Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time.
To fix the world they must first break it, further.
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service.
When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away.
Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, and headed off to university in Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself, he subsequently ended up in law. Adrian has since worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds and now writes full time. He also lives in Leeds, with his wife and son. Adrian is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor. He has also trained in stage fighting and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind – possibly excepting his son. Tchaikovsky’s critically-acclaimed Elder Race was shortlisted for a Hugo Award and for the inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize. Other notable works include The Expert System’s Brother and Made Things.
My thoughts: I really liked the main protagonist – a valet bot who goes by Uncharles for most of the book. Some terrible quirk of his programming caused him to slit his master’s throat, and flee his home. Things are very confusing for him from then on out – he discovers a world that has fallen apart, where humans have mostly disappeared and robots aren’t coping well either.
When he meets The Wonk, a rather peculiar and tatty individual at Central Services, they end up on a road trip together, one with very different aims. Uncharles just wants a new human master to serve, the Wonk wants answers.
I always enjoy the worlds the author creates, even this tragic dystopia, Uncharles is so naive but it’s that innocence and willingness to keep trying that allows him to keep going. His lack of emotion and inhuman nature are the very things he needs in this strange new world. He and the Wonk make a great team. There’s lots of references to the Wizard of Oz, which definitely seems to be an influence, if the Wonk and Uncharles were Dorothy and the Tin Man.
Humans have built robots to do almost everything for them and made themselves obsolete but then the robots have also become pointless as so many of them have lost their roles, like Uncharles or the Librarians. Finding new ones in the changed world might give them a sense of purpose.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 