Rating: 
Summary: Gumby Soul is metaphysics not science
Review: A clay fiber that can act like a muscle isn't possible
by today's science and probably not by tomorrow's either.
A clay that will form neural networks that can learn is even less scientific.
So instead of science we have the metaphysics of "souls"
as quantum mechanics. The characterization is beautiful
and the permutations of personalities is very well done.
The book is after all entertainment, but it is unlike most of Brin's work,
not really science fiction; more in the line of metaphysical speculation
about the nature of intelligent waveforms.
Rating: 
Summary: Some cool ideas, but it just runs off the rails at the end
Review: Kiln People is set several decades in the future. The key technological innovation presented in the book is "golemtech" -- it has become possible to imprint a person's "soul", into a clay model, a golem or ditto, which will then have all one's memories, and which can do errands for their "archetype". These models last only a day, after which they return to the archetype, and the memories can be inloaded if the archetype so chooses.This has resulted in an economic revolution. Most of the grunt work is now done by low-quality dittos. Recreations include, predictably, unusual "entertainment" using special dittos optimized for heightened sensation; realistic dramas enacted with dittos; and dangerous sports in which the loss of a ditto is regretted only if it results in complete enough destruction that the memories cannot be inloaded. Wars are now fought as a form of "sport", with skilled soldiers sending fighting dittos to special ranges to resolve international disputes. These various tasks are done by dittos of different sorts, by law all different colors.</P> All this background detail is very well done. Brin has done a nice job of pretty pure SFnal extrapolation -- taking a quasi-plausible and interesting bit of future tech, and trying to work out its effects on an entire society. The story itself is basically a thriller. Albert Morris is a private detective. He ends up with several different "selves" investigating (in parallel, it turns out) the death of one of the inventors of golem technology. Suspects include the victim's partner; a crime lord called Beta who has had many past encounters with Albert; Gineen Wammaker, a purveyor of exotic dittos; and various fanatics: anti-golem agitators, and those who want dittos to have full civil rights. This story is for the most part pretty exciting, and confusing in a good way that eventually gets resolved. Albert's journeys, and those of his dittos allow exploration of much of this future society. The search for motives for the murder leads us to investigate some research, hence further extrapolation: what would be the effect of dittos that could last longer than a day? Of dittos that could be copied over long distances? Of the possibility of loading somebody else's memories into your head? All this is pretty interesting stuff. Then, the book pretty much runs off the rails. Why? I think the answer is -- too much ambition. Brin begins to explore even more metaphysical issues -- "souls" independent of the body, in another dimension -- life after death -- that sort of thing. And in so doing he stretches his extrapolation to the point where my belief in it snapped completely. The "mad scientist" finale really just about lost me. I think the book would have been better if Brin had turned off his imagination at a certain point -- if he had been more conservative. That said, though I think the silliness of some of the last 100 or so pages of the book is a severe flaw, it's still a pretty strong piece of SFnal extrapolation up that point, with some pretty decent action to the plotline. Overall, I recommend the book -- worth reading, just not a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Too long, overly complex, and way too slow.
Review: When I first started this book, I found it very interesting. The world that Brin creates where anyone can make copies of themselves to be in more than one place at a time, or to complete mundane everyday chores while the "real" person can sit back and relax, raises all kinds of interesting moral, ethical, philosophical, and logistical questions. However, once I got past the initial novelty of this way of life, and got more into the actual plot, I realized that the story set in this world does not live up to the world that it is set in. At first it seems like a pretty boring mystery, but quickly accelerates into a ridiculously complex conspiracy which gets less and less believable and less interting as it goes on. At times I actuall felt like Brin must have been making it up as he went along. Also, another big problem I had with the book was the lack of an explanation as to exactly how the physical process of dittoing was accomplished. I would think that this deserved more explanation than it got simply because of its importance to the plot. For example, what are the golems actually made of? Of course they are made of clay, as is often refernced, but then what is the psuedoflesh that is talked about occaisionally? I thought that perhaps the clay golems may be covered with this psuedoflesh, but later realized that this could not be the case because of things that happened in the story. Also, if the golems are made of clay, what is the difference between normal golems, and Kaolin's "hyperquality" platinum golems? I find it hard to believe that the same process that works on clay would work better on platinum. And if this is not the case, then isn't the difference just the color? And if it is just the color, then why are Kaolin's better than anyone else's? Another thing is that it is very important at certain parts of the story that the golems are identical to their original, except in color, but the process of how that physically occurs is never explained. Wouldn't a large man need a larger blank than a small man? Logically, I would think so, but in the factory, it seems that all blanks are fairly standard. Also, if the blank is somehow shaped to match the original, then how is the information on how to shape it obtained by the copying machine? It seems that in the story, all that is needed is for the copier's head to be in the correct place, nothing is mentioned about reading any physical measurements of the body. Finally, if the golems actually do look like their originals, how come Albert was not able to recognize his own copy at one point? It seems that the copies are recognizable when it is convenient to the story, and unrecognizable when that is needed for the story. I really liked the premise of this book, but there was just too much wrong with the story for me to enjoy it. Even if I could ignore all the problems, it ws still much too long and slow and more complicated than it had to be for the story that was told. It really dragged from somewhere in the middle all the way to the end. Maybe with some editing, even with the problems, this book wouldn't be so bad, but as it is, there is too much wrong with it. Read something else instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Two-Thirds Entertaining, One third questionable blather.
