explorer / books · 2025
Service Model
Published 2024 by Tordotcom · 373 pages
Hugo · 2025
FinalistOn the ballot with
This book is recorded on the Hugo ballot only. Each row shows the full Best Novel ballot for that award and ceremony year. Winners appear first.
Adrian Tchaikovsky on these ballots
3 award entries · 3 books · 0 wins · 2025–2026
Synopsis
Charles, a fastidious robot valet, discovers he has murdered his human master and has no memory of doing so. Sent away for diagnostics, the newly renamed Uncharles wanders a world where human civilization has quietly collapsed, accompanied by an eccentric companion called the Wonk. As he searches for a new master to serve, he confronts absurd robot bureaucracies and the question of whether he wants something more than service.
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