eBook, 638 pages
English language
Published Jan. 10, 2023
Albert Morris is a private investigator. Actually, he’s lots of private investigators, in a near future when anyone can send forth copies of themselves. Cheap, clay duplicates fulfill every legal task or illicit whim. It’s a world of several billion real people – that also throngs with disposable dittos. And you would do it, too.
With several cases on the go at once, it’s crucial that a P.I. keep track of his many selves! But when Albert takes on a ring of bootleggers making illegal copies of a famous actress, he stumbles on a secret so explosive it triggers open warfare across Dittotown. A secret that might throw this delicately balanced world into chaos.
Welcome to a shadowy world of kiln-baked golems, where memory itself is suspect and the line between life and death may no longer exist.
Interesting premise. Good story and good writing. Got a little weird at the end.
Interesting premise. Good story and good writing. Got a little weird at the end.
Mind-blowing
At once a detective story, an exploration of the near future and a morality tale. Really hard to put down!
Wow. That was something.
Gritty detective novel in a world where people can duplicate themselves into short lived clay duplicates.
This is a tough book to review.
It's good. Quite good. But David Brin has written better.
Kiln People is extremely clever, funny, original, and memorable. It presents a very original idea: a future society in which people can temporarily spin off copies of themselves in clay duplicates, "inloading" the memories from those golems at the end of the day. And in that setting, it incorporates a nicely-handled detective story, as well as more puns and obscure references than you can shake a stick at.
At the same time, there's no denying that it's not first-rate Brin. For any other writer (except the greatest ones), I'd give this book a strong 4.2. But I expect more from Brin, so I'll give it a 3.8.
It does tend to get a bit metaphysical and ends up losing its way towards the end, a bit. Still, it's well worth a read.
This is a tough book to review.
It's good. Quite good. But David Brin has written better.
Kiln People is extremely clever, funny, original, and memorable. It presents a very original idea: a future society in which people can temporarily spin off copies of themselves in clay duplicates, "inloading" the memories from those golems at the end of the day. And in that setting, it incorporates a nicely-handled detective story, as well as more puns and obscure references than you can shake a stick at.
At the same time, there's no denying that it's not first-rate Brin. For any other writer (except the greatest ones), I'd give this book a strong 4.2. But I expect more from Brin, so I'll give it a 3.8.
It does tend to get a bit metaphysical and ends up losing its way towards the end, a bit. Still, it's well worth a read.
