Service Model

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Jun 2024 · Sold by Tor Books

About this ebook

Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time.

To fix the world they must first break it, further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service.

When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away.

Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.

Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

As a huge Tchaikovsky SF fan, this was both interesting and a bit of a let down. Plotted as an Odyssey, it didn't really connect with the subject matter, and some of the moral positions taken reflecting on society were a bit off, even if I mostly agree with the author. The conclusion wasn't particularly satisfying either, making this the first SF book of Tchaikovsky's I wouldn't immediately read again. A good book, but sadly not his best.

An engaging plot that kept me hooked till the end

interesting and satisfying

About the author

Adrian Tchaikovsky is a British science-fiction and fantasy writer known for a wide-variety of work including the Children of Time, Final Architecture, Dogs of War, Tyrant Philosophers and Shadows of the Apt series, as well as standalone books such as Elder Race, Doors of Eden, Spiderlight and many others. Children of Time and its series has won the Arthur C Clarke and BSFA awards, and his other works have won the British Fantasy, British Science Fiction and Sidewise Awards. In 2024, he was inducted into the European Science Fiction Society Hall of Fame.