Honestly, i adored this book, even though it lost me a bit at around 75%, but overall it was a fabulous story.
The synopsis doesn't give away what the book is really about, and just as well, it was better to be pleasantly surprised.

The book is an ode to futility and mindlessness, and our characters are hilariously frustrating. Robots built to serve humans cannot well function on their own, and their actions (and inactions) mirror all the human faults, magnified.
It gets quite philosophical, but it remains interesting throughout. The metaphors hidden right in your face are brilliant.

On a perfectly ordinary morning, valet Charles lays out his master's travel clothes, plans his itinerary for the day, liaises with the lady of the house's servants, and gives the master a close shave. The fact that there is no itinerary, no travel plans, and no lady of the house—and that this has been the case for years—does not impinge on Charles's tranquility, or on his satisfaction in crossing tasks off his list. More distressing is the fact that during the aforementioned shave, Charles, without ever forming the intention to do so, slits his master's throat, something that is supposed to be impossible since Charles, the rest of the staff, the house, the medical assistance they call, and the police inspector who eventually arrives, are all robots. The hullaballoo that follows, in which first the robot doctor, and then the robot detective, refuse to listen to Charles's confession of the crime because it doesn't fit in their preset decision trees, is our first glimpse of a world that has been fully automated, and which is spinning out of true. Dismissed from his position and sent to a diagnostic facility, Charles embarks on a picaresque journey whose constant refrain is that humans are nowhere to be found, that the landscape he moves through is crumbling and at least semi-destroyed, and that the robots he encounters are stuck in loops of conflicting priorities and contradictory tasks, with no one to untangle them.

Science fiction readers will quickly recognize the mode Tchaikovsky is operating in—within a few chapters, I found myself thinking of Wall-E, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and the Ray Bradbury story "There Will Come Soft Rains". (Though, as the novel's punning chapter titles suggest, Tchaikovsky's inspirations are also writers like Kafka and Orwell.) What sets Service Model apart from these tales is, to begin with, the breadth of its worldbuilding, with Tchaikovsky coming up with one elaborate, catastrophically malfunctioning setting after another for Charles to explore. At the diagnostics facility, he discovers that because no one has been authorizing the reports on robots who have completed their diagnostics, the queue outside the facility has been growing steadily. To address this problem, the robots in charge have invented a new department of Data Compression where robots awaiting diagnostics can be stored—through the simple expedient of being crushed into a cube. At a "farm" where surviving humans have been corralled to recreate traditional modes of living, they are shuttled back and forth from dingy apartments to crowded public transport to unpleasant offices (Charles compliments the farm's operator for forcing the humans to endure a commute despite their living and work spaces being right next to one another). In the wilderness, Charles encounters hordes of soldier robots who battle endlessly, disbanding and reforming into warring troupes, and cannibalizing each other for parts.

Through all these spaces, Charles moves like a holy fool, sometimes accompanied by a trickster-like figure known only as The Wonk, searching for a human who would like their trousers pressed and their schedule organized. After all, he reasons, there were so many days on which he did not slit his master's throat; why should one aberration disqualify him from the work he was made for? Charles's voice dominates the book, as he attempts, with the unfailing politeness and unflappable manner of a consummate gentleman's gentleman, to make sense of the deranged situations he keeps falling into. But like so many classic butlers and valets in fiction, Charles has a strong sense of his own dignity, and like those characters he can sometimes frustrate an unworthy master or alleged social superior with malicious compliance, over-literal interpretation of commands, or supposedly innocent actions—as when he halts the labor of a group of robotic librarians, who are intent on making sure they have the one and only copy of every bit of data in existence, with a logical conundrum. But does this, as The Wonk insists, mean that he is actually self-aware? That the death of his master was a deliberate blow against his human enslaver? Or is the truth, as Charles repeatedly claims, that he is simply operating within the confines of his design, pursuing the objectives he was programmed with (to serve humans and cross tasks off his list) with no sense of his own wants and desires? Throughout its length, Service Model maintains a tension between these two possibilities, making Charles an undeniable person while still stressing the ways in which his programming confines him—for example, making it impossible for him to understand things about The Wonk that the reader will have worked out fairly early on. Which is, we are eventually invited to consider, perhaps not too different from how humans function as well.

