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Service Model

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What to expect

Task List Item No.1 – Become self-aware . . .

Meet CharlesTM, the latest in robot servant technology. Programmed to undertake the most menial household chores, Charles is loyal, efficient and logical to a fault. That is, until a rather large fault causes him to murder his owner.

Understandably perplexed, Charles finds himself without a master – therefore worthless in a society utterly reliant on artificial labour and services. Fleeing the household, he enters a wider world he never knew existed. Here an age-old human hierarchy is disintegrating into ruins, and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to its wellbeing is struggling to find a purpose.

Charles must face new challenges, illogical tasks and a cast of irrational characters. He’s about to discover that sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. But can he help fix the world, or is it too badly broken?

Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky

‘A joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human’ – Patrick Ness

‘Dizzyingly inventive’ – The Guardian

‘Tchaikovsky’s world-building is some of the best in modern sci-fi’ – New Scientist

Critics Review

  • Picking up an Adrian Tchaikovsky book is proof you love your brain and want it to be happy

    John Scalzi, author of Starter Villain

  • Brilliant science-fiction and far-out world-building

    James McAvoy, actor (Split, X-Men: First Class)

  • One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction

    Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and Fractal Noise

  • [Adrian Tchaikovsky] writes incredibly enjoyable sci-fi, full of life and ideas

    Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go

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