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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent science fiction, 10 Jan 2002
This review is from: Kil'n People (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.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brim full of ideas, but runs out of puff towards the end, 31 Dec 2003
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. 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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great, yet thin, idea that runs out of steam..., 18 Oct 2004
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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