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A review by yennn
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Update 22 April 2024: I’ve lowered my rating to 2, because it took me way too long to get through and put me in a reading slump somehow!!!
This book felt way ahead of its time and surprisingly much deeper than I thought it would be. I was sort of expecting more…robot bounty killing and action?
Anyways, almost immediately, I’m struggling to not associate this with franchises like Cyberpunk – I’ve never actually seen Blade Runner, so no issues there. There’s an almost comical contrast between the old and new technologies that was really interesting to read about. After a spout of info dumping about androids, I felt jump scared by the appearance of Kleenex. Truthfully, I had questions about the state of the Earth, but…you know when the answer is just ‘because sci-fi?’ The worldbuilding wasn’t too bad, but I wanted to know a little more about the off-world and android situation.
I greatly enjoyed the interactions with the androids and was having fun second guessing who was or wasn’t an android. But about half way through, where the other MC J. R. Isodore and ‘Mercisicm,’ (a religion? Cult?) intersected with bounty hunter Rick Deckard…. I started to lose interest. It ended up feeling like an ‘ersatz’ grand ending, but I felt so small reading this, whether because of the language barriers, or because of the pacing in the latter half I have no idea.
My very lukewarm review…. I neither disliked nor liked this. It was okay.
This book felt way ahead of its time and surprisingly much deeper than I thought it would be. I was sort of expecting more…robot bounty killing and action?
Anyways, almost immediately, I’m struggling to not associate this with franchises like Cyberpunk – I’ve never actually seen Blade Runner, so no issues there. There’s an almost comical contrast between the old and new technologies that was really interesting to read about. After a spout of info dumping about androids, I felt jump scared by the appearance of Kleenex. Truthfully, I had questions about the state of the Earth, but…you know when the answer is just ‘because sci-fi?’ The worldbuilding wasn’t too bad, but I wanted to know a little more about the off-world and android situation.
I greatly enjoyed the interactions with the androids and was having fun second guessing who was or wasn’t an android. But about half way through, where the other MC J. R. Isodore and ‘Mercisicm,’ (a religion? Cult?) intersected with bounty hunter Rick Deckard…. I started to lose interest. It ended up feeling like an ‘ersatz’ grand ending, but I felt so small reading this, whether because of the language barriers, or because of the pacing in the latter half I have no idea.
My very lukewarm review…. I neither disliked nor liked this. It was okay.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Animal death, Death, and Infidelity