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Circuit of Heaven
The Nitty Gritty: Personas: "'He said that when all those self-conciousnesses wake up stuck inside some lizard body or something weird, taking care of kids or being policemen or some other crap job, they must be pretty pissed off. He said a Construct has three or four names at least--but the one he tells you isn't real. It's like a brand name or something." Justine: If you plan to read this book, then don't read the rest of her description. She was technically made from the same woman, but from three different times in her life: an old woman, a pregnant mother, and a young girl. Victor: The Construct in charge of one of the uplink connections between the Bin (the digital world) and Earth. Altered to appear feline. Lila: A Construct inside the Bin, made to be a Construct mistress. Much like the other Constructs, she gets passed around as gifts and favors among those with clout. Wendy: A Construct on Earth made to look metallic. A tech repairer for the uploading machinery. Only shows up for a page or two.
"'At first you're a bunch of I's, scared shitless, like a sack of wet cats. Then you get resigned to the fact that there's no way out of the sack. Still, you hold yourself back, you didn't ask for this shit. These weird memories, strange ways of thinking about things, emotions you never felt before. Hell, even the food don't taste right.' He turned his hands back and forth. 'Even your own hands. But after while you start living this new life, giving up the old ones, little by little. Before you know it, you want this life, you got things you want to do with it--all of you, together. That's when you start saying 'we.' You might not even notice when it first happens. It'll seem like the most natural thing in the world.'" Origin: Circuit of Heaven has a refreshing take on multiples. In this world of the future, artificially created humans--called Constructs--are infused with an identity that is formed from the combination of about three different people. While the original makers intended for a completely new personality to be born, they found that the pieces would divide and recover their initial identities, rather than merge flawlessly into one. It caused no real problems, however, so they just kept on at it. So you have an entire world of servant-class humans who are accepted as being three minds in one. So maybe it is refreshing to read a book where people walk around and say things like 'we' and 'our' for their personal pronouns! Get over the caste problem, and there's real potential here...
Presentation: We'll be honest: we mostly read this because we were interested in the Constructs. The book itself is decent sci-fi, dealing with future tech and digital life vs. physical life, so pick it up if you're interested in reading about a world where most people uploaded themselves into a mainframe. It's not bad, but nothing amazingly gripping. "'There's two schools of thought on that.' Final Verdict: |