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Author: Tchaikovsky, Adrian

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 6 June 2024 by PAN MACMILLAN (Tor) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 384 pages
164 x 243 x 39 | 600g

Adrian Tchaikovsky, master of imaginative science fiction, returns with a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder, rebellion and belonging – perfect for fans of Douglas Adams.

Task List 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 – therefore worthless in a society utterly reliant on artificial labour and services. Fleeing the household, he enters a wider world he never knew existed. Here an age-old human hierarchy is disintegrating into ruins, and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to its wellbeing is struggling to find a purpose.

Charles must face new challenges, illogical tasks and a cast of irrational characters. He’s about to discover that sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. But can he help fix the world, or is it too badly broken?‘One of the best storytellers in the business’ – John Scalzi‘Intelligent, funny, ultimately heart-breaking, and unforgettable’ – Stephen Baxter‘Delightful and very funny’ – New ScientistAdrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel on 24th August 2016