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drew1013's review against another edition
1.0
Gave up at page 70, and this is my first DNF of 2018 with no plans to come back. Reasons:
* Poorly written. High school creative writing level exposition, characters, and line by line writing
* Way too many characters with few defining features
* Too many political machinations in a book about another dimension. Maybe the blurb was misleading. They got my money, I guess. While I see that PKD was going for racial and social commentary, it’s so poorly executed that page by page, I’m not engaged and it’s all just badly written political drama
* The first few pages are jam packed with abbreviations and jargon words, many of which are nonsensical and meant to make it sound “future-y.”
* Some scenes make no sense spatially (how did that just happen if they’re in a crowded place?)
* My edition had tons of punctuation missing. Not really a knock against the novel itself, I suppose. Unless it attests to the manuscript being hastily pushed out and given little to no editing attention
PKD must have had a deadline and stayed up for 3 days banging this one out, possibly under the influence of something. I’ve read several of his novels, even a couple beyond the standard greatest hits, and this one was by far the worst executed.
* Poorly written. High school creative writing level exposition, characters, and line by line writing
* Way too many characters with few defining features
* Too many political machinations in a book about another dimension. Maybe the blurb was misleading. They got my money, I guess. While I see that PKD was going for racial and social commentary, it’s so poorly executed that page by page, I’m not engaged and it’s all just badly written political drama
* The first few pages are jam packed with abbreviations and jargon words, many of which are nonsensical and meant to make it sound “future-y.”
* Some scenes make no sense spatially (how did that just happen if they’re in a crowded place?)
* My edition had tons of punctuation missing. Not really a knock against the novel itself, I suppose. Unless it attests to the manuscript being hastily pushed out and given little to no editing attention
PKD must have had a deadline and stayed up for 3 days banging this one out, possibly under the influence of something. I’ve read several of his novels, even a couple beyond the standard greatest hits, and this one was by far the worst executed.
dllman05's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
brontebabeblog's review against another edition
4.0
When a repairman stumbles upon a new world inside of a piece of equipment, everyone sees a chance to grab; from solving the population problem to hiding a mistress, the new world promises much, but problems arise when the original occupants of the new world are encountered. Another fun trip into the wonderful world of Philip K. Dick with one of the most bizarre characters in his canon, the strange George Walt.
emiloudly's review
3.0
This is the first Philip K. Dick novel I have ever read, but it sure isn't going to be the last. I was really surprised - and impressed - at how much was compressed into so short a novel. Not only is there prime science fiction material here (a head with two bodies! cryogenics! and a major plot point reminiscent of a Fringe episode) but there is also a boatload of social commentary concerning race, identity, and reality. Though it's under 200 pages, I found myself getting a little bored at a few spots, but I would continue on until the next interesting part would come along. It was hard for me to buy the gaping racial chasm that is depicted in the book (maybe it's because this is not at all how the Obama campaign went) but in the end, PKD makes a great point about the foolishness of discrimination. And I still don't know what a Jifi-scuttler is supposed to do. And the ending just sort of ... existed. I've read a few other reviews of this particular story and it's not his most hailed work - so it's probably good I've got Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? waiting in the wings.
arthurbdd's review against another edition
3.0
Cluttered with the detritus of earlier stories and recycled bits of unpublished mainstream novels, The Crack In Space is very much one of Dick's lesser SF novels.
larsinio's review
3.0
A racial satire, particularly poignant in light of the Obama presidency, this PKD novel is fun, brimming with neat ideas, but inconsistant.
The first half of the book has quite a few throwaway characters and events that have no real effect on the ovearching plot and are largely forgotten.
Alll the pkd staples are here - vidphones, homeopapes, jet cars - at this point i look forward to their mention.
The main plot, once it gets going, is quite interesting, although again spotty. I like the concept of branching evolutionary events coming back to haunt us - and the the obvious satire in racial unity in face of the terrible human-cousins threat. Unfortunately, by the time it gets really enthralling, its over.
The first half of the book has quite a few throwaway characters and events that have no real effect on the ovearching plot and are largely forgotten.
Alll the pkd staples are here - vidphones, homeopapes, jet cars - at this point i look forward to their mention.
The main plot, once it gets going, is quite interesting, although again spotty. I like the concept of branching evolutionary events coming back to haunt us - and the the obvious satire in racial unity in face of the terrible human-cousins threat. Unfortunately, by the time it gets really enthralling, its over.
readwhileitrains's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
albcorp's review against another edition
3.0
for the PKD completionist, such as myself, this book is a pleasant surprise. it revisits much of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, while incorporating at least 2 short stories. however, it never quite leaves the reader troubled by unsquared unreality
bebopthebunny's review against another edition
3.0
So this book reminded me of Time Out of Joint where you get that strong start and then the ending is just kind of dull...it kind of just falls off into nothing. Really disappointing ending when it started off so strong. Really thought this was going to be a favorite PKD for most of the book, then it just stopped being good. Dang it.