Reviews with content warning for Racism - La svastica sul sole

First of all, it's nothing short of miraculous that a book written by a white guy about an alternate reality in which whites become a subservient and fetishized race holds up so well 60 years later.

With his customarily incisive vision, Dick saw the essential paranoia and futility underlying a society built on militarized bureaucracy and racial divisions — and dropped into broad strokes at the end of this book to make very plain that he was critiquing the existing postwar society, not a hypothetical alternate one.

One of the great virtuoso works of alternate history in all of science fiction, but still a challenging read (and listen, with the problematic Japanese-accented English rendered even queasier in audiobook form). "Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find."

Content Warnings

polestick's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

backyardjake's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Worth reading for the shock value of the alt-history alone.
Each character's perspective is a rather interesting take on the world they live in. They way's they've adapated, their thought processes marred or unchanged based off the the society they live in. One character in particular goes on for a page and a half trying to understand the apathy and destructive nature of evil men which was quite interesting to ready. Well written ambigous characters. Still a little confused as to the what is being said by the ending.

Content Warnings

More...