The Murderbot Diaries meets In the Lives of Puppets in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder, rebellion and belonging from Hugo Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky.

To fix the world they must first break it - further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labour and service.

When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then also discovers they can 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 . . .

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

About the Author

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, has practised law and now writes full time. He's also studied stagefighting, perpetrated amateur dramatics and has a keen interest in entomology and tabletop games.

Adrian is the author of the critically acclaimed Shadows of the Apt series, the Echoes of the Fall series and other novels, novellas and short stories. Children of Time won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, Children of Ruin and Shards of Earth both won the British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel and The Tiger and the Wolf won the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

Reviews
Picking up an Adrian Tchaikovsky book is proof you love your brain and want it to be happy -- John Scalzi
Brilliant science-fiction and far-out world-building -- James McAvoy
One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction -- Christopher Paolini
[Adrian Tchaikovsky] writes incredibly enjoyable sci-fi, full of life and ideas -- Patrick Ness



Book Information
ISBN 9781035045662
Author Adrian Tchaikovsky
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint Tor
Publisher Pan Macmillan