Although many of the scientific aspects of the book were somewhat confusing to me, I was still able to follow the plot. I have studied quite a bit of ecology, have also had a few courses in geophysics, and I was pleased that everything Brin has included in his story is consistent with today's scientific beliefs. The structure of the novel is interesting as well; little tidbits from the general populace and their responses to the events detailed in the chapters are interspersed throughout the book.

Furthermore, the character development is excellent; many "hard" science fiction novels are more about the technology and the situations than about the characters themselves, but Brin has made his characters and their motivations very real and well-developed. Even the less important characters like Logan Eng were as detailed as the central protagonists.

There was only one thing that I did not like about this book, and that is the 'deus ex machina' (sp?) of the ending. I won't say any more because I don't want any spoilers.

'Earth' raises a lot of issues about the environment, the supposed superiority of humankind, the interconnectedness of all living things, the individual's right to privacy, and much more. Lots of food for thought and a fantastic book for discussion (I read this for a book discussion group, and I can't wait to hear what everyone else has to say about it). I haven't read anything else by David Brin, but after reading 'Earth', I definitely want to.

The Gaianism (the dominant religion of this environmentally threatened future) was a tad heavy-handed at times, but still didn't get too much into the way to like it. Interspersed with the action were excerpts from the global Net, which augmented the story in ways that reminded me of what Pohl did with Gateway. This sort of transition helped a lot to make the epic size of the book feel much more manageable.

Brin predicted a few things that, like Jules Verne long before him, have since come true or have begun to come true. Central to the book is the Net, which was no doubt based on the Internet which was only a sapling when the book was written; since then the Web has exploded and is operating much like Brin foresaw it would. He even predicted the appearance of spam and the massive, daunting problems of sifting for information online.

If all this doesn't sound interesting enough, well, there's more to say for the story. Much of the plot revolves around a small group of people--in a society heavily biased against secrecy--trying both to conceal and to eliminate the threat of a black hole within the earth. The things they discover along this road make some very interesting sci-fi; it's almost hard sci-fi at times. Meanwhile the world is full of other people somehow connected to all this, or to each other. Some know what's going on or at least that there's a conspiracy, and want to know more or to direct the course of events to their own ends. A new technology that emerges--perhaps not even too far-fetched in its concept (owing to Brin's background as a physicist)--becomes the focal point of a power struggle. Most of this we see through the eyes of an interesting assortment of rather identifiable characters.

Earth is overall a worthy story that's just as good (if not better) the second and third time around. The "chapters" are even reasonably short for the most part, allowing reading on the go and keeping things from getting tedious.

Read this one last. You'll love it if you like the universe Brin has created.

Very entertaining and highly recommended. Brin's very best!

The trilogy is built around the circumstances of the fallow world of Jijo, and set against the tapestry of Brin's "Uplift" universe. The crew of the starship Streaker (from the classic Startide Rising) plan their daring escape from the planet, while the inhabitants struggle against a mighty invader. The story is told in the first-person from the individual viewpoints of a few main characters, the balance between the various characters is very good, and their respective views of the events taking place on Jijo is fascinating.

Is there any downside to Infinity's Shore? If there is, it would be the extensive background that the reader needs before diving into the story. Like any sequel, the first few chapters of this book contain lots of flashbacks and other devices for filling in the background material; it's good, but it probably isn't quite enough. To really enjoy the wealth of themes and metaphors in this book, it is helpful to have read volume one. Ambitious readers who go to the effort of consecutively reading Sundiver, Startide Rising, The Uplift War, Brightness Reef, and Infinity's Shore will be well rewarded -- and left with a fierce anticipation of the trilogy's final volume.

Only novels by David Brin and Robert Heinlein have had that ultimate effect on me.

If your only exposure to David Brin is Startide Rising or the Uplift War and you're expecting the same overwhelming immersion into a foreign land, you'll be disappointed. Practice Effect is the first novel Brin wrote, although not the first published, and it is "only" a good read. It has the same heroic themes common in his latter works, but without the polish. The result is inevitably, and unfairly, disappointing to someone familiar with his later works.

On the other hand it may be a good introduction to Heroic SF, especially for juveniles. There's still the same action on a grand scale, "ordinary joes" changing the course of nations, friendly familiars (a bit more explicitly than the Tymbrini computers hidden in Tom and Gillian's quarters), and the smugly superior facing their own petards a-hoisting, but the heros and devils are clear from the start and the point of view doesn't jump among the many players.

Finally, as a would-be author I've found it useful to compare the writing in Practice Effect, Sundiver, and Startide Rising, in that order. They form a dramatic demonstration of how a writer matures. If you want to learn how to write books like Startide Rising or the Uplift War, start by learning how to write books like Practice Effect and then refine your skills from "merely" very good to Hugo- and Nebula-award winning.

The gimmick in "The Practice Effect" is too entertaining to give up in a review, but you'll enjoy every minute of seeing it exploited. It's a short book (I wouldn't mind more of these, actually) but one you'll want to read and re-read every word of.

This book is a treasure because it takes on that hardest of all SF writing tasks and hits a good solid home run. Read slowly to savor it...or better yet, do as I did and read it aloud to a family member who also appreciates good comic timing.

Albert Morris is an investigator in a future where people make clay duplicates of themselves in order to gain more experiences in life. Your clay "ditto" can do mundane tasks for you, like go grocery shopping or do the dishes, or something exciting like going and getting in a gunfight or having sex.

As the original, it is then your choice whether or not to "inload" their memories into your own.

As a p.i., the dittos are especially helpful for Albert, as they enable him to send out many versions of himself on his cases. Sometimes, he tells readers, his dittos solve mysteries that he will never have any recollection of.

