Scan barcode
quoththegirl's review
1.0
I'm finding that a lot of these pulpy, Golden Age scifi books suffer (among many other things) from a drastic case of Too Much Going On, none of which is explained or done well. This book doesn't know what it wants to be or who it wants to be it with, so it does its best to hit every scifi plot branch as it falls out of the story tree. Stalinesque social critique! Effects of mutally assured destruction on a society! Cloning! (But not really, because it's duplicating, which turns out to be far, far weirder and involves not one whit of actual science.) Mutants who are immune to all diseases! Political intrigue on Earth! Political intrigue on Venus! Immortality! Characters who matter a heck of a lot and then suddenly cease to matter at all, to the extent that you forget whether or not they're still alive! And a shockingly depressing case of a supposedly powerful and important female character becoming simply, "Mrs. [Male Protagonist Name]" and ceasing to have any role in the story whatsoever.
More...