Customer Reviews

Alicia 2

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I read the hardcover of Alicia II when I was in my early teens, and some parts of it had stuck with me, and so when I saw this paperback in a used bookstore 20 years later I snapped it up. I was not at all disappointed upon this second read.

In the future, society is split into two groups. Each person is tested by the world government, and judged a retread or a reject. Retreads, upon death, have their personalities extracted from their bodies, and implanted in "new" bodies. In this way, people who are able to pass the test (and it appears that a majority of people are able to pass) are able to live, in theory, forever, moving from one body to the next, unless their brains are totally destroyed in some terrible accident. The "new" bodies the retreads take over are supplied by the rejects; in their mid-twenties the government kills rejects and prepares their bodies for new inhabitants.

People who fail the test and are declared rejects don't necessarily take this system lying down, and the world is shaken by fanatical religious movements, sabotage, terrorism, etc., by those who want to end the retreading system. The main character of the novel, Vossilyev Geraghty, a scientist and astronaut, has various adventures in this world, seeing the issue of retreading from various angles, allowing the novelist opportunity to explore its ramifications.

Robert Thurston has a good writing style, and he does a good job of providing both a satisfying amount of suspense and adventure and addressing philosophical issues about life and death, just war, and societal inequality. While the scenario he sets up could easily descend into preachy agitprop, Thurston instead keeps things ambiguous and thoughtful; an important element in this is how he develops interesting characters who have interesting relationships, and not just cardboard heroes and villains; the people on both sides of the retread issue are sympathetic, giving every fight and moment of danger dramatic weight, because the reader doesn't really want any of the characters to die.

Alicia II is a memorable piece of work and I have no reservations about recommending it to all SF readers.