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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was nervous to start this as to be honest, I did not love Alien Clay and was worried I would have a similar experienced with this novel. Happy to report: this novel was quite a different experience! Tchaikovsky's voice felt a lot stronger in this novel? I understood what they were trying to say and was entertained along they way, rather than just understanding and kinda falling asleep.
To put simply: Service Model is about a robot, Charles, that ends up going on a soul-searching mission after inexplicably killing their owner. Turns out the world is kind of a dystopian wasteland where mankind has nearly gone extinct. This does not stop the robot, now UnCharles, from trying to ignore his self-awareness despite his new found friend, The Wonk, from trying to force UnCharles into self-realization.
The audiobook is narrated by the author and he does a wonderful job! This story mixes a lot of social commentary mixed with intensely dry humor. The story errs to the side of "cozy" while still feeling aware enough of itself to stay away from getting too comfy. I really liked this novel even if I think it was a bit too long. I wonder if this novel could have been more effective as a novella, but eh, its good as-is!
To put simply: Service Model is about a robot, Charles, that ends up going on a soul-searching mission after inexplicably killing their owner. Turns out the world is kind of a dystopian wasteland where mankind has nearly gone extinct. This does not stop the robot, now UnCharles, from trying to ignore his self-awareness despite his new found friend, The Wonk, from trying to force UnCharles into self-realization.
The audiobook is narrated by the author and he does a wonderful job! This story mixes a lot of social commentary mixed with intensely dry humor. The story errs to the side of "cozy" while still feeling aware enough of itself to stay away from getting too comfy. I really liked this novel even if I think it was a bit too long. I wonder if this novel could have been more effective as a novella, but eh, its good as-is!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Classism
Moderate: War
Minor: Slavery
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first half of the book is very slow, but it picks up and becomes and overall enjoyable read.
funny
reflective
adventurous
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A decidedly okay read. It really really wants you to take some very obvious lessons from this book and it delivers them, somewhat, heavy-handedly at time. It’s fine but not presented with much finesse.
I’ve seen this book compared to Murderbot and I don’t really understand how that comparison is being made. I actually think this book is more like The Monk and Robot series. Both about robot and human societies that have disengaged from each other and gone their own ways. Questions of purpose and self determination are posed in both books. I think that Monk and Robot does it better. It all just falls a bit flat here and sometimes I felt like I was being lectured at.
Perhaps this issue is that Service Model is told from the point of view of the robot. Uncharles is the straight man in a comedy routine that he’s performing by himself. Without someone to bounce off of, it’s just boring and dry. The Wonk just doesn’t fulfill that role well enough. It’s quite British and if you like that sort of humor you might appreciate this more. There are several literary and pop culture references and if you can’t catch them they’re quite fun.
The third act is overly long and this book really could have been 150 pages shorter. There’s so much going in circles and rehashing the same problems over and over again that it just becomes tedious. I understand that this may be a device the author is using so we can really experience this world like a robot but it wears thin quickly. You need a human perspective or something with some sort of emotion.
Mercifully it’s a quick read. It’s not a bad book by any means but it’s a well tread idea and if you’re going to do it, it has to be near perfect.
I’ve seen this book compared to Murderbot and I don’t really understand how that comparison is being made. I actually think this book is more like The Monk and Robot series. Both about robot and human societies that have disengaged from each other and gone their own ways. Questions of purpose and self determination are posed in both books. I think that Monk and Robot does it better. It all just falls a bit flat here and sometimes I felt like I was being lectured at.
Perhaps this issue is that Service Model is told from the point of view of the robot. Uncharles is the straight man in a comedy routine that he’s performing by himself. Without someone to bounce off of, it’s just boring and dry. The Wonk just doesn’t fulfill that role well enough. It’s quite British and if you like that sort of humor you might appreciate this more. There are several literary and pop culture references and if you can’t catch them they’re quite fun.
The third act is overly long and this book really could have been 150 pages shorter. There’s so much going in circles and rehashing the same problems over and over again that it just becomes tedious. I understand that this may be a device the author is using so we can really experience this world like a robot but it wears thin quickly. You need a human perspective or something with some sort of emotion.
Mercifully it’s a quick read. It’s not a bad book by any means but it’s a well tread idea and if you’re going to do it, it has to be near perfect.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the premise but I didn't find the execution very interesting or entertaining.
adventurous
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.94 / 5 💫
I did not expect a funny, endearing comedy of manners from Tchaikovsky but here we are. This was delightful.
I did not expect a funny, endearing comedy of manners from Tchaikovsky but here we are. This was delightful.
challenging
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's "ok." Not a bad read by any stretch. Not breaking any new ground here- pretty standard robot sci-fi stuff.
Much lighter-toned book than what you usually get from the author. Some of it is legitimately humorous, but mostly the jokes are just dry and frequently overstay their welcome. Some decent nerd-stalgia intersparsed (and more subtly placed) but not enough to save it for me.
Dialogue isn't really the writer's thing in general, but it actually kinda works here since you get the POV of the robot. Unfortunately, his usual, interesting, grounded human characters aren't present (also because it's so robot-centric), which is a shame because I have enjoyed that in some of his other books.
Some decent commentary about robots, Ai, and humanity/ society, but with much less subtlety than I expected from this writer- also one of the worst reveals in a book that I've seen in a while. In typical fashion for the author, it takes the book awhile to really get going, even if it's on the shorter side for him.It's at least a fast read, thankfully, but there are other books out there that have addressed the same topics, and are also shorter/ more entertaining.
Worthwhile? Sure. But wouldn't rush to get this one.
Much lighter-toned book than what you usually get from the author. Some of it is legitimately humorous, but mostly the jokes are just dry and frequently overstay their welcome. Some decent nerd-stalgia intersparsed (and more subtly placed) but not enough to save it for me.
Dialogue isn't really the writer's thing in general, but it actually kinda works here since you get the POV of the robot. Unfortunately, his usual, interesting, grounded human characters aren't present (also because it's so robot-centric), which is a shame because I have enjoyed that in some of his other books.
Some decent commentary about robots, Ai, and humanity/ society, but with much less subtlety than I expected from this writer- also one of the worst reveals in a book that I've seen in a while. In typical fashion for the author, it takes the book awhile to really get going, even if it's on the shorter side for him.It's at least a fast read, thankfully, but there are other books out there that have addressed the same topics, and are also shorter/ more entertaining.
Worthwhile? Sure. But wouldn't rush to get this one.
slow-paced
Kind of feels like it's just trundling along on the journey. Not bad but could have been much shorter given the repetition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes