Reviews

Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick

cocosreviews's review against another edition

5.0

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” is a SF novel published in 1968 and written by Phillip K. Dick (haha), centrally concerned with the question of what is real. Have you seen the Blade Runner movies? Well this is the book they are based on. The story is centered around 2 humans, very different but similar in one way: stuck on earth, unable to escape the toxic dust damaging their brains, along with everyone else who is not rich enough to go to a colony in space. One is a detective, or “bounty hunter” who’s job is to hunt escaped androids from off-world colonies, and the other one is a “chickenhead”, an individual affected by the toxicity of the war and the dust that now covers the Earth. As the plot unfolds, the detective is tasked with finding a group of escaped androids operating the latest technology. His whole world gets turned upside down when he meets Rachel, an android so sophisticated that she almost passes the humanity test. The book is filled with an acute sense of humor and absurdity. You can notice it from the very beginning, when you read about an electric goat that is programmed to pretend to eat grass, and the inner conflict this goat causes the protagonist, who has to pretend to feed it each morning. Dick spends a lot of time on character rather than the visuals, focusing a lot on the philosophical questions that emerge from the character's minds autonomously. What is a fake? And, if you can make a fake seem authentic enough, why does it matter? If nothing else, he seems to be saying: the fakes have value. If you were an android, and you dreamt of electric sheep, would it make you less you? I loved it, but then, I love all that SF shi-

shiqingxuan34's review against another edition

3.0

this was really interesting and kept me captivated throughout. one problem i had was with some uncomfortable descriptions of the female androids. apart from this, i felt a bit confused in the beginning but once i got into it, it was more straightforward in what was happening. many interesting ideas and concepts were shown in this novel.

annabel__b's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

blrobin2's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

helenaliu's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

fooei's review against another edition

dark reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

pkiwi's review against another edition

4.0

I remember being seriously underwhelmed by the movie. Let's say I'm quite overwhelmed by the book. It has a very good 'feel' to it, not just from the story elements but also the writing style. Certainly the kind of book to reread a few times. However, I deduct one star for the fairly weird bit at the end where

Spoiler

Mercer suddenly featured quite heavily.

It didn't, for me, clarify anything and felt like a slightly desperate attempt to 'elevate' the tone of the book.

logecatt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

rolemartyrx's review against another edition

3.0

3 points: Good - Enjoyable with noticeable weaknesses.

khornstein1's review against another edition

4.0

My husband's pick for book club...so I started off thinking, "I don't really like science fiction." Well, that's a lie. I do. But there's never enough time once I get through my fave historical fiction, realistic fiction and memoir/bio picks.

So...this book takes place in 2019 and it seems an appropriate time to read it. Dick is prescient in his vision of life in the future (the book was written in 1968), and includes video calls (FaceTime), self-driving cars, droids and perhaps most disturbingly a religion called Mercerism which revolves around people trying to feel empathy (or really feeling anything) through connecting with stories they are seeing via reality TV.

Droids..ha-ha! Well, they're coming...and my friends who work at MIT say that it is really scary as to what they're being programmed to do as well as the whole AI field in general. Then again, I hope they'll be serving me donuts at the rest home. I talked to friends about how scary I found Westworld (not because of the robot element but because of the question Dick raises as well: what does it mean to be human?) If you don't believe humans have souls, what is the difference between a lump of cells and a person-made being? And if robots are programmed to have feelings, how are those feelings any different from what humans now experience? It's kind of mind-boggling.

I was going to take off two points for sexism, but then I remind myself: 1968! The novel then brought up other questions: other than Iran, who is human, the other women are droids and programmed to have "feminine" traits as well as be killers...an idea that Westworld well-develops with Dolores and Maeve. Westworld also explores the whole animal droid thing as well which I found the weak part of this book...then again, aren't we all supposed to have those little animal droid helper things in the not-so-distant future?

So...clunky writing at times, and confusing at the beginning, this book lays out some thoughts that continue to inform our times, and raises questions for which there are no straightforward answers. It's worth a read, and it's making me think I should read "Children of Men."