We the Underpeople
by Cordwainer Smith
Norstrilia (Collections and Selections — collection), Instrumentality of Mankind (Collections and Selections — )
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In a far-flung future, planoforming ships knit together a galaxy ruled from Earth by the ruthless benevolence of the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, who presided over a utopia without death, danger--or freedom. The Underpeople, humanlike beings created from animals to do the work of utopia, had no rights, and could be disposed of at the whim of a human. But they had become more humanlike than their creators, and their leader, the cat woman C'Mell, had a plan for gaining their show more freedom--which made her much too dangerous a person to be permitted to live. Elsewhere in the galaxy, the planet Norstrilia had power of its own, for it was the only source of stroon, the drug which arrested aging and made humans immortal. Its inhabitants were wealthy beyond comprehension, and one of them, a boy named Rod McBan, with the help of his computer, had manipulated the galactic economy until he completely owned the planet Earth--which made him much too dangerous a person to be permitted to live. But when Rod came to Earth and joined forces with C'Mell and the Underpeople, the petrified utopia of the Instrumentality began to crack and fall apart as freedom was reborn in the galaxy. . . . show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A few of the stories of the Underpeople, ie., humaniform people raised from animal stock, were fantastic. Others had the true horror hidden in quick passages, such as how an underperson would be put to death if they weren't able to be trained for some gainful employment. They're treated almost as if they were of sub-par intelligence, but as far as I could see, they were just as smart or smarter than true humans. The stories generally held to a class of stories about oppressed peoples, but only a few of them were able to grab and shake me senseless. Some did. Others, not so much.
The true gift of the collection is in the worldbuilding and cohesiveness of the extended future history. With that, I can find no fault at all. It's the main show more reason I bumped this collection up to four stars. show less
The true gift of the collection is in the worldbuilding and cohesiveness of the extended future history. With that, I can find no fault at all. It's the main show more reason I bumped this collection up to four stars. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Disambiguation notice
- We the Underpeople is a new collection from Baen, containing Norstrilia and several underpeople stories.
Do NOT combine with The Underpeople, which is a novel (that is also basically the second half of Norstrilia.
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- UPCs
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