Service Model proceeds from one hilarious setting to another, as Charles continues to pursue his goal in the face of the world's complete dissolution, encountering rat-eating scavengers, marauding robotic monks on robotic horseback, and countless robots who are continuing their work long past the point where anyone has needed them to do it. This is at once the novel's greatest strength and greatest weakness. Each of these individual set-pieces is wonderfully wrought, with some pointed social commentary along the way. But taken all together there eventually comes the feeling that the point has been made—not helped by the fact that the book's climax, including the revelation of the reason for the world's state, feels a bit underpowered compared to some of the satirical excesses that have come before it. Still, there are worse things to say about a book than that it is too much of a good thing, and both Charles and his world are delightful enough that one can't really complain about getting to spend more time with them.

Review of the audiobook.
Charles is a robot valet, the latest in robot service technology, working for the master is a large but seemingly isolated manorial-style house. Everything is going very well. Each day he repeats the same tasks, quietly content, until one day he cuts Master's throat with a razor, for no apparent reason. After that he's on his own, heading for diagnostics to find out what's wrong, and to hopefully be reassigned (since he's only committed one small murder, so far). But many mansions are in decay and diagnostics has queues that could take hundreds of years to work through, even supposing they were working at all. Then Charles meets The Wonk, a rather strange robot with a rather strange agenda, and his life begins to change. The Wonk is determined to find the reason for the full-scale collapse of society, and drags Charles (or Un-Charles) along with her until they reach a place where questions might be answered and all is revealed. A quirky story with some interesting thoughts on AI and the parameters of robot programming. Excellent narration by Adrian Tchaikovsky himself.

Service Model is yet another highly imaginative tale by my favourite Sci-Fi author, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Charles, a sophisticated human-facing robot, has been doing a splendid job as a valet until he cuts his master’s throat one morning. The malfunction, incomprehensible even to his advanced analytical engines, robs him of his employment and his name. Aiming to fulfil the sole purpose of his existence – serving a human – the nameless valet is out on the road where nothing seems to be in order anymore. He encounters another extremely defective robot that calls itself the Wonk and behaves like no other robot he has ever seen. The Wonk names him Uncharles and repeatedly insists that he has developed self-determination, which is why he murdered his master. Together off and on, the pair embarks on an epic journey – Uncharles to find employment and fulfil his purpose, and the Wonk to unearth the reason behind the collapse of humanity – that takes them through the dangerous, disintegrating world towards what is probably the beginning of the end.

Tchaikovsky’s phenomenal talent for creating nonhuman characters with distinct personalities shines through in Service Model, populated with robots of many sizes, shapes, and quirks. Adept at world-building, Tchaikovsky paints a vivid picture of an imploding earth and its inhabitants. Both Uncharles and Wonk are fantastic characters, and the other ones, such as the humans, the warrior bots, and the librarians are crafted to perfection. The plot of Service Model moves at varying paces, with fast action sequences and languid philosophical discourses narrated with the subtle humour this masterful author is known for. The interactions between Charles / Uncharles and the rest of the cast, especially with the Wonk, are super-amusing. Tchaikovsky’s take on the manner in which the robots will cause the degeneration of the human race is fresh and thought-provoking. Though a bit slow and meandering at times, Service Model kept me in its grip for the most part, and I had a fantastic time reading this delightful work.

I am extremely grateful to Pan Macmillan / Tor for the Digital Review Copy of Service Model through NetGalley.

Adrian Tchaikovsky re-enters the world of robotics and artificial intelligence with this excellent novel written entirely from the perspective of a machine. Charles, a robotic valet, begins the story by nonchalantly killing his master without really understanding why. Is he faulty? Or is he operating beyond the parameters of his program? What follows is a journey through a society which has completely unraveled as Charles searches for logic, but more importantly a new place of employment. The book is a fascinating exploration of artificial intelligence which doesn't lead to the places one might expect. Tchaikovsky's world-building is incredible, as always, and his characterisation of a mechanical character is oddly compelling.

Thoroughly enjoyable, a murder mystery with a robot butler, but who killed the world? Does this show we have nothing to fear from AI? Or everything?

I'm not quite sure how Tchaikovsky is able to write so many interesting, engaging and vastly differing novels. Service Model is the tale of a domesticated robot that breaks one of Asimov's Rules of Robotics and decides to kill his owner. This changes it's relationships with the other robots, it's relationship with it's home and it's relationship with the world beyond the house. What was great throughout is there was a vein of black humour running throughout as this logical character tries to make sense of the illogical actions and deviations that have become part of its' life.

