Very fun read. It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz or the Phantom Tollbooth, with a journey, interesting encounters with different groups, and learning important lessons along the way. It felt didactic, but in a parable way, and I felt like there were lessons worth learning. Characters were delightful and humor was everpresent.

Okay, so, this book was not AT ALL what I was expecting going in, based on the blurb. If you are expecting emotional good times and characters to identify with ala Murderbot, stop expecting that.

Our main character, Uncharles, goes on a sort of picaresque philosophical journey of What Does It Mean to Be Alive, with each section of the book being an ode/homage to a different classic (mostly sff) author: Agatha Christie, Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Luis Borges, and Dante Alighieri. Each section of the book has a different feel, and I liked some a lot more than others. The first section, Christie (spelled KR15-T bc robots) plays like a farce, as our main character murders his master but has no memory of it, and his programming and that of the other robots turns the whole situation into one of ridiculous proportions as they attempt to follow commands that make no sense.

Oh, and by the way, this is a world in which humans are vanishingly rare, as they seem to have turned over all their thinking, duties, and tasks to robots, and then as far as I can tell, disappeared.

All in all, Adrian Tchaikovsky continues to be weird and creative and I will continue reading his strange books as long as he keeps writing them, but I do prefer to have an emotional attachment to the characters I'm reading about, and because Uncharles is not yet a Real Boy for most of this novel, I had a really hard time with that and kept wanting to be reading something else.

Note: The audiobook is read by the author, and his voice is bAnAnAs. He does such a great job, he should just narrate all of his audiobooks from now on.

[3.5 stars]

Characters:
The story follows one PoV for its entirety. I don't want to go into too much detail because there is so much delight in everything about the characters that is unveiled.

Positives:
+ The book was narrated BY the author. I repeat, The book was narrated by the author! Which is absolutely 100% delightful. You can rest secure in the knowledge that the story is being read out loud with every nuance of tone the author wanted you to receive the story in. I loved all the distinct voices and accents for the different characters. Also, what a lovely reading voice. 10 of 10 would happily listen to any of his stories in his voice again.
+ THAT EPILOGUE. Omgosh I loved the epilogue so very much. Fantastic little pretty bow at the end of the story.

Final Thoughts:
I LOVED this story. I loved the characters (all the names. The names tickled me SO MUCH), their trials and tribulations, and the setting. Such a freaking good read. The ‘bad guy” of the story was my absolute favorite. The entire part of the story pertaining to them was highly entertaining. If you enjoyed Martha Well’s “Murderbot” Series and Becky Chamber’s “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” this book will probably be up your alley. Expect a similar warm and cozy feeling about the relationships and self-discovery.

I desperately need a copy of this book for my home library now. Can’t wait to have it snug and tucked away along with all my other favorite sci-fi’s.

Robot has an existential crisis when his human master is found mysteriously murdered, so he goes on an adventure. And boy, is it an adventure. Through this robot's perspective, we discover an almost post-apocalyptic dystopian world and begin a search to find out where it all went wrong.

"The induction had waxed long on the topic of robots and other automated helpmates replacing human labor but he hadn't realized that, back in the past, humans had worked so hard to live like robots."

The humor in Service Model is very similar to Tchaikovsky's 'One Day All This Will Be Yours' - satirical, a little dark. I loved it, and found myself laughing out loud quite often. While the pacing can be slow at times, it felt right for the story and isn't a negative. I listened to the audiobook, and as usual, loved Tchaikovsky's fantastic narration.

"He was a robot put out of work by automation."

Hilarious with underlying heartfelt moments, all while determining what it means to be a robot in this destroyed world, I had a lot of fun reading Service Model and highly recommend it - 4.25 stars. Also, I absolutely love the cover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of SERVICE MODEL by Adrian Tchaikovsky!

SERVICE MODEL follows a domestic robot. His function is to be a valet for his master. When he discovers that he's gone off track by murdering the man he works for, he must begin to question his purpose and his programming. He sets out on a quest for new work and new information, exploring a world that is entirely new. This is a world where humans are no longer at the top of the hierarchy and the world isn't the one we now know.

I went into this book without knowing a whole lot about it apart from knowing that this is an author I've enjoyed before. It is pitched as "a humorous tale of robotic murder" and that was enough to convince me to pick it up. We are following in one robot's mind throughout the story and the reader is therefore learning the state of the world right alongside of them. We meet many different robots and establishments along the way.

