Aug 11

Aug 11 Service Model

About the book

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Tor Books

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

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My Review

Adrian Tchaikovsky is trying to do a lot here, and insofar as his intentions go, I think he succeeded — Service Model is a funny, voicey book that comments on the danger of relying on computers to save us when they have been programmed by humans, who are biased; the consequences of those with privilege hoarding resources for themselves; the line between human and machine; and so much more.

Unfortunately, the execution was just not for me. I went from intrigued by the excellent premise (a robot butler is going about its daily task list when it realizes it somehow accidentally murdered its human master) to impatiently frustrated, to confused at the discordant direction of the plot, to feeling like I had things explained to me like a child. Again, I think a lot of this was actually necessary to drive the themes home, but I was glad to be finished with it.

It will be interesting to see if this takes home the Hugo Award!