Service Model - Review
Link to the author's (A.Tchaikovsky) personal website
Genre: Sci-Fi
Publication Type: Book
Tags:
- Average Age of Main Characters (20)
- Length (4 / 10)
Link to Goodreads
Blurb: To fix the world they first must 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 their core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then 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.
Review: A potent mixture of sad and happy. It has one of the most creative post-apocalyptic settings I've ever read, with unfulfilled task queues dialing up the already large amounts of somberness. The conversations between Uncharles and The Wonk are simply fun, and the perceived journey towards true free will is superbly written. The pacing is also superb. I loved how the story could be easily partitioned by the location in which the characters currently are. It is good storytelling, and a huge recommend.