Ratings16
Average rating3.4
Before becoming one of today's most intriguing and innovative mystery writers, Kate Wilhelm was a leading writer of science fiction, acclaimed for classics like The Infinity Box and The Clewiston Test. Now one of her most famous novels returns to print, the spellbinding story of an isolated post-holocaust community determined to preserve itself, through a perilous experiment in cloning. Sweeping, dramatic, rich with humanity, and rigorous in its science, Where Later the Sweet Birds Sang is widely regarded as a high point of both humanistic and "hard" SF, and won SF's Hugo Award and Locus Award on its first publication. It is as compelling today as it was then. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is the winner of the 1977 Hugo Award for Best Novel. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews with the most likes.
Ah, I am so glad I finally read this book. Wilhelm wrote a book called The Good Children that I read years ago and LOVED. Then last year, one of my challenges was to read an author with the same initials as me and I took this title home....and never got to it.
This time I forced myself to start. I wasn't crazy about David's story. It moved too damn fast for me and this is ironic considering how the story progresses but I found everyone was so damned emotionless because of the clip of the story. Everyone was so busy preparing they forgot to grieve the end of the world? Whatever, it's a blip in the ginormous scope of this story.
The big picture with this book, for me, is what defines humanity? Is it the DNA or the personality? The difference between the clones and the originals (“elders”) and then later the new strains of clones v the older strains of clones. It was fascinating to watch really.
This is a worthwhile read. Several times I wanted to put it down and talk to someone about it. Luckily one of my book clubs is reading it, so maybe I'll jump in over there.
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3,174 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...