As much as I like David Brin's work, I just could not finish this book. No problems with the writing per se but the story was really ridiculous.
In thAs much as I like David Brin's work, I just could not finish this book. No problems with the writing per se but the story was really ridiculous.
In the future, everyone has an in-home kiln that they use to make life-like robotic clay duplicates of themselves. You get up in the morning lay down on the machine with a blank next to you and imprint your consciousness on the ditto. You send it out to mow the grass or to the office to work in your place etc. There are different types of dittos for different tasks and each has a specific color. Make a green dit to do mundane chores, they're cheap to produce, but for work you'd make a gray as they're more suited for complex thinking. White ones will have sex for you if you can't be bothered to show up in person. If you're a waiter you make a yellow or two and off to work they go doubling your income etc. At the end of the day your dittos die so they have to be home before they expire so they can download the day's memories back into your brain. Need I go on?
When I read I try to picture the world I'm reading about. With Kiln People it was a cartoon world over-run by giant Gummy Bear people. I Could not take it seriously and had to bail after 140 pages. I only stuck with it that long because I just read Dune, glorious book that it is, and I thought it was the comparison that was killing Kiln People for me. Nope. It was the gummies.
This was a massive disappointment. Read anything else you like from Brin but steer clear of this one....more
Dune, by Frank Herbert, is a book that's been on my list for ages. I kept putting it off because there was a movie and a mini series at hand and thereDune, by Frank Herbert, is a book that's been on my list for ages. I kept putting it off because there was a movie and a mini series at hand and there are so many other books on my list. What put me over the edge was the Mind Voyages reading challenge. I decided that this was the year I would finally read Dune so I could cross it off my list.
Let me start by saying that I really love this book and wish I had read it years ago. Going in I was concerned I would be let down after all this time and all the hype. Dune is on top of just about every "best of" list I've ever seen and people would boggle when I told them I hadn't read it yet. I was expecting something amazing and in the back of my head I thought it would end up being a let down.
As it turned out my concerns were unfounded. I love all the detail in this story: the Fremen culture, the political intrigue in the Empire, the Arrakis ecology, the Bene Gesserit manipulations and on and on. Dune is an excellent example of world building. I find it nigh impossible to separate the book from the movie so it was great to see some characters I knew from the movie fleshed out. The film version relegated some great characters to the side line. My familiarity with the movie had me seeing Kyle, Jurgen, Patrick, Sting and all in my head as I was reading which turned out to enhance my enjoyment a great deal.
I understand why so many fans of the book don't like the movie but there are some scenes in the movie that turned out to be better than what was in the book. The Water of Life scene in particular. In the book Paul goes off by himself to drink the water and falls into a coma for weeks. Not very cinematic, or indeed dramatic, at all and frankly a bit of a let down. Give me the awesome "Shai-Hulud Salute" over "Muad'Dib unconscious in the cupboard" any day. The movie did sacrifice a lot as is the case with most movie adaptations but the feel was right. The richness of a layered story like Dune gets lost in translation. I've grown to accept the trade off as the price you pay to see this kind of stuff on the silver screen but I have been wondering what David Lynch could have done with Dune had it gotten the LOTR treatment. Three films back to back to back to tell the story in full? That would have been amazing.
The book fully deserves the accolades that have been heaped on it. Indeed, I'll be able to add my voice to the chorus now but best of all, I can take my turn to stare with incredulity and gasp "You've never read Dune?!" when some poor soul admits the flaw. I just have to find someone who hasn't read it. The Sleeper has awakened....more
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