the cover of Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky showing a silhouette of a robot with a planet hanging in the sky

In a collapsed worlds where few humans remain, a robot Valet named Charles kills his master. He doesn’t know why and has no memory of the event. Service model follows the adventures of Charles as he attempts to complete the final two items in his task queue: diagnosis and decomissioning.

Not that Charles (now UnCharles) wants to cease existing - but nor does he not want to. UnCharles is a robot, and does not either want or not want anything. Such states are meaningless to a machine.

Touring the wreckage of society in the company of The Wonk - one of only a handful of humans we meet in the book, and the only one with any kind of agency, we are shown snapshots of mankind’s folly, and find out why the end came about.

Despite its dark premise, Service model is a funny book, and the reader is treated to ludricrous scenes as the omnipresent robots continue to carry out their pointless programming in the absence of any human oversight.

Service model is a great, if slightly moralising read. You should buy it.

For more in-depth thoughts on Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read my full review on The Crow