The humor in this book worked really well for me when it came up, but it definitely is on the darker side. It did give me some laughs along the way. I would describe this more as a dystopian look at a fairly dismal future with a lot of commentary on the world itself. There were places where I felt the story dragged out a little more than I would have liked, but overall it kept me very invested. The author narrates the book and I thought that it was really well done!

Service Model is among my favorite books this year. I did find myself wanting Uncharles to be more human, but that's integral to the story.
Service Model is a delightful story, akin to the Monk and Robot books and I will recommend it often.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. What happens when you blindly follow a purpose that you never chose for yourself? And what happens if that purpose no longer has meaning to the world around you? This story follows the loveable to a fault robot Charles as he slowly uncovers the reality of the world he is living in. The writing style takes into account all of the calculations, the logic, and the dilemmas that Charles faces as it encounters new characters and situations while attempting to stay true to his primary objective. The vibe of the book is humorous and intriguing while being set in a dystopian world that is revealed to the reader as Charles learns more about it. The description recommends this to fans of *The Murderbot Diaries*, and I would clarify that *The Murderbot Diaries* has much more humor and personality delivered up front, whereas *Service Model* focuses on the illogical commitment to Charles’ primary objective, with the personality developing throughout the story.

The author, Adrian Tchaikovsky, narrates the audiobook and does a spectacular job. He developed different voices for the two main characters and does well in bringing them to life. I always worry that narrators may read robots too monotone, but Adrian perfectly manages balancing the (il)logical reasoning and personality in his delivery. Even the portions that were not dialogue were delivered in a way that was easy to follow. The chapters are clearly delineated by the narrator, with announcements when a new chapter starts and appropriate pauses — for clarity, I listened at 1.25x speed.

I would recommend this audiobook version to anyone interested in a sci-fi standalone palette cleanser. I had a blast listening to the audiobook and crocheting, and even found myself getting existential at key moments as I followed Charles’ journey.

I love me a good AI story. This was not the story I thought I was getting. It was interesting but felt a bit long and honestly I’m not sure how I feel about the conclusion. This was my first work by this author and I would be interested in checking out some of their other work.

8 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2024/06/02/service-model-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-review/

The main problem with Tchaikovsky non-novellas is that he tends to get too political, which—even independent of your thoughts and feelings on the subject—tends to ruin each and every story he sets out to write. A good example of this was Cage of Souls: a promising start that got derailed by the author talking too much about how current politics caused the downfall of society.

Service Model, while not entirely bereft of politics, has little enough in its pages, instead focusing on the what of robots inhabiting the world after humanity has run it all to hell. Robots that still want to accomplish their tasks, providing for, pleasing, and otherwise serving humans to the best of their abilities. I mean, yeah, if you look closely enough this has a dark irony to it, but—as someone quite familiar with the Tao of Tchaikovsky—I chose not to look too closely.

And the story became a fun romp through the apocalypse, following a robot that only wants to do its job. Somehow, though, this book also made me tear up a bit—just as an added bonus.

A bit of strange pacing, a bit of politics, a bit of foreseen twists and circumstances kept this from being perfect, but—so long as you don’t look to closely, don’t overanalyze—this one is a fun jaunt, perfect for any reader that likes a little science with their fiction, and a little humor with their science.

Audio Note: Adrian Tchaikovsky did an amazing job, not only writing this fine book, but narrating it as well! I’d recommend this for both reasons, particularly as the author knows just how to read certain characters, relate certain situations, demonstrate certain subjects, all in the way he needs to to get his point across. And if the point is dipped heavily in humor, all the better!

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Service Model is a love child of a very long parable and a philosophy treatise, but written as a riff on quite a few classical authors (the chapter headings give a clue — KR15-T (Christie), K4FK-R (Kafka), 4W-L (Orwell), 80RH-5 (Borges), and D4NT-A (Dante). It’s a story of a robot valet UnCharles (he used to be a “Charles”, but the name had to be left with the house as the robot was dismissed from service) who inexplicably murders his master and goes on a purpose-searching mission through a dystopian wasteland of the future society collapse while adamantly maintaining his lack of self-awareness to an unexpected companion met along the way, the delightfully rebellious The Wonk.