The dittos themselves might have short shelf lives, but they are essentially the exact replica of the original, with all of his/her memories and thoughts.

Sometimes, this is a bad thing, as Albert discovers when the green duplicate he made to do the dishes goes AWOL to go surfing at the beach. They call instances like this Frankensteining.

It can also be a good thing, as "Frankie" ultimately becomes enmeshed in the plot Morris is working to uncover (more on that in a minute).

But either way, it's a weird thing.

One of Albert's gray duplicates (there is apparently a whole rainbow of clay to work with, like Play-Doh):

"While I donned a scratchy gray jumpsuit, real-me got up from the padded scan-table and cast a glance my way. Our eyes met. If this me makes it back here to inload tonight, I'll remember that brief moment of contact from both sides, worse that staring deeply in a mirror, or bad déjà vu, which is one reason why we do it seldom."

The case Morris finds various versions of himself on is pretty intricate, so the reader must pay attention or end up lost. At the heart of it is an explosive secret that may change the industry of dittomaking forever, and rattle the golem-infested society to its very core.

Brin has always been a delightful writer, and "Kiln People" is no exception. The author has spun from his imagination an entire world, and it's great fun to go forth and explore.

The narrative can be tricky, as it bounces from real Albert to each of his duplicates and back again, but one doesn't need a scorecard in order to keep up with the action.

In the end, this feat of clay turns out to be one of the more refreshing pieces of fiction recently released.

A chimera of detective novel, utopic speculation, dystopic fear, and dark humor, Kiln People is set in a near-future where golems, or inexpensive clones of people, are commonplace for those who can afford them. Golems, or "dittos," do all the things that you can't in a day: one might go to the gym and work out, another will go to the library and do research, while a third meets with your mother-in-law. At the end of the day, the golem's memories are transferred back to the original person. The action follows Albert Morris, a private detective who is investigating the murder of research scientist. The story begins to fold in on itself as the lines blur between reality, fantasy, and cloned reality. The climax and conclusion is classic Brin, and is as shocking as it is poignant.

Like all great sci-fi writers, Brin weaves a story of utmost importance as we approach a new century concerned about the notions of privacy and the ethics of cloning. But he never hits us over the head with morality, and leaves us to form our own conclusions about the content presented here. Add to that Brin's infinitely readable prose, and Kiln People becomes as accessible as it is important, which is a refreshing change of pace from a genre dominated either by juvenile, pseudo-gothic scribblings or stuff that's so far over most reader's heads that it belongs in a textbook.

Kiln People is an excellent, delightful read, and will appeal to fans of Brin's work as well as those interested in the current debates over cloning and privacy - and those of us who just like a good, if slightly unconventional, detective story. Brin is an author who can continually be counted on for great writing and outstanding subject matter, and he continues to weave dazzling tales here. For good reading in the new year, you can do a lot worse than to pick up a copy of Kiln People - this science fiction isn't just for the nerds anymore.

This is an intriguing and intelligent book set in a world where women dominate life in great families of female clones and where men are the lesser species. Both species are ruled by sexual urges, but at different times of the year, Summer for men and Winter for women. The result is a stagnant population level.

We follow two sisters who are of low status because they are Summer babies, not clones, who travel together to pretend they are clone sisters. They run into a man from "normal" humankind who has come to bring this planet back into the human collective and is imprisoned by the great families who do not want their stable society disrupted.

This is a great adventure story told against the backdrop of a rich history on a planet that is moving slowly away from technology in a reverse development towards an agrarian existence. The great families of clone sisters are the equivalent of medieval feudal families who kept Europe in stagnant thrall for so long in the middle ages.

This book is in some ways like 1984 by George Orwell, where the great families take the role of big brother to keep things stable, but in a feminine, non agressive way.

The book is littered with sub plots, each rich and full in its own way, a drug running scam, a war with an extraterrestrial species, the story of setting up the planet and the genetic enhancements required to adapt humans to it, the travels of the sisters and the game of life played by the sailors.

The worst thing about this book is that it ever ends. This is a world you want to stay in because it is so full and interesting.

GLORY SEASON is both a tale of high adventure and a thoughtful, mature exploration of where technology and idealism can take us. I'm highly critical of writing style -- especially in SF/Fantasy novels, which can be quite poor -- but the writing here is so smoothly and effortlessly crafted that I never had to think about it. Through 764 pages, it kept me glued to my seat and begging for more, trying to unravel the mysteries before Maia (the smart, stubborn heroine of the tale) could get captured or knocked out or thrown overboard again, and wake up to another piece of the puzzle.

This is good stuff: immediate escape reading that leaves you with something to think about. It's not a combination I come across often, or at least not put together so well with seamless writing, fascinating plot, and a strong human interest. Read some good SciFi for a change.

To readers unfamiliar with the Brin's uplift universe, this book is perhaps better left till the previous trilogy (or at least, "StarTide Rising") is read. There are some plot elements that could be a little confusing without knowledge of the plot introduced in that book.

Previous fans of Brin's work, however, can look forward to a characteristic Brin work that manages to examine in greater detail a previously rarely discussed side of Galactic civilization: the galactic penchant for environmental conscious behaviour. Indeed, the entire story is narrated by members of various races illegally present on a supposedly fallow world - as ordained by galactic rules.

Although Brin continues his trend of emphasizing the "special" nature of humanity, the story proves quite interesting, including plots that involve the various races on the fallow planet Jijo, as well as extraplanetary visitors.

In a marked change from his early volumes, this book, as Brin notes in the introduction, cannot stand on it's own. Be warned in advance, therefore, if you are the sort that can't stand to wait for the next installment. :)