Donald Maass Literary Agency

RT Book Reviews: You’ll need to clear your schedule as soon as you get your hands on a copy of Drayden’s debut novel! Taking place in a near-future South Africa, Drayden introduces us to a diverse and endearing cast of characters and mind-blowingly cool concepts. She expertly blends together science fiction and fantasy for a wild ride that gives readers both a robot uprising and a vengeful demigoddess craving power. LGBT characters are also introduced organically, and their personal stories will leave readers cheering. Drayden has certainly made herself an author to watch out for.

Locus: “Murderbot,” as the sardonic first-person narrator in Martha Wells’s All Systems Red refers to itself, would simply prefer to be left in peace to watch serialized entertainments in its own high-tech suit. Sadly, given that the planetary expedition Murderbot is part of goes horribly wrong when one of the scientists is almost eaten by the local fauna, it isn’t going to get its wish.

All Systems Red is a light but interesting story about a creation that is half human (maybe) and half non-organic parts, who is learning to deal with actual humans. Murderbot resists being pulled into the circle of fleshy creatures around it. Really, it would just as soon stay on the outside.

The humans, too, aren’t so sure what to make of Murderbot, who was foisted upon them by the corporation who owns exploration rights to the planet they are on. They don’t trust it or its motivations, all of which are complicated by its unreadable responses. Add to that inherent tension Wells’s brisk pacing, an intriguing enough mystery, and lucid action sequences, and this story is a great kick-off for a continuing series of Murderbot Diaries, which are being planned. With this novella Wells, who is better known for her fantasy work, proves that she can play in a science fictional world as well.

B&N SFF Blog: This debut, out in June, has something for every SFF reader, and we’re not just saying that. It welds together urban fantasy, epic fantasy, horror, and science fiction in the futuristic South African city of Port Elizabeth. A hallucinogenic drug (possibly fueled by deific powers), a robot uprising, a little girl with every right to be angry at the world, and an ancient goddess looking to win followers and regain her rightful place in the world (that would be ruling it), even if it takes the blood and bone of all the humans around her to do it­—Nicky Drayden is throwing everything at the wall, and you won’t believe how much of it sticks. The characters will enchant you, the bloodthirsty goddess and the closeted trans government official and the young queer boy and the gentle A.I. alike, and the vibrance of the setting and the velocity of the storytelling will knock your socks off. This novel is going to blow up. Pre-order it, and say you read it when.

B&N SFF Blog: Veteran fantasist Wells proves her sure hand at sci-fi as she imagines a future dominated by corporations, in which the twin imperatives of bureaucratic adherence to policies and the need to award all contracts to the lowest bidder result in every planetary mission being required to be accompanied by a company-supplied SecUnit, an artificially intelligent android built from cheap parts, and as likely to malfunction as all of the other shoddy equipment the expeditions are counting on to, oh, keep them breathing. The SecUnit narrating the story has hacked its own Governor Module, attaining sentience and free will; it would despise the humans it protects if it didn’t find them so boring, but it nevertheless refers to itself as Murderbot. When its humans are attacked by something outside of the experience provided by its data banks, however, Murderbot must turn its prickly, near-omniscient mind towards not just the survival of its humans, but itself. This slim read is both surprisingly funny and packed with intriguing future worldbuilding, all the more reason to celebrate the sequel due later in the year.