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hegoodrich's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
shad_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely loved it. Will definitely be re-reading this again and again
venlavilhonen's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
jessicaaaaaaa's review against another edition
This book is so frustrating.
On the one hand, PKD is the king of science fiction. Each one of these stories presents a fully developed world based on a unique premise with a story that explores important, universal themes.
But his representation of women is so bad that it's hard to remember what year this was published and try to ignore it. Every woman that appears in this collection is either someone's wife, a secretary, or a romantic interest. The one female character that doesn't fit into one of those categories is "virtually psychotic."
I'd love to hear recommendations for PKD-style contemporary sci-fi if anyone has some.
On the one hand, PKD is the king of science fiction. Each one of these stories presents a fully developed world based on a unique premise with a story that explores important, universal themes.
But his representation of women is so bad that it's hard to remember what year this was published and try to ignore it. Every woman that appears in this collection is either someone's wife, a secretary, or a romantic interest. The one female character that doesn't fit into one of those categories is "virtually psychotic."
I'd love to hear recommendations for PKD-style contemporary sci-fi if anyone has some.
bruc79's review against another edition
5.0
Fiz um intervalo na leitura destas histórias e chego à conclusão que não passou tempo nenhum, visto que a genialidade dos pensamentos filosóficos expressos em histórias de sf que se interligam umas com as outras, fazendo ironia do seu próprio percurso como escritor, presente em algumas histórias é deveras brilhante.
E a história final do humano que combateu os blobels numa guerra e que por ironia do destino faz tudo para vir a ser igual ao que tanto despreza.
A descrição da condição humana é de uma forma genial descrita por este autor que tanto admiro.
E a história final do humano que combateu os blobels numa guerra e que por ironia do destino faz tudo para vir a ser igual ao que tanto despreza.
A descrição da condição humana é de uma forma genial descrita por este autor que tanto admiro.
kurtopotamus's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
cdcsmith's review
5.0
Funny how I can be so familiar with the movies his work inspired and not actually have read his work. I loved this. I will need a copy of this for my collection.
The audio was well done. Accents were good and the variations with the characters made it easy to follow.
But the stories... Even in the one story that I knew what was going to happen, I was engaged, scared, amused (Version 2). The last story had me thinking about my oldest who has autism and what it must be like in his head at times.
All of the stories worked for me. Loved it.
The audio was well done. Accents were good and the variations with the characters made it easy to follow.
But the stories... Even in the one story that I knew what was going to happen, I was engaged, scared, amused (Version 2). The last story had me thinking about my oldest who has autism and what it must be like in his head at times.
All of the stories worked for me. Loved it.
jayme's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Oh PKD, you were so good at ideas and so terrible at writing. It was cool to read some of the source material for so many adaptations though.
Minority Report was the best of the bunch by a long shot. Possibly my favourite PKD story to date. The premise here is so great, but the execution was still mediocre. I liked the movie more, including their choices to vary from the original.It was much more interesting to see Tom Cruise try to clear his name, but instead wind up solving a mystery and condemning himself as predicted in the process, whereas in the book, the MC is always clearly the wronged person.
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale was another intriguing idea, but not very exciting or satisfying to actually read. And it gets weirder as it goes, but not in a good way. It did make me want to watch Total Recall though.
Paycheck, I don't have much to say about. Again, I liked the idea of having someone arrange to give themselves clues and objects to navigate known future events, knowing that they themselves are soon going to have their mind wiped. It's an idea that's been done many times since, and done better. This short story gets the prize for worst ending sentence ever. I'm too lazy to look it up, but basically the MC was having an awkward conversation where he was blackmailing the owner of a company and his daughter, and the MC ends the conversation, and the story, with a very cringe-y hint that he was now part of the family and soon there would be "even more" members of the family. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Gross.
Second Variety was a hot mess. What was even happening here. The premise was a super familiar humans build robots, robots infiltrate and kill all the humans...Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, etc. Watch those, avoid reading this.
The Eyes Have It...I don't know. Honestly pretty checked out by this point. It was really short, there was something about a species that could take apart there own body maybe? Were they invading? Who knows.
Minority Report was the best of the bunch by a long shot. Possibly my favourite PKD story to date. The premise here is so great, but the execution was still mediocre. I liked the movie more, including their choices to vary from the original.
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale was another intriguing idea, but not very exciting or satisfying to actually read. And it gets weirder as it goes, but not in a good way. It did make me want to watch Total Recall though.
Paycheck, I don't have much to say about. Again, I liked the idea of having someone arrange to give themselves clues and objects to navigate known future events, knowing that they themselves are soon going to have their mind wiped. It's an idea that's been done many times since, and done better. This short story gets the prize for worst ending sentence ever. I'm too lazy to look it up, but basically the MC was having an awkward conversation where he was blackmailing the owner of a company and his daughter, and the MC ends the conversation, and the story, with a very cringe-y hint that he was now part of the family and soon there would be "even more" members of the family. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Gross.
Second Variety was a hot mess. What was even happening here. The premise was a super familiar humans build robots, robots infiltrate and kill all the humans...Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, etc. Watch those, avoid reading this.
The Eyes Have It...I don't know. Honestly pretty checked out by this point. It was really short, there was something about a species that could take apart there own body maybe? Were they invading? Who knows.