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jonwood's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I ultimately found this book to be dull and am not sure what the big fuss is about the book, other than maybe it was the first major publication to discuss this premise? First rarely means best, and I found the book to kind of meander around. Maybe that's because it's focus is on normal people and not powerful figureheads, but I was bored the whole time and was waiting for the book to end. I also found it hard to imagine the Japanese and Nazi's just sharing the planet, I felt like there would be more of an effort to wipe each other out, but maybe the point was just to be a similar cold war as in reality.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Death, and Murder
valtherizzle's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
pklawton's review
3.0
This book was not what I was expecting to say the least. There is lots to like here, but ultimately I felt frustrated with the weird pacing and plot developments.
gossamerwingedgazelle's review
3.0
Interesting but really badly written. I had been reading a book of the best short science fiction novellas, and to go from that to this was painful. Also, Dick tends to write the Japanese dialogue with few articles (ie "the", "a", etc) and short, choppy sentences, but this carries over into the speech of the non-Japanese characters who are talking to them, and ultimately to the narrator. I found the ending a bit confusing.
jodie13's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-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
jonahmcdonald's review
2.75
There are two features to a disappointing shag. It’s over far too soon and the whole time the other person was focused on entirely the wrong thing. This is what reading The Man In The High Castle was like. It is FAR too short, feeling like the first half of a bigger, better book - you can see why they made a TV series out of it if only from a desperation to finish the story. At the same time, P. K. Dick hints at this unique world of Nazi-Japanese world domination and control of the U.S. This could be a thoroughly interesting alternative-history read, but instead of giving us the good stuff, spends the whole time yakking on about historicity and the “I Ching”. If I wanted to read about that, I wouldn’t have picked up a damn book about the Nazis conquering America would I??? Disappointing though it was, it’s still got some redeeming qualities - whilst Dick is clearly more interested in the conversations the characters have than the world they live in, some of those conversations are fairly engrossing, especially between Juliana and Joe. Some, however, particularly the spiritual ones, are utterly interminable. And then it’s over.
jiblits's review
challenging
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
mark_sinton's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0