This is definitely one of his wittier and at times more cynical novels and I was really surprised that as the story proceeds there is a wider discussion of religious issues. It speaks volumes of Tchaikovsky's novel that his writing remains insightful and entertainingly enlightening throughout. He rarely writes a dud and this is another book worthy of your time, even if it is out of your comfort zone.

Service Model was an interesting, fun sci-fi novel.
We follow Charles , or Uncharles as he becomes known as. A semi sentient, domestic robot that unintentionally kills his master and doesn't understand why. Off we go on a pilgrimage around a postapocolyptic landscape while he tries to understand the meaning of existence. We meet some super fun, interesting characters along the way. Wonk being one if my favourites.

At times it felt very wordy and tedious and I found the pacing a little off near the start but overall I ended up having a fun time reading this. Not my favourite Tchaikovsky work but still a very enjoyable read.

A fun, tongue-in-cheek heroes journey story that follows a robot that is very adamant he has no free will - he only seeks to fulfill his original function. But can it really be that simple?

What really impressed me with this book is how the author managed to create such an unique POV through the robot Uncharles. At times I did find it a bit tedious, and it took a bit too get used to, but in the end I really enjoyed it! Uncharles is really funny and charming in his own way, and the episodic journey structure really worked for me. Highly recomment if you want a book that discusses AI and free will in a charming and unique way!

It obviously didn't work for me.
I would have loved to have liked this book but it doesn't matter, I 'll be trying out other Tchaikovskys in the future, that's for sure

4 stars - Robot dystopia with a wry sense of humour

Service Model is a new novel by very prolific Adrian Tchaikovsky. As in his previous novella And Put Away Childish Things this one is also playing in a world that is man-made but in a state of complete falling apart up to a point that can only be described as dystopian nightmare. 

This time it is not a fantastical parallel world though, this time it is our own world that has gone very, very wrong after we have built plenty of robots to make life easier.

The whole story is told by Charles - or as he will be later renamed Uncharles - a personal valet robot serving his designated master in a mansion. However, one day, he does something of great consequence and without being really aware of his actions, which will send him on a quest out into the world. There he meets many other robots, particularly a rather odd one, "The Wonk" and together they set out on a row of adventures that will get them closer to finding out exactly what happened to the world but that also inevitably will first of all illustrate just how much the world is in ruins and almost completely emptied of humans.

One of the central themes is the question of robots developing a sense of self, a consciousness and of course if this might be the reason for the collapse of society. And the novel will provide an answer, one I thought was a good one and not what one might have expected.

The structure of the novel is that of a series of adventures that all have a somewhat similar structure: Uncharles enters the situation, first things seem not so bad, then the ugly underbelly and madness of the situation shows itself, Uncharles flees the situation (sometimes along with the Wonk), usually it is a close call but he/they make it.

This is also a point where I felt that the book could have been condensed a bit as it would have taken less adventures to get the point across. On the other hand, it was still a fun read, largely owing to the naïve voice of Uncharles who just wishes for nothing more than being able to serve as a valet again since this is what he was programmed to do - it serves a great juxtaposition to the bizarre and horrific realities he finds himself in.

So, if you like Tchaikovsky in general or just enjoy robot themed sci-fi or dystopian scenarios, you are going to like this one plenty!

I have received an advance review copy from Pan Macmillan/Tor via NetGalley and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you very much

This was a very unique story concept and I really enjoyed it, as it follows Charles, a domestic robot, whose master dies, as he is compelled to go out into the world and try to find new employment, when humans are fairly endangered and robots are most of the beings left on the planet. He meets a new friend who travels around with him and together they explore the world and try to find the newly-named Uncharles a new job. It was a really different look at a world where robots are in charge and I would definitely recommend this as a short but sweet read for any sci-fi or robot fans!

I read the book courtesy of NetGalley; my opinion is my own.

A robot kills his master. A robot does not know why - and ends up doing a pilgrimage around the ruins of postapocalyptic landscape in order to find the meaning of existence. On the way, he acquires a companion. Stuff happens. Literary references are made.

