Review of ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick

I feel like something of a fraud even trying to review this book, but I feel I should at least try. It has been listed as one of the science fiction masterworks. Perhaps I can see why. I can certainly see why the film makers took up on it, creating ‘Blade Runner’ from the premises outlined in the book… although it should be stated from the very beginning that book and film diverge very rapidly in terms of plot.

In the future, after a war leaves the planet ravaged, many people flee the Earth in favour of the colonies. They are promised android assistants on the colonies, and as with any consumer product, the quality of these androids must continue to improve to meet demand. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter, hired to hunt down and kill escaped androids that return to Earth, and it is his lucky day. Eight of the latest model have just landed in his jurisdiction, and he is hired to go after the remaining six when his superior is injured in the course of duty.

Philip K Dick does a brilliant job of laying out the ‘new world’ where this novel is set. It is a depressing reality, almost hopeless, dark and dreary. People can alter their emotions at the touch of a dial with a ‘mood organ’ and it’s just as well, because any inherent joy in the world fails to come across in the story. And then there are the androids… fleeing the colonies to seek a better life in this bastardised version of the planet that we, the readers, know. It is a very unfamiliar reality but it is written so as to be completely believable. The characters, too, fit perfectly within the context, and promote empathy from the readers as they struggle in the world the past has left for them.

I did not enjoy this book, in the usual sense of the word… it was thought provoking, it was very well written and the plot was engaging and interesting, but enjoying it would imply I enjoyed moral dilemmas and suffering. Rather I accepted that it was so, because the writing made it convincing, but it was very difficult to like it. Some of the characters were likeable, in odd ways, but the plot and events described a world that was fundamentally a horrible place. The fact that I didn’t enjoy it probably proves that it did what it set out to do, and is a testament to the writer’s skill.

This book sets out a disturbing world, and sets believable characters within this world. It is a very good book, and I highly recommend it to all readers of science fiction that worry about the world. This is deservedly a classic, and it is probably one of the greatest works of speculative fiction I have ever read.