A SecUnit (Security Unit) robot, also known as a Murderbot, becomes self aware by hacking it's governor chip. But instead of going on a bloody rampage and, you know, murdering everyone around it, it opts to hack into the entertainment feed provided for the humans it is tasked with protecting.

If anyone finds out that Murderbot isn't being controlled by The Company anymore, it will be destroyed, so Murderbot tries it's best to keep quiet about it. But when things start to go wrong on the survey planet, keeping the secret hidden gets complicated, especially when the leader of the mission, Mensah, seems really perceptive.

This story was excellent. I loved the growth we got to see in Murderbot and the recognition of it being aro/ace. Note: Murderbot's chosen pronouns seem to be "it", hence my using them in this review. The growing awareness of the human crew that Murderbot may not be just a mindless security machine and the contrast of their discomfort around a partly organic partly machine entity was very well done.

The storyline was really compelling too. I loved the way Murderbot was able to talk freely about the company and how they do everything for as cheap as possible which is why stuff breaks and the rescue beacon is super cheap was really relatable.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but I was REALLY pleased to see the direction they went and I hope there are more books because I want to see what might happen next!