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