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itsmelaurenc's reviews
73 reviews
Second Variety by Philip K. Dick
dark
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Leaving this for my reference later since I’m binging all Dick’s short stories:
So there are Americans in a bunker during nuclear war. They built these robots called “claws” that attack based on heat signatures so they’d immediately kill an enemy that didn’t have a special radiation thing embedded in them, which the Americans had obviously. They get a call that the Russians want someone at the UN policy level to go to their main bunker to talk about a truce, so the main character goes to do that. He encounters a young boy on his way that insists he not be left alone, so he goes too. They get to the bunker and 3 Russians immediately kill the boy because turns iut he was the Third Variety of the claws the Americans made. Turns out they built them with the ability to rebuild themselves and they started improving to make themselves better human hunters. The First Variety is a wounded soldier with a bandaged missing leg. The thing is, there’s hundreds of them. Identical. Imagine hundreds of the same little boy running at you to kill you. Side note, every boy had a teddy bear that could be sent to attack on its own and that was HILARIOUS to imagine. Anyway they hadn’t figured out what the Second Variety was yet. As they’re all down in the bunker they tell the UN dude that the Third Variety littlw boy was let into the main Russian bunker and killed everyone, they were the only 3 who escaped. Klaus, Redi, and a girl. Klaus freaks iut because he thinks Redi might be the Second Variety and shoots him, but finds out he was a human after all. Since the UN guy can’t reach his bunker thru telecom they decide to trek the 3-4 miles back over to where he came to see if they can be rescued. They get back to the bunker and everyone is dead, it’s actually full of First and Third Variety claws. Super cool action scene blahblah, only notable thing is that the girl throws a bomb at the last min that saves them all. After the dust clears Klaus limps toward then and the girl ends up shooting him - turns out Klauswas a robot, the Second Variety! The girl and the UN guy then travel to where the underground ship is that will take them safely off planet to the moon base, but there’s only one seat and the UN guy was injured enough that he wouldn’t make it. He told the girl all she needed to know about the controls, how to find the moon base on the moon, and the proper signaling for safe entry. She takes off and the UN remains. He goes over to inspect Klaus’ body and realizes it’s labeled as a Fourth Variety?? Not the Second?? So the First and Third variety robot killers (the wounded soldier and the little boy) come over the hill on their way to him and he sees the Second Variety following them, which was THE GIRL. WHO IS ON HER WAY TO THE MOON BASE NOW. Ends with him setting off a bomb that was kept on the Second Variety and that ends him.
The Gun by Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy by Philip K. Dick
fast-paced
3.0
Leaving this for my reference later since I’m binging all Dick’s short stories:
These people see fission on the horizon from a nuclear blast on a different planet and they go to investigate. They think it’s all barren until they get shot at by a massive weapon and are forced to land on the planet to fix their ship. They send out a group to scout the area and it turns out there is no life left, just a gun that was built to shoot anything flying out of the sky. So they do down under the gun and find a bunker with all that world’s history, like photos and music and stuff. They go back up, beat the gun into submission and rip all its wires out, rendering it useless, then go back to their now fixed ship and take off. They’re excited to return to the planet and explore more now that the gun was dismantled and wouldn’t shoot them out of the sky anymore. BUT the scene cuts back to the planet where the gun tried and failed to shoot them out if the sky as they left then sent a warning signal to another bunker. From that bunker came a bunch of robots with all the materials necessary to fix the gun, because apparently that process was also automated. Oop
3 stars because although the concept was awesome, I found the character dialogue dry and annoying.
3 stars because although the concept was awesome, I found the character dialogue dry and annoying.
Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Doesn’t feel like a YA book. I kept forgetting the main characters were teenagers.
Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Felt like a Hallmark movie.
The Crystal Crypt by Philip K. Dick
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
4.75
Leaving this for my reference later since I’m binging all Dick’s short stories:
So the Terras on Mars are leaving in droves because of some war starting between Terra and Mars. 3 rebels used a weapon that sucked an entire Martian city (the crystal crypt) into a box they could easily travel back to Earth with and use for intelligence. Martians had a “truth box” that every Terran had to say whether they knew anything about a destroyed city, so obv it didn’t work on the 3 rebels bc the city wasn’t technically destroyed, just commandeered. Unfortunately for them, on the ship to Terra they started talking to another passenger about it thinking he wanted to join the rebellion and he was a Martian agent the entire time. They got caught.
The Defenders by Philip K. Dick
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Leaving this for my reference later since I’m binging all Dick’s short stories:
Basically these people are in this bunker because of nuclear war with Russia. They built robots called leadys who could withstand the radiation and continue the war. They built them with the ability to build and fix themselves and they discovered the human race needs a set amount of years to forget their issues and live peacefully. But the people in the bunker didn’t know, so 3 dudes they went up and forced the leadys to let them out. The leadys kept trying to tell them life wasn’t viable but it was a lie, nuclear war ended years ago and the physical land had healed. The leadys sealed the entrance to the bunker so the 3 dudes were trapped outside. The leadys said the Russians figured it out earlier than they did and were already on their way but only a small group because the Russian leadys also sealed them out from their bunker to keep the rest of the population safe from war. Everyone on the surface was unarmed and told to find a way to live in peace. The book ends with the Russians and Americans finding common ground to rebuild civilization, hoping when the time came for the bunker populations to be released they would have an example of a peaceful society to live by.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
4.0
Total Recall by Philip K. Dick
funny
fast-paced
3.0
Leaving this for my reference later since I’m binging all Dick’s short stories:
This dude is living a super boring life so he goes to a place where they can implant memories, which is cheaper than paying for trips. He has a strong draw to Mars so he pays them to implant those memories. They decide on making him a secret agent that was sent there on a job so the memories would have enough depth that they would feel real. Turns out tho that actually happened so when they tried to implant the memories they actually un-erased the old ones. He’s like the best agent ever so when the government brings him in he’s at a standoff with them. They offer to fix his memories one last time as a peace offering but it ends with him still remembering what happened when he was a secret agent on Mars.