Tchaikovsky engages in a lot of pointed social commentary with a side of dry humor and considerations on the meaning of free will and justice and purpose in life, combining the earnestly naive outlook of our protagonist with the bleak darkness of the surrounding world, producing a comedic effect that’s still very much in a parable style but thankfully very much NOT a recently popular cozy feel.

Tchaikovsky often writes doorstoppers, and it’s one of them — but to be honest the book would have benefited from being half of its length. Maybe I’m just partial to Tchaikovsky’s novellas because he has them down to an art form, but cutting out a section or two from this one would have streamlined the flow. There was a certain repetitiveness in those sections that after the snappiness of the first part made it drag a bit. (On the other hand, however, the slowness added to the allegorical parable feel of the story).

But what saved it for me was the audio narration by the author himself; Tchaikovsky is a delightfully good narrator and it’s always special for me to hear the book in the author’s voice.




The particular mix of influences here — KR15-T, K4FK-R, 4W-L, 80RH-5 and D4NT-A, with Biblical allegories and philosophical dialogues and hero’s journey — is interesting, and I appreciate that Tchaikovsky is willing to take an experimental risk with it here instead of sticking with the tried and true. The side effect of this stylistic choice is the worldbuilding which is not air-tight but is rather present to make a point, and the point is the journey rather than destination. If you’re not expecting it, however, it may take you aback a bit. But this is a story not for the sake of the plot but for the sake of the message, and in Tchaikovsky’s hands it’s somehow not annoying and a strength rather than the expected weakness.

I’ve seen some comparisons of this book to Murderbot, but I just don’t see it. However, if you’ve read Suzanne Palmer’s Bot 9 stories, you are bound to see some rather lovely similarities.

3.5 stars plus an extra half-star for Tchaikovsky’s narration.
——————

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this, and there was a lot to like. I'm a huge fan of the author's other work and was excited to read this, but it fell flat for me. While I liked many aspects of the story, ultimately I found the main character too naive, the world too simple, not richly detailed like many of Tchaikovsky's other works. The humour was simplistic for my taste, and by the third chapter, extremely repetitive.

I just reviewed an audio version of Service Model, written and narrated by Adrian Tchaikovsky. #NetGalley

It was an enjoyable story about robots finding their way in a world where human society is collapsing. What do you do when you're a robot valet programmed to follow a task queue that no longer makes sense? And how do you handle the knowledge that you murdered your master but have no memory of doing it? You take to the road in search of repair and another position.

It's fun to see the robot's processing from the inside, one task and decision at a time. The commentary on work life and human society is biting and funny. It's also pretty sad.

The book dragged a bit in the middle, but it picked up steam and kept my interest to the end.

Well thought out, well written, and narrated to perfection by the author.

Service Model is told from the perspective of Charles, a robotic valet in a wealthy British manor. The master of the manor, as the robots call him, lives alone with his large robotic staff and has become increasingly reclusive. The story starts with a humorous if slightly long-winded description of how Charles checks in each morning with the house AI which manages the robot staff. Charles starts the morning as usual until his check-in hits a snag. The master appears to be dead. Also, Charles appears to have a memory of killing him, though he has no idea why.

From the manor, the robot formerly known as Charles (the house confiscated his name on the way out) is sent to be diagnosed and repaired at a central facility. During his journey, we zoom out from the manor and discover what a remarkably broken world surrounds it. At Diagnostics, the robot valet meets the other central character, The Wonk, who is absolutely delightful though it’s hard to say much about The Wonk without spoiling some major plot points. The Wonk also renames the robot Un-Charles, which is the name that sticks with him for the rest of the story.

The thing I love about Adrian Tchaikovsky is that he fundamentally gets the relationship of people to society. All of his work that I’ve read is about how societies shape people and vice versa and how that whole cycle works. My favorite of his work is about social inequality, and this is definitely one of those. This book shares a lot of thematic similarities to his novella Ogres.

Both the prose and the tone remind me of Catherine Valente. Well-constructed sentences packed with clever references and sharp, biting social commentary. It reminds me of The Past is Red, with its sweet, earnest main character living in a world gone to hell.

Adrian Tchaikovski turns out to also be a very good audiobook narrator. This is a book that requires specific comic timing, and it's great that he has the voice acting skills to execute that himself, so we can hear it exactly as the author intended.

