Service Model

Task Item No. 1: Become Self-Aware Meet Charles™, the latest in robot servant technology. Programmed to undertake the most menial household chores, Charles is loyal, efficient and logical to a fault - that is, until a rather large fault causes him to murder his owner. Understandably perplexed, Charles finds himself without a master and, in a society reliant on artificial labour, worthless. Fleeing the household, he enters a world he never knew existed. Here, an age-old human hierarchy is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to its well-being is struggling to find a purpose. Charles must face new challenges, illogical tasks and a cast of irrational characters. He'll discover that all it takes to overcome the limits of your programming is a nudge. But can he help fix the world, or is it too badly broken?

Prize history

• Hugo Award for Best Novel

  2025

  Finalist