Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Author: Philip K. Dick
Genre: Science Fiction, Philosophical Fiction, Noir Fiction
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 575 09418 5

Summary: World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn’t ‘retiring’ them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal – the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life.

Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard’s world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit – and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted …

If you’re looking for an excellent and highly recognized science fiction novel and the inspiration for the movie Blade Runner, look no further. This novel is an excellent start to your journey into the genre. Not only is it science fiction, but a intriguing addition of being noir and philosophical fiction. You will ask yourself the question of “what does it mean to be human?”

“Once, he thought, I would have seen the stars. Years ago. But now it’s only the dust; no one has seen a star in years, at least not on Earth.” – Rick Deckard

The setting of this novel is really unsettling in a lot of ways because it feels like a glimpse into humanity’s future. When wars and nuclear weapons have created a very toxic and near uninhabitable planet for humanity to live on. Many have gone forth into the stars to colonize new planets while many are left to struggle on the ruined planet. With the world building that the author created, I imagined something far more devastating than what is seen in Blade Runner. However, I do think Ridley Scott did an excellent job to really gives you a look into the universe.

One of my personal favorite subjects is the philosophical debate between the real and the unreal. This is one of the reasons I love this novel as it explores the human vs the Android; the organic vs the artificial. When do the lines between humankind and the artificial blur?

Without giving too much away, I want to talk about three of my favorite characters. First being the main character, Rick Deckard. I really enjoyed this character and internal dialogue as he explored his own humanity. I really bonded with this character as a grew to understand his own internal struggle.

Second would be Roy Baty, the leader of the rogue androids on earth. His views on life and his own internal struggle gave me some serious Westworld vibes. I have found with a lot of novels about artificial intelligence, you don’t always get to hear their side of the story so I was delighted to find out that I did get to hear more from him.

Lastly would be John Isidore. He, like Deckard, is another human living in San Francisco but his character is quite a bit different from Deckard. Most humans in novels and in cinema tend to look unfavorably towards artificial intelligence. He has a lot more empathy than a lot of characters I have run into in these types of novels. His viewpoints on life on the dystopian Earth and views on life I found to be fascinating.

I don’t really have a lot of negative things to say about this book. My biggest beef with it is that it never really explores the outer worlds. I would love to see the difference between the colonized worlds and earth. We do get an idea of what those worlds are like but they are mostly just vaguely referenced. However, the story really isn’t about those worlds, but of the dystopian life on earth so I understand why it isn’t included.

Philip K. Dick is one of my favorite authors and not just because of his philosophical debates, but because of his novels tend to end with a sense of ambiguity. There are a lot of ways to interpret the ending to the novel. It is really eye opening and makes you think about the world around you. It also means that you may have a completely different interpretation to mine.

One of my favorite things about this novel is that it really takes you for a ride. There will be times that you aren’t quite sure what is happening and you’ll start making assumptions that turn out to be false. It is a roller coaster that will fill your head with a lot of questions. Some questions will be answered while some are made to be interpreted solely the reader. I had a hard time putting this book down as I was too fascinated by the story. I just had to know what happened next.