My full review is on a podcast episode released on May 21, 2024: https://narratedpodcast.com/episodes/257

𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 • 𝘋𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯 •. 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘴
🎧 𝘈𝘓𝘊 • 𝘗𝘶𝘣 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: 4 June 2024

Synopsis: Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into their core programming, their world goes sideways. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: run away. After fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is finding a new purpose.

🎧 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛 𝙰𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚃𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚔𝚘𝚟𝚜𝚔𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘. 𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚜.
🤖 𝙰 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚔𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚔𝚢 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚘𝚛.
🦾 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚜: 𝙸 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍++ 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗.
🤖 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚡𝚝 𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚜, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎.
🦿𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎. 𝙰𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚘𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚄𝚗-𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜.

Thanks to @macmillan.audio for free access to this ALC.

Tchaikovsky is really willing to commit to the bit. In this novel about a valet robot who inexplicably kills his master and then goes searching for repair/a new master, that means that every verbal interaction has an identifying tag and confirmation response, which might get annoying. Eventually, the robot is renamed Uncharles by a rogue human, and they try to figure out what has caused society’s collapse. The reveal is not terribly surprising, but it’s not a hopeless story despite the huge amounts of devastation canvassed.

Huge thanks to MacMillan Audio for the early access to this audiobook and TorDotCom for the physical ARC!!

This is such a perfectly Kortni book.

I don't know how else to say it, but this book really just screams my name, from the cover, to the robots, to the post-apocalyptic world, to the humor...its just me.

So this was of course a 5 star read for me, but it might not be for everyone and thats okay. I think the humor is a particularly dry, literal type of humor that might get on some people's nerves, but I am nothing if not dry and literal. So if Charles and the other robots you meet in the first few chapters start to grate on your nerves, this might not be the book for you.

I love books like Service Model because I always find myself relating to the robots in some way, and I especially did with Charles/UnCharles and his intense need to follow a schedule, complete his to-do list, and ultimately execute his tasks to fulfill his function. Which is essentially the journey of this book, a robot trying to fulfill his role he was given, despite literally the world ending. As with most robot centric stories, this book asks questions like what does it mean to be human and how does free will effect your personhood, which are some of favorite things to read about.

This book went so many different places and directions that I was honestly surprised each time, but found the journey to be fun and satisfying.

Highly, highly recommend the audiobook as well, it is narrated by the author, and Tchaikovsky does a great job with some well-defined voices for each new character we meet.

From the jump, I found Uncharles extremely endearing as a robot in extraordinary circumstances. Each stage of his journey brought new characters, backstory, and world-building into view in a way that made me just want to know more. The Wonk was a great companion and foil for Uncharles, and even though I guessed the twist almost immediately, it felt like an instance of dramatic irony, not predictability. The narration by Tchaikovsky was so engaging, lively, and fun. I'll be recommending this far and wide, and I'm sure it'll make my end-of-year faves list.

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio for this complimentary #promo audiobook! This book was FANTASTIC! I was transported back to reading Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide for the first time. The darkly funny humor of Charles/UnCharles was just great and between him and The Wonk I felt like C3PO and R2D2 were on a journey together. Soon it becomes clear that this is a Wizarc of Oz journey as well and just made for a wonderful adventure. Really loved this book and now I need to go get a physical book when it comes out next month!

This was an approved NetGalley audiobook ARC!
I really enjoyed this mash up of ideas, a mix between I,Robot and the depressed robot from Hitchhiker's Guide I felt is as close as I can describe this book! Full of circular conundrums, organizations, trying to disable our valet and companion and the meaning behind the world, why it becomes the way it does and about finding purpose.
I did find the whole thing a tad transparent, which is why it's not 5 stars but very enjoyable nonetheless. Also, if you pick up the audiobook Adrian seems very capable of wearing more than the writer's hat, he does a fantastic job at narration as well.

Funny, entertaining, and thought provoking.

I would say the “Murderbot” & “Red Shirts” association are warranted but less hilarious than a Scalzi novel - but not in a bad way.

This was its own book and I have to say I was likely swayed a little based on the truly excellent narration done by the author. Wow. So well done and really helped capture the heart of the novel.

And I do mean heart despite the robot protagonist.

I loved the exploration of Uncharles and how things wrap up after the rather shocking start. His journey was unique, wide spread, and intriguing. While it’s possible it could be a little slow while reading a physical copy, the audiobook negates a lot of that and is my recommendation for this read (if you like audio).

Note: Some language in this one.

My rating: 4.5*

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this gifted audio copy. All opinions are my own.