring problem of pacing and tone. I don't know if the director was incompetent, if the producers were pushing an untenable schedule, or if the actors were simply never in a room together, but the performances almost universally failed to capture the tone of the book. The actor playing the SecUnit sounded just so gosh-darned happy to be there, youthful and full of hope as he portrayed an anxious, depressed, worn out slave, contracted out as a cheap second-hand security device, and at a pace that felt like a dead sprint. The other cast members, too, sounded like they were just trying to get through their lines as quickly as they could while still playing a character. Almost like a sight-reading.

The entire tone of the book in text and in the original audio is one of hopeless boredom, leading into visceral terror, to creeping dread, and finally to catharsis. The narrating character continually exhibits a sense of fatalism and depression, intermixed with mortal terror. the supporting characters spend most of the book terrified, thinking on the fly, struggling to figure out what's going on and what to do to stay alive. Why wasn't that portrayed? Why did it feel like we were just trying to get to the end of the book?

This could have been a wonderful addition to the series. Instead it feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure handed down from a board room executive.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Where's Kevin?

As a fan, Murderbot's voice can only be Mr Free. While everyone did a fine job, nothing was added to the story with the dramatization. And yet something critical was LOST and that was the absence of Mr Free's voice.

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