I think it's a very decent novella in novel form. The allegory, the references, the peripety, the peregrination - I get what it's doing, it does it well, but genuinely, I think it wouldn't hurt if it did the same thing in fewer pages, because I was tempted to skim - there was just not enough substance to justify the words.

But of course, that may well be a personal bias, and if you find it funnier than I did, you may be inclined to give it more leeway.

This was a very unexpected read, even though the blurb basically gives you all the beats: a domestic robot goes haywire and murders its owner for no discernible reason, later venturing into the wider world that he had never had a reason to interact with before, in order to find and fix whatever’s wrong with him. And that’s exactly what happens, except it’s handled in such a delightfully different way that it really stands out from your typical “and then robots wiped humans off the face of the planet to rule it mwuahaha.”

The novel offers insights into the robotic mind of the protagonist, called Uncharles, who step by step discovers that the state of the world is such that his primary purpose - being a valet - simply cannot be served. His companion, the Wonk, keeps insisting that Uncharles has gained self-awareness, and also putting them both into strange and dangerous situations in order to discover the truth of what happened to the world at large. Together and sometimes apart, they will witness the stalemate at the Diagnostics, follow Librarians into the heart of hearts of the knowledge they try to preserve, see the real life recreation of human history within the Farm, become part of the war effort, and, finally, confront God. The absurdity of it all is interspersed with very real and relevant questions of purpose, identity and self-determination, justice and power. The pace is on the slow side, and it dragged a bit here and there; some aspects of Uncharles’s decision-making got unavoidably repetitive. This is probably not a book for someone who is not ready to get philosophical about the big questions and would prefer a more action-packed story, but personally I quite enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I really didn't like this book. The premise sounded great and the plot could have been good, but it was all just so dull and flat. It wasn't even a little humorous and the delivery was so monotone. There was a huge amount of repetitiveness and it made the book feel much too long. I very much disagree with the Murderbot comparison I've seen around. This is the first book I've tried from this author, so I might give a different one a go, but this one was a disappointment for me.

Service Model is an interesting sci-fi novel with semi-sentient robots and some tongue in cheek humour. I feel like it started off very strong but sadly got a little lost as the story progressed. I really liked the Wonk and felt she was such a good character who was almost always on the precipice of an existential crisis. I wish the author had pushed things further with (Un)Charles and leaned even more into the absurd. However, it was still a quick and fun read but didn’t quite reach the level of humour I expected. Overall, this was an enjoyable sci-fi and will definitely be checking out other works by this author.

I’m a bit torn about this one. Despite comparisons with Murderbot by Martha Wells, this book is not remotely comparable other than the protagonist is a robot. For starters, this is a novel of ideas where Tchaikovsky explores themes such as the notion of free will, what it means to be loyal and honourable and what constitutes a life of service. It is also a quest novel, where Charles the valet finds himself suddenly unemployed and sets out into the wider world in order to find another human he can serve. However his companion, The Wonk, is driven to discover what caused the fall of human civilisation, assuming that robots determined to take over the world as they’d become dissatisfied with their roles as servitors and unpaid help.

The characterisation of Charles is very well done. Even though it’s clear he has murdered his owner – he cannot explain why. I felt the manner in which the murder is done and Charles’ subsequent reaction is masterfully written and the book starts really well. However, it’s a doorstopper and while plenty happens to Charles and his unlikely travelling companion The Wonk, the pacing is uneven. While this is undeniably a clever, thought-provoking read, there is a certain amount of unnecessary repetition that hindered the narrative flow. This is a good book that could have been superb if the editing had been more rigorous.

I liked the moments of humour, which were very welcome as the post-apocalyptic world is a bleak one and Tchaikovsky describes it vividly. As for the ending – there is a point earlier in the book which I felt would have made a better, stronger conclusion to the story. However, that isn’t a dealbreaker in this poignant, philosophical read that has me still pondering over some of the very disturbing questions it raises about our ongoing relationship with artificial intelligence and where it will take us. While I obtained an arc of Service Model from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

Creo que una de las razones por la que la ciencia ficción es mi género favorito es por su capacidad de denuncia del mundo actual, exponiendo situaciones que en principio parecen extremadamente exageradas, pero que no son más que extrapolaciones del estado actual de las cosas. También por el sentido de la maravilla que encuentras en cada página, por la imaginación desbordada de los autores… y paro porque si no, no hablo de Service Model hasta el año que viene.


