Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky is nominated for a 2025 Hugo Award!
As only 6 novels were nominated and I had already read a few of them, I decided to go ahead and try to read all six before the winner is announced in August!
Service Model was an interesting read! It starts off with a fascinating premise, in a future world where humans are served by robots, Charles, a Valet unit discovers he's unwittingly murdered his Master.
Now he surmises, that certainly.
"Given the Considerable investment in Domestic service that Charles represented, surely he should be allowed to murder three, or even five people before being deemed irreparably unfit for service"
-Service Model (A. Tchaikovsky)
I found myself cackling away, and thoroughly enjoying this novel which made me feel as if I was transported into a mechanized Wizard of Oz situation. Charles knows that he has sone something wrong, and after a delightfully ridiculous investigation, he journeys to a sort of "data collection/reprogramming center". UnCharles (as he becomes since he isn't exactly the same Charles service model as before), befriends another being and together they adventure together, The Wonk, as the being is known, seems to also need some repair. This unlikely pair stick together to the final page, giving readers a hopeful message at the conclusion.
Did I enjoy this book? YES, I really did. Do I have some issues with it? Yes, I really do. Primarily, it was just....too long. By the end, the humor I experienced at the beginning was wearing thin, as the sort of pure logic of the robotic mind is funny and charming, but also became tedious, and somewhat repetitive much like a curious child- 10 questions about something are wonderful- but 40...sort of become unbearable in one afternoon. I conceded that this was maybe the authors intention all along! I felt like most of UnCharles's experiences were interesting and clearly had a point, but perhaps... possibly... they could have been condensed, ever so slightly, because the ending was also fantastic, it was just... the middle part where I almost returned this to the library. Tchaikovsky is a prolific writer and publishes multiple full novels each year, and as a basic reader, I suspect maybe a bit better editing could be employed. I would have DNF during a few of the clunky areas, except that I wanted to finish it due to the Hugo nomination. Again, I'm just one of many readers, so it's only an opinion.
This is nonetheless a solid post apocalypse novel, written from the point of view of the Robot, in a Robot/Human Team. It gives room to ponder AI, and unintended consequences of AI, and it really does have some very amusing moments! This would be a fun book for any Sci-Fi book club, and it is also appropriate for young adults.
As a bonus, I had the audio book and it was narrated by the author! He has a great reading voice, and I really really really enjoyed that.
As for me... I think I enjoyed Alien Clay more and think it might be a better choice for a Hugo, but... again, I'm just an average reader! It will be exciting and interesting to see what wins!
STATS
First Published June 2024
Pages: 384
Available as an Audio Book : Yes
Trigger Warnings: violence, murder, theme of abuse and loss, war,
(this is not a full list, read responsibly)
What is your favorite Tchaikovsky Novel?
I think that repetitiveness is part of the fun of this book. It almost feels like you're in on a secret as you start to be able to predict how things are going to go when Uncharles starts to ask questions!! Not sure which ones are nominated for the Hugo, but I'd be happy if Service Model does!
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