Title: Service Model
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian
Book Length: 373 pages (print)
Format Read: eBook
Year Published: June 2, 2024
Date Started: September 4, 2024
Date finished: September 11, 2024
This story starts out with a majordomo robot named, Charles who discovers his master is dead and believes he committed the murder. Charles contacts the police and the hospital to summon a doctor over, only to find out that they, too, are robots programmed to follow specific protocols. Once the doctor and police show up and complete their inspections, Charles learns he’s no longer needed, as his only job was to care for his master. He knows he needs to rewire his memory for a new master, so he makes the trek to the company that would do that. Along the way, he learns there was allegedly a virus that made robots sentient. He refuses to believe this based on his logic. His only “ambition” in his life is to be a majordomo. He can’t think of doing anything else. As he continues his journey to find a master, he encounters a variety of robots in different situations and learns that he just wants things the way they were before with his master. The “big” world was too dangerous and wasn’t for him.
I enjoyed the perspective from Charles’ point-of-view; however, I felt a few things were off about his portrayal. For instance, he seemed too human when making decisions, yet he would revert to his programmed limitations, claiming he couldn’t do certain things and that he was only a servant robot. Additionally, there was no resolution on how the murder happened. I would have preferred if Charles had some sort of epiphany due to the virus and explained why and how it happened. The ending was odd. It sort of went in a religious direction where Charles questions the “God.” Overall, it was an okay read. I liked the idea of sentient robots, but this one felt like it wasn’t sure which direction it wanted to go.
Who should read this book: If you enjoy speculative stories about what happens to robots when things go awry, give this one a try.
From My Corner of the Universe 