mikekaz's review
2.0
I know that this is going to be sacrilegious but I did not enjoy this collection very much. Most of the stories were not interesting or easily predictable. It was very easy to know what was going to happen. Plus the stories were also very heavy-handed in their themes: anti-war, anti-government and anti-corporation. When it comes down to it, the theme is not as important to me as the story that is being told. I'm fine with anti-war stories so long as I am interested in the story unfolding. In this case though, the theme is so in the reader's face that it is impossible to ignore. Not necessarily a problem so long as the story could carry it. Unfortunately that was not the case here. And as I mentioned, easily predictable which means no mystery as it unfolds. I was really hoping to like the collection since so many movies are based on Dick's ideas. I've listed the few stories that I did like below but otherwise I can't in good conscience recommend this collection. It was difficult for me to finish reading the book.
"Roog" - A dog protects his house from the Roog.
"Expendable" - A man is caught in an insect war.
"Roog" - A dog protects his house from the Roog.
"Expendable" - A man is caught in an insect war.
tamonholmes's review
5.0
This is about as fine a collection of sci-fi (and in a couple of cases, fantasy) short stories as you're likely to find. Like any book of shorts, there's a dud here and there, but even these simply seem to be ideas that he was trying out to see where they go, which is part of the fun of reading short stories. It still amazes me that he was coming up with some of these ideas decades ago, ideas that are still prominent in current sci-fi.
The title story is good, but certainly not the best. The star of this show, in my opinion, is "The Variable Man." It's so damn gripping and tense and full of action, frankly I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie. Beyond that, there were plenty of stories in here that had me thinking about them well after I was done with them. Oh, and parents will definitely get some LOLs out of "Nanny." Yes, I just used LOL in a book review, what of it?
The title story is good, but certainly not the best. The star of this show, in my opinion, is "The Variable Man." It's so damn gripping and tense and full of action, frankly I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie. Beyond that, there were plenty of stories in here that had me thinking about them well after I was done with them. Oh, and parents will definitely get some LOLs out of "Nanny." Yes, I just used LOL in a book review, what of it?
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