Last week, looking for something to watch while I ate a massive bowl of rice and vegetables (a new staple for me. I put a lot of soy sauce in it), I pressed play on the new Apple TV show, Murderbot.

I watched the first three episodes and loved it. It’s a science fiction show with a premise that is, frankly, genius. It’s from the perspective of a security robot who has hacked its mind to become autonomous and unrestricted. Its life mostly consists of watching bad sci-fi shows, being neurotic, shooting big centipedes and other (less nice) robots. All while trying to pretend it isn’t a rogue unit around the annoying humans.

I had no idea it was based on a book until I did the ritualistic “web search for the thing I like” and discovered the source material. The first book is All Systems Red. The author, Martha Wells, has previously written novels set in the Star Wars and Stargate universes, as well as a well-received fantasy novel. There are more, but I was too focused on The Murderbot Diaries to do any sort of deep dive.

I grabbed the first book on Audible because it was free with my membership, and I quite literally started and finished it in a day. This isn’t quite the epic feat it sounds like, as it’s a short book. It’s very punchy, and I didn’t feel the need for more than a short coffee break before reaching the end.

The titular Murderbot is deadpan and nihilistic in ways that are subtly saltier than in the TV show. The story is told entirely from a single perspective, but it often feels like a third-person narrative thanks to Murderbot’s use of remote cameras to fill in the narrative blanks.

Murderbot has been left on contract to protect some hippy scientists doing a planetary survey, but it mostly tries to ignore them while watching space-Netflix. When things get prickly, it constantly compares real life to the space adventures it’s seen on TV. It tries its best to be a good guy, but never quite rules out mass murder. Though, at times, it does feel like it’s trying to convince itself that it’s more aloof than it actually is.

The book and TV show diverge a few episodes in, but the overall plot seems to be following the same arc. Despite having finished the book, I’m still enjoying the show. I’d recommend both, unquestionably.