En esta ocasión Adrian Tchaikovsky utiliza la figura del narrador demasiado confiable, en contraposición del no confiable, dándole al recurso una vuelta de tuerca. Charles es un robot ayuda de cámara y como tal está preparado para llevar a cabo una cierta lista de tareas para su señor, sin salirse de ellas ni razonar si son necesarias o no. Como toda la novela está pasada por el tamiz de sus ojos (lentes) y sus sentidos, el libro tiene cierta lógica interna que acaba resultando exasperante para un lector que ve las contradicciones de esta forma de vida. El escritor utiliza una y otra vez este recurso para exponer de forma descarnada los problemas de una sociedad que ha caído en el ombliguismo, siendo desesperante en general y en ocasiones incluso diría que tedioso. Pienso que un poco de recorte en las páginas le hubiera venido bien a la novela, que remacha en demasía su mensaje, como un brazo robótico mal calibrado que acaba destrozando su banco de trabajo por exceso de celo (más bien, por mala programación).

La serie de situaciones por las que va pasando Charles una vez se ve obligado a salir de su zona de confort son cada vez más rocambolescas, pero la progresión aritmética con la que van avanzando resulta tranquilizadora, como la lenta subida de la temperatura del agua en la que acabarán muriendo las proverbiales ranas. El humor de Tchaikovsky es bastante seco en este viaje iniciático, pero afortunadamente está presente, con momentos memorables como el uso del brazo para indicar las figuras retóricas a los robots, incapaces de comprender cuándo una pregunta necesita respuesta y cuándo no.

El británico no se esconde a la hora de mostrar los referentes en los que se ha basado para algunos capítulos, o al menos no se esconde “mucho”. KR15-T, K4FK-R, 4W-L, 80RH-5 y D4NT-A son anagramas fácilmente reconocibles para cualquier lector que quiera entrar en el juego.

Recomiendo encarecidamente esta crítica social envuelta en ciencia ficción de futuro cercano, si bien la forma elegida para narra la historia puede llegar a ser cansada en ciertas ocasiones.

High-concept satire isn't Tchaikovsky's usual area of operation, though there has always been an undercurrent of irony in his work and there has always been an allegorical level of political engagement in his work (even if it is just a sallow, jaundiced but realistic look at humanity). So Service Model is a little bit of a departure, though he tackles its near-future absurdity with aplomb and what comes across to the reader as glee. Channelling Catch-22 in its central narrative quandary, he also leans on Wodehouse for his central conception of a character and then does a smash-and-grab on Bunyan, Dante and The Bible for his own quixotic purposes. And it almost completely works.

Charles is a Gentleman's Gentleman, but a robot, so a Gentleman's Robot except he appears to have slit the throat of his Gentleman so he needs to get checked out to see what malfunctioned, and then probably get reassigned as his Gentleman is no longer Gentlemanning. Making his way to the service centre he discovers a world where there don't appear to be any people, which isn't that surprising as robots were invented to reduce the labour of mankind, but even so he sees no one enjoying their leisure. And sadly at the service centre he discovers there is also no one to make any senior-level decisions, leaving the extremely long queue of malfunctioning robots trapped, and occasionally destroyed for being litter. There is a whole community of robots which exists to serve humanity but seemingly no humanity to serve. And the robots can't take over because they aren't sentient and have no desires beyond, well, serving.

Tchaikovsky works through his world-building methodically but not without plenty of whimsy, and in Charles he has a very personally droll narrator (the Jeeves influence no doubt helped). Many of the problems in the book hang on paradoxes built into a system that never expected to be fully automated but then was, and it's impossible not to see it as a very simple extrapolation from current conversations around large language models being put in charge of things which require actual judgement. What is most gratifying is that, like a decent mystery novelist, Tchaikovsky shows his hand a few pages before he confirms it, so when something starts to feel a little like Dant's Inferno, well you get a nice endorphin rush of being right. That's really hard to do, and for that, I'll overlook what feels like a bit of a plot hole in the centre of the novel (there are no people except when there are). A funny, fun and timely cautionary tale.

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.

I was so excited for this but something was just missing for me 😔 I liked the start but the middle just completely lost me and I didn't care but the last 25% picked up and redeemed it for me a little. I can definitely see why people are loving this book it's very well written just wasn't a favourite for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan McMillan and Adrian Tchaikovsky for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.