Service Model — Stubbornly Entertaining

Somehow, I think I owe my service provider (name withheld purposely) a bit of indirect gratitude.

When I unexpectedly lost service, I couldn’t work. I couldn’t watch my series. I couldn’t play games. My options suddenly became very limited.

So… I read.

I finally finished Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Service Model, and I was surprisingly delighted by how much I enjoyed it.

What initially hooked me was the humor. The robots can be unbelievably stubborn, literal, and frustrating in their conversations, but that stubbornness gradually became one of the things I enjoyed most about the book. Their discussions are funny, but they also reveal the limitations of their programming and their attempts to make sense of concepts that seem obvious to humans.

And that’s where I found the book particularly interesting.

The story isn’t just a robot comedy. It moves through some wonderfully unexpected territory—from a murder mystery to something resembling an odyssey—while exploring questions about purpose, identity, curiosity, humanity, and what happens when machines are left to interpret a world their creators are no longer around to explain.

I initially thought I would relate more to Uncharles because of his logical and analytical approach. Surprisingly, I found myself relating even more to Wonk. The constant questioning, curiosity, and tendency to follow a thought wherever it leads—even when it repeatedly gets itself into trouble—felt strangely familiar. 🤦🏻‍♂️

And despite being someone who is usually annoyingly good at figuring out mysteries and secrets before they’re revealed, this book managed to catch me off guard more than once.

That’s probably the biggest compliment I can give it.

It kept me wondering.

With my attention span seemingly shrinking faster these days, I have to tip my hat to Tchaikovsky for keeping me engaged from beginning to end.

Stubbornly entertaining. Definitely one of the better satirical sci-fi novels I’ve read.