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Rebody by Clive Warner
01/11/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Citiria Publishing. 269 page enlarged paperback. Price: $17.95 (US). ISBN: 978-0-9790386-1-7. Buy Rebody in the USA - or Buy Rebody in the UK  check out website: www.citiria.com/citiriapublishing
This is a somewhat odd book. Described as a comedy SF, I found it easier to read straight and take the comic elements as, Hugh Toffle, the lead character's take on life. He's a teacher at a college, dating and caught in a compromising position one of his students, Yolanda, by her father and kicked to death. Toffle's will has his head put in cryogenic stasis where he is revived a couple centuries later. After a lot of repair work, Toffle finds himself attached to a house domestic mobile unit, in effect he is part vacuum cleaner and general dogsbody...well, not a dog anyway. The bill for reviving him has to be paid and he didn't have enough money so has to work for a living.
Things are apparently going to plan until a service robot repairing the washing money steals his hidden credit chips. He pursues and with the aid of Simon, an intelligent sentient monkey, kills the service robot and goes on the run. Recruited by Willette, an intelligent orang-utan, his head is grafted onto the body of her former and deceased mate where he gets involved in sorting out an animal rebellion between the dogs and cats. His head isn't doing too well at this time and eventually his personality is incorporated into a computer.
I'm simplifying the plot somewhat. There's a lot more going on here than that. If anything, any problems stem from this story being written from a first person perspective and there are unexplained jumps when things move forward and you have to piece it together afterwards. With only one perspective, I did feel that more should have been done to cover such jumps as to what is going on in the background. As it is, the book tends to come across as written in three parts rather than as a collective whole. The major plot element of having a head moved between different bodies is actually handled reasonably well but the elements of the battle and such are more standard than SF fare. Having said that, for a new publisher getting into the business, this shows some promise for them and author Clive Warner and if any of the above appeals to you then its worth checking the book out. The absurdities and hardships put upon Toffle make for an interesting experience.
GF Willmetts
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