Review: A brilliant exploration of both the practicality and morality of instant cloning. How would such clones be treated? How would society change? What does it mean for religion when you can copy your "soul". Would there be a "clone rights" movement? Would anybody care? For most of the book, Brin does a great job of exploring these questions not through explicit explanation and preachiness (although that happens sometimes too) but mostly by contrasting the stereotypical detective story with how detective stories would work in the clone-happy society. Good pacing, interesting plot, lots of subtle irony, some not-so-subtle humor, and the interesting twist of each clone telling its own story (after all, they're all the protagonist, right?). Then it all comes unglued. Brin (or perhaps his editor?) seems to feel that its not enough to simply let the tale evolve and explore the possibilities and repercussions of ditto-creation. Although you start the book thinking that the protagonist is just an slightly above-average detective everyman living in a fascinating world, Brin spends the last third of the book muddling through a convoluted and extraneous chosen-one vs mad-scientist, quasi-religous, metaphysical apocalypse scenario that just doesn't mesh with the rest of the book in either plot or style. Its a pity, too, because the book was really moving along at a good clip despite the supposed averageness of the characters. The book is really worth a read despite its disappointing end. I'd give it five stars for the great set-up, but Brin seems to have written himself into a corner and written the ending to a completely different book.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Idea, Oblique and Disjointed Execution
Review: This book starts with the most wonderful concept of disposable affordable extra bodies that work for you and in fact even inhabit separate communities dedicated to their activities. But for some reason Brin impresses on this background a kind of stupid film noir approach and a weird cosmological mad-scientist-tries-to-destroy-the-universe-as-we-know-it kind of climax. I can't help but wonder why - it must have taken a lot of work to come with a treatment so obnoxious. Perhaps others will investigate this great SF idea with better results.
Rating: 
Summary: Great work
Review: Really good. No wonder it is actually nominated for this year's Hugo Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award. Hopefully it will win both.
Brin has a very convincing way of making us believe in his "vision" of the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawn - couldn't keep awake for this one
Review: Sorry but I just don't agree with the high score reviews posted here. I think the overall premise of people of clay just a little too silly. Maybe it's because I was reading it in bed and was too tired/disinterested to follow the plot well enough, but this is the only book that I haven't finished for a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book but Ending is a bit Drawn Out
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It's a Science Fiction Detective novel centered around the detective, his evil genius nemesis, and, for spice, an evil genius mad scientist, each in plural. Cool.I do agree with others, though, that the ending could have been better. First, at about 150 pages short of the end, it seems like everything's ready to be tied up. Brin uses those extra 150 pages to escalate the evil scheme from the personal through the corporate to all humanity. By the time you get to the actual end, you understand that. But still, it FEELS like the book should have ended 150 pages earlier. Also, those last 150 pages do tend to get bogged down in a lot of metaphysics. Those are interesting, but they could have been condensed somewhat. The very last action of the book is a bit of a letdown, though.Even though the ending could have been better, this is still a very good book to read.
Rating:
Summary: V.good-to-excellent SF: mind-stretching; well worth the read
Review: I finally found a copy of David Brin's [fairly new] novel _Kiln People_ in paperback, in an airport shop. I had been looking forward to it ever since he told me about it a couple of years ago. As I expected, it was an engrossing read and well worth the wait. The social, moral, and ethical issues were laid out in Brin's typically masterful style. The only thing that kept this book from being a clear 100% winner for me was the swerve into metaphysics near the end -- but that's just me. A very thought-provoking and entertaining book; highly recommended and with a PG rating.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: A good read. Entertaining, suspenseful, looks at the whole idea of "soul" in an interesting light. I thought his idea for this novel (basically, personal claymaytion!) fascinating and extremely creative. It's a keeper.
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