Demented Kitty Misc

A friend lent me a paperback copy of Kiln People about a month ago. I put it off in favor of Tuchman, but started reading Kiln People last week. I didn't recognize the author's name until I stopped by the lender's desk to talk about the book.

I heard from a source I'd rather not name here that David Brin liked to send lists to his editors/ publishers at the last minute before printing. The author wished to replace words with multisyllabic ones so his readers would have to look up a few. Considering that I was perhaps ten years old when I read Startide Rising, I tended to keep a dictionary handy anyway.

Kiln People doesn't feel like it was tampered with in the same way. Yet the book is still quite complex. As of chapter nineteen, the story comes from seven or eight different viewpoints. All but one is from sci-fi golem copies of the main character imprinted with the main character's mind and experiences. The golems vary by color; expense; and, most notably; clarity of thought, memory, and sensory input. Essentially, the story is told from several different characters who are and are not the main character. It gives the sci-fi detective plot a few nice twists that would otherwise rely on several different characters.

I know. I raised an eyebrow too, but I tend to like a story split into different viewpoints when done well. Margaret Atwood moves a character's viewpoint through time or by using other viewpoints with style and seeming ease, for example. Kiln People works in a way that is rougher around the edges than Atwood's The Blind Assassin or even Oryx and Crake, but Kiln People is easier to grasp in the beginning chapters because it unfolds from beginning to end along a timeline.

Please keep in mind that I'm comparing Mr Brin to one of my favorite authors here. That his writing holds up at all is practically a glowing recommendation from me. Kiln People isn't hurt by several gems throughout the text, either.

In olden times, the whole population of a factory--thousands of workers--would swing into motion at the blowing of a whistle, half of them heading home, tired from either or ten--or even twelve--hours work, while equal numbers shuffled in for their turn at the machines, transforming sweat and skill and irreplaceable human lifespan into the wealth of nations.

The copyright date for Kiln People was 2002. That means the book may not be Mr Brin's latest. I certainly hope he either has or will continue to write about the world of ditective (golem slang from the book) Morris.