Service Model

Adrien Tchaikovsky
Completed 11/24/2024 Reviewed 11/24/24
5 Stars

I was completely blown away by this novel.  It’s only my second Tchaikovsky read.  The first was novella, Made Things, which I really liked, but this book was amazing.  It’s quite apropos of the current debates over AI.  Here, robots take over the world and humankind falls.  It has great world building, prose and character development.  Most of all, I felt fully immersed in the world and empathized with not only the main character, but also a secondary character.  And the ending blew me away.  This book was published this year, so it’s up for awards next year.  I hope it gets nominated for at least a few.

The book begins with Charles, a valet robot for his human master.  He finds himself performing his normal routine despite nothing around him changing.  Eventually, he figures out that the master is dead.  However, he has trouble getting out of his routine because of how he’s programmed.  He calls the police and paramedics, but they are also bound by their logic.  Or more accurately, stuck.  It is revealed that Charles murdered his master, but he has no memory of it.  So he takes himself to get repaired.  The repair station is also stuck within its logic and no robots are getting repaired.  However, he meets up with another robot, the Wonk, and begins a journey of finding another master to serve.  

The book is written in third person, but from the point of view of Charles (who becomes known as unCharles).  In addition to hearing his thoughts, the narration reads like it has a robotic perspective as well.  It completely immerses you in the world of robots.  It is some of the most amazing writing I’ve ever read in science fiction.  I knew Tchaikovsky wrote beautifully, but I was not prepared for how well this was written.  

I also like the premise of the book.  The Wonk believes that unCharles has a virus that makes him sentient.  However, unCharles does not believe it.  The Wonk tries to get unCharles to think for himself outside his logistic programming, but he refuses.  Instead, he believes all will be well if he can just find a human master to serve.  So they travel the countryside looking for a human in need of a valet.  Unfortunately, he mostly finds degraded humans and robots in various levels of chaotic logic, from other valets to warrior soldiers who can’t stop fighting.

UnCharles is a terrific character.  Just when you think that he’s on the verge of acting with free will, he sticks to his programming.  It’s fun and frustrating, as it is for the Wonk.  The Wonk is pretty awesome as well, being a cheerleader for unCharles figuring himself out.  But she pops in and out for various reasons.  

I give this book five stars out of five.  It’s the first five star I’ve given in a while.  I still have yet to read Children of Time series, the first of which is supposed to be amazing.  As I mentioned in my previous review of Made Things, I don’t know why I’m not reading more of this amazing writer.