Whatever the critical blurbs say, Feist is no Tolkein. The story he has created here is very straightforward: the protagonists discover that humanoids from another plane are preparing to invade their own, spread the word, rally the troops, and participate in a few battles themselves. There's really little more to it than that; certainly no big twists or surprises. Nonetheless, it makes for fairly enjoyable reading, at least toward the beginning and the end. The middle half of the book, ho... (show more)

Whatever the critical blurbs say, Feist is no Tolkein. The story he has created here is very straightforward: the protagonists discover that humanoids from another plane are preparing to invade their own, spread the word, rally the troops, and participate in a few battles themselves. There's really little more to it than that; certainly no big twists or surprises. Nonetheless, it makes for fairly enjoyable reading, at least toward the beginning and the end. The middle half of the book, however, consists mainly of the protagonists traveling from city to city in order to convince various nobles that there's war on the horizon, and for that section, the story drags out and gets bogged down in politics.

Pug, Feist's titular protagonist, isn't a particularly memorable character. Apart from having an unfortunate name, he's practically an existentialist anti-hero, and as such, doesn't get much opportunity to show any personality. A few of the other characters are more well-developed, but still not quite memorable. At the other extreme is the Princess Carline, whose wildly inconsistent personality makes her love interest with Pug feel rather awkward.

Magician: Apprentice does have its moments, but overall, it's not terribly good. (show less)

The Man in the High Castle: 4/5
The eponymous man is an author who has written an enormously popular book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which attempts to answer the question, what would have happened if the Axis had won World War II? - a question that can only be answered by the imagination, because in this alternate reality, the Axis won. America is divided into occupational zones controlled by Japanese and German forces, anti-semitic sentiment is rampant, and the I Ching is consulted... (show more)

The Man in the High Castle: 4/5
The eponymous man is an author who has written an enormously popular book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which attempts to answer the question, what would have happened if the Axis had won World War II? - a question that can only be answered by the imagination, because in this alternate reality, the Axis won. America is divided into occupational zones controlled by Japanese and German forces, anti-semitic sentiment is rampant, and the I Ching is consulted by people everywhere as a matter of course.

The story takes its time getting off the ground. Initially, it feels like the interconnected plots are just an excuse for Dick to depict his alternate reality, but it gradually becomes apparent that there really is a point to them. There's no hook at the beginning, nothing to grab the reader's interest, but persevering is worth it. This is a good book, and well-written. The style bears little resemblance to that of Dick's characteristic sci-fi novels; in fact, it's obvious that he consciously altered his style for the purpose of writing this book, transformed it into the sort of broken English riddled with sentence fragments that might have become the norm under Japanese and German influence. The change is evident, but, with few exceptions, not overdone to the point where it might impede the reader's understanding. From that, as well as the terminology, history, and cultural references, it's apparent that Dick put a great deal of thought and effort into this novel.

If your knowledge of World War II is not extensive, it is highly recommended that you read this version of The Man in the High Castle. The Library of America has appended several pages of notes explaining terminology, foreign phrases, and references that the reader might not understand. For The Man in the High Castle in particular, that appendix is extremely useful.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch: 3/5
Even by PKD's standards, this is a convoluted novel. Dick himself is quoted in Library of America's "Notes on the Text" as having written in reference to it, "I not only cannot understand the novel, I can't even read it." Understandable, considering that the story revolves around drugs that project the user's consciousness into illusory "realities," and the characters aren't always sure whether they're currently stoned. It starts out straightforward enough - promising, even - but eventually takes a downturn into psychedelia from which it never recovers.

Convolution aside, Dick does a much poorer job than usual here of making his "science" credible. That there are drugs that produce fully realized and realistic illusions I can accept readily enough, but that toking them is a group experience and that they require physical dollhouse props into which they somehow project the user's consciousness is stretching things a bit far. That alone I could handle, but there's also the matter of what Dick calls "E-Therapy," which is described as being a treatment that accelerates the process of evolution. Dick's idea of evolution, however, is not the genuine scientific theory, but the sort of half-formed notion that one might expect a very young child to get out of an explanation of the term: evolution, according to Dick, is a linear, predictable process that progresses not as mutations occur in the reproductive cycle, but as mutations occur in individual organisms over their lifetimes. Even the explanations of precognition aren't as believable as they are in Dick's other precog stories.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch may not be a particularly bad novel, but certainly it's the weakest in this collection.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: 4.5/5
Dick's novels tend to be druggy, convoluted, and full of paranoia - though not necessarily in a bad way. This one is relatively coherent, and actually thought-provoking. Dick has constructed a post-apocalyptic world in which animals other than humans are rare - in many cases extinct - empathy is the new religion, and manufacturers are turning out androids that are more intelligent than many humans, yet still treated as equipment. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter employed by the San Fancisco Police Department to hunt down and "retire" renegade androids. He's had a lot of experience in his line of work, but his latest assignment is different: the androids are getting smarter, and Rick is beginning to empathize with them.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is Dick's most successful novel for a reason: not only is it a great sci-fi story, it's intriguing from a philosophical and ethical standpoint. The only thing keeping it from a 5-star rating in my book is Mercer. Mercer is a universally poular religious leader, whose tents form the basis of society's ethics, and who serves as a focal point for the world's empathy. So far, so good; Mercer clearly illustrates the mores of Dick's futuristic society. Here's what I don't like: on a couple occasions, Mercer just appears out of thin air and strikes up a conversation with one of the other characters. His presence is never satisfactorily explained. It's the sort of thing you might expect to happen in Dick's druggier works, but it feels out of place here.

Ubik: 4.5/5
Life turns upside-down for Joe Chip and 11 of his coworkers when they escape the aftermath of a bomb blast with the corpse of their employer. Various temporal and paranormal phenomena begin manifesting themselves, the cause of which is a mystery - and their lives may depend on solving that mystery.

Ubik is rather confusing, but in this case, to say that is actually to pay it a compliment. It's one of Dick's best novels, a highly enjoyable tale of distorted reality and bizarre metaphysics, by the end of which, Dick clears up the confusion and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion - until, that is, he throws another curveball in the final chapter.

Overall rating: 4/5 (show less)