Frank Burns reviewed Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ended up a DNF
3 stars
Still giving it three stars as it is Tchaikovsky but this was a slog for me. Sorry, Adrian.
13 pages
English language
Published 2024
To fix the world they must first 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 its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose. Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.
Still giving it three stars as it is Tchaikovsky but this was a slog for me. Sorry, Adrian.