- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0765303558
- ISBN-13: 978-0765303554
- Product Dimensions: 24.3 x 16.6 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,929,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Kil'n People
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Product Description
Review
This is not just a can't-wait-for-time-to-read-it book, but is clearly in the much higher category of don't-dare-interrupt-my-reading ... Underneath the frenetic story of our hero trying in multiple forms to save the world, are some very real questions about the nature of identity, selfhood and the soul. (NEWBOOKS.MAG )
A slick, thoughtful novel that shows not only Brin's immense story telling skills, but also the diversity of his range and imagination, confirming his place at the top of contemporary SF (ENIGMA )
The Uplift series: 'Brin writes space opera with rare panache . . . multi-layered, tightly plotted and excellently written (SFX )
Exceptionally vivid, imaginative and multi-layered ...Brin's detective story unrolls itself with the intelligence and finesse of a Bach fugue, does a fine line in wry humour, and asks some pointed questions about the nature of consciousness and reality (FOCUS ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
A slick, thoughtful novel that shows not only Brin's immense story telling skills, but also the diversity of his range and imagination, confirming his place at the top of contemporary SF (ENIGMA )
The Uplift series: 'Brin writes space opera with rare panache . . . multi-layered, tightly plotted and excellently written (SFX )
Exceptionally vivid, imaginative and multi-layered ...Brin's detective story unrolls itself with the intelligence and finesse of a Bach fugue, does a fine line in wry humour, and asks some pointed questions about the nature of consciousness and reality (FOCUS ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
STARBURST
'The reader can just sit back and enjoy … the twists just keep coming …All in all KIL'N PEOPLE can hold its head high'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
DAVID BRIN has always had a talent for inventing new twists to familiar science, and in Kiln People he's come up with a cracker.
Bursting with ideas, memorable characters and witty new slang, his novel propels us into a colourful and fully realised future. In it, the technique called "soulistics" makes it possible to imprint a copy of a human soul's "standing wave" into a specially prepared clay duplicate to produce short-lived autonomous copies of the original human. These "dittos" live for just 24 hours. Millions of people lead multiple lives and transfer memories back from their clay selves.
Albert Morris is a private detective who uses dits for his tedious assignments. His latest case begins as a simple ditnapping but soon turns into something far more profound as Albert comes up against not one but three evil geniuses using soulistics for their own ends. The plot makes frequent and knowing use of pulp fiction plot devices, but Brin explores the ramifications of copying human souls into disposable slave bodies. Fun to read and thought-provoking.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As with many of David Brins works, this novel is set on a highly imaginitive and detailed future. The core concept is that people can make copies of themselves. These copies only last for 1 day and their thoughts and experiences can be 'inloaded' by the real person before the 'dittos' dissolve.
This is a lighthearted piece, but it also makes some interesting philosophical and metaphysical points re the nature of self.
This is a lighthearted piece, but it also makes some interesting philosophical and metaphysical points re the nature of self.
The plot revolves around the investigative work of a private detective and this allows him to both explore and explain the world around him. There are a few plot devices..copies can't make copies; copies are not exact duplicates but can be enhanced or detracted from (for instance to make them more able to study or even to be more obedient)
There is a large touch of the Philip Jose Farmers about the novel though, particularly as the various plot threads come back together for the final denouemen. My main complaint being the levels of deux ex machinery, which I found a little hard to swallow.
In conclusion.
I noticed that one of the other reviewers mentions 'The Practice Effect' and I'd agree that they are similar works. Both start with an interesting premise, but have a relatively slight plot and neither quite live up to what I would regard as the mainstream SF works that DB has written (that is his The Uplift novels).
Worth reading, but not Mr Brins best work.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The premise of this book is great - a society that creates clay avatars that can do your bidding, and in the case of the main character, private investigating. The puns come thick and fast and the there are loads of ideas, some of which are intriguing and downright prophetic...
...but, however great the idea is one feels that Mr Brin has hung the book on that idea and that alone, and although the idea is a strong one the characters and the plot are the puny friends who tag along and are not strong enough to stand up for themselves. I didn't really empathise with anyone nor care what happened to them. One thing that Star Wars taught us is that great science fiction, no matter how good the science is, needs to be great fiction as well.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
THE BEST BRIN EVER
Of all David's novels, this is my favourite. It's such a pity he has stopped writing.
Nine years old and still fresh, the plot is cunningly imaginative, the scenario... Read more
Nine years old and still fresh, the plot is cunningly imaginative, the scenario... Read more
Published 8 months ago by R. P. Griffiths
Mind-blowingly fabulous idea, not so good implemetation
This is a science fiction novel set in the future. Mankind has discovered a way of manufacturing an exact clone of a living person, with all his character traits and memories. Read more
Published on 10 May 2010 by Printul Noptilor
Dances with golems
In the Morris Dance, raffishly-clad men silently gyrate around a great circle. Their colourful costumes are in stark contrast with their stern expressions as they dance their... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2004 by Stephen A. Haines
Entertaining
Perhaps the best way to encapsulate Brin's latest book is its own (UK edition) tagline: "A Future Thriller". Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2004 by N. Clarke
Disapointing from Brin
Although a mildly diverting read, this book simply failed to impress due to the inclusion of too many disparate themes (ethics, cloning, nature of god, ludism, tech. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2004 by D. M. Laventine
Starts Great, Ends Terribly
Cloning is one of the classic themes of science fiction, raising all kinds of philosophical interesting questions about consciousness, ethics, morality, and the nature of reality... Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2003 by A. Ross
Kil'n People
This is a well written, highly funny book that made me laugh out loud in places. The multiple dittos were cleverly written to portray the different fascets of society today, and... Read more
Published on 16 July 2003 by Vikki Harris
Probably Brin's best book so far
I really, really like The Practice effect, but since reading Kil'n people I've had a hard time deciding which is better. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2003 by "athaclena"
Science finction at its best
I doesn't get much better than this -- an outstanding book. Brin takes a complicated story with a bewildering array of characters and produces a highly readable and entertaining... Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2003 by Mr. M. Wilson
Feats of clay.
A futuristic fantasy with as much swash-buckling derring-do as any medieval romance, Kiln People features an intriguing mix of real humans and their clay dittos (or golems),... Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2003 by Mary Whipple
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