Service Model
By Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tor, Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 978-1-0350-4567-9
373pp.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is a truly prolific writer. Service Model is his 50th novel, the first of two that he presented to his readers in 2024 alone. He was not always an author. Having tried his hand at law and dabbled in dramatics for a while, he finally found his niche as a sci-fi and fantasy novelist. Tchaikovsky (not related to the music composer) has received many awards for his work, including the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Service Model is not an action-packed sci-fi thriller. It is an existential novel, in which robots are employed to shed light on the meaning of human life. The first half of the novel is used to set the scene. What little action there is occurs in the concluding chapters.

The main character is a sophisticated robot, a service model called Charles, built to interface with humans as a high class valet. The story opens with Charles doing his daily chores and dealing with all the other robots that serve in the manor where his Master lives. The Master is never introduced as a character, yet he is central to the story.

Without any logic or prompt from his encrypted programme, Charles slits the throat of his Master while shaving him. The robot does not understand what he has done and continues with his job until he finds everything he touches is streaked with red. A closer look at the Master reveals what has been wrought and the doctor and police are called.

That is when Charles and the reader realise something is very wrong.

A sci-fi novel with a robot as a protagonist is a sarcastic commentary on human society and the futility of human ambition

The robot police and doctor faithfully follow the programme encoded in their make-up. But the problem remains unaddressed. Charles is forced to the conclusion that something is malfunctioning within himself and he sets out for help, which is known to be available at Central Services.

Tchaikovsky is to be commended for admirably retaining the inner logic of the world he has created. Page after page describes the scenes that Charles sees as he treks to his destination. Everything follows the rules laid down by the author. The reader quickly realises that something is radically flawed with the land that Charles is traversing. Charles himself does not understand the significance of what surrounds him. He just registers what he sees. To analyse the sights are not within his remit. His sole quest is to get fixed so that he can carry out his programmed purpose.

In Central Services and especially in Diagnostics, Charles is confronted with a strange circular logic. No task can be completed because of rampant shortages created by human decrees and the rules cannot be amended because of a dearth of human beings. Unending queues of robots requiring aid are formed outside every department. Days and even years have passed in this way. All the office robots are labouring hard and following the dictates of their operating systems, yet all has ground to halt. The procedural failure is apparent to the reader but not to the robots.

It is in Diagnostics that Charles meets The Wonk, who becomes his friend. The Wonk gives him the name ‘Uncharles’, since the Master who had christened him earlier is no more. It is also The Wonk who saves him from sudden “death”. Even though The Wonk wants answers and Uncharles merely seeks a Master, they decide to journey together.

Each stop on their odyssey only makes it clearer that the world is seriously out of whack. The two end up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where meaningless, but never-ending, battles are being fought between warrior robots. And it is here that, finally, some answers are forthcoming.

The novel is a sarcastic commentary on human society. The plot is thin but the social commentary and the tongue-in-cheek humour keep the ball rolling. The futility of human ambition and materialistic desires are juxtaposed against the earnestness of robots whose only imperative is to discharge the duties assigned to them. It is the author’s contention that, however brutish and meaningless the human condition may be, the introduction of robots into it brings no improvement. This 2024 novel may very well be cautioning the world against AI.

The near absence of humans is the point of the story. The few that make an appearance in the novel do not engender trust in the species. According to Tchaikovsky, no great catastrophe is needed to orchestrate the destruction of homo sapiens. Their own juvenile aspirations can decimate them.

The human desire to gather more and more wealth while absolutely disregarding everyone else is the prime cause of their downfall. Tchaikovsky’s explanation brings the Pakistani elite to mind. In the novel, as floods, plagues and famines devastate the world and wipe out millions, the rich ensconce themselves in large manors, surrounded by all imaginable comforts and delights, and waited upon by unquestioning robots. They become implacable in their disdain for both the plight of fellow men, and of the degradation of the earth, till they are themselves annihilated.

The theme of Service Model is dark and gloomy. But the author uses a light touch as he paints the horrors and uses humour to relieve the bleakness. Needless to say, robots have no algorithm for enjoyment or comprehension of comedy. They keep on trying to fulfill their roles in endless futile loops. As Uncharles says at a critical point, “..the end of civilisation has had a negative impact on scheduled updates.”

This novel is not among the best of Tchaikovsky’s works. A run of the mill sci-fi novel, it is repetitive and slow. The first half of the book can be compressed by 50 percent without harming the storyline. However, the banter between the two main characters relieves the tedium and the political and social satire supplies the wit. But no revelation of consequence is made at the end of the tortuous journey of the duo.

Although a bit disappointing, since the author has written much better novels in the past, Service Model can still be packed for a long plane journey or be read on the beach.

The reviewer is a freelance writer, author of the novel The Tea Trolley and the translator of Toofan Se Pehlay: Safar-i-Europe Ki Diary

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, May 18th, 2025