Task List Item No.1 – Become self-aware . . .

Meet CharlesTM, 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?

Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky

**‘A joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human’ – Patrick Ness

‘Dizzyingly inventive’ – T**he Guardian

‘Tchaikovsky’s world-building is some of the best in modern sci-fi’ – New Scientist**