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A review by couldbestephen
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
3.0
World War III rages on the surface of the earth, fought by robots produced by humans hidden underground. These humans, living in colonies called tanks, live in poor conditions, find the strength to brave their new reality through messages broadcasted by their president, Yancy. Here's the thing... World War III is over and the people in the tanks are kept there for manual labor. Yancy's speech writers hold all the power aboveground. And they don't want the undergrounder's to come up.
I think I just might not like PKD's style of writing. The story was fascinating; the themes of propaganda and how even bad propaganda works, exploration of the characters who write said propaganda, and time travel(??) were so fun! But it's like PKD gave up near the end, we were building to something interesting and then he shut it down, almost leaving us with a cliffhanger ending that didn't even get me excited for another story. I'm not sure if it's his prose or pacing that throws me off more. But there's something that keeps me from feeling connected to the story.
A very interesting read that builds to nowhere, a solid 3/5 star read.
I think I just might not like PKD's style of writing. The story was fascinating; the themes of propaganda and how even bad propaganda works, exploration of the characters who write said propaganda, and time travel(??) were so fun! But it's like PKD gave up near the end, we were building to something interesting and then he shut it down, almost leaving us with a cliffhanger ending that didn't even get me excited for another story. I'm not sure if it's his prose or pacing that throws me off more. But there's something that keeps me from feeling connected to the story.
A very interesting read that builds to nowhere, a solid 3/5 star read.