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griggs0408 's review for:
Service Model
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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.