Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Blade Runner

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick

46 reviews

bookshelfmonkey's review against another edition

2.75

I can see how this was an important piece in the development of sci-fi as a genre, but just as a book it was kind of mediocre.

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twig_cat's review against another edition

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I'm sure this book was cutting edge when it came out, and I appreciate some of the ideas and themes it's going for.

But those concepts have been explored better since, and so between the dated style of the book, and some very dated attitudes in places, it just became a chore to keep going.

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baccoamon's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Avid readers and fans of the Blade Runner series will undoubtedly come across this book when in need of another brooding scifi story to satiate that craving. But one would find themselves either pleasantly surprised or underwhelmed, depending if the reader is looking for a new story or a familiar one, to find that "Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep" is very much the corner stone of niche scifi that it is heralded as while also very much not living up to some of its more established inspirations.

Philip K. Dick in this book seems to stumble upon larger questions around collective identity vs individuality, worship culture, mental health, and empathy that tend to lead to more open answers rather than a definite perspective. I did come away wondering if this book was written to be more of a introspection for the reader to dissect for themselves or if simply the language he was afforded was not able to directly correlate some of these ideas in a more precise way due to the time period and this very much being a speculative future where a writer from 1968 is looking into a world overcome by class elitism and techno-ethic dilemmas. For fans of speculative fiction and brooding scifi you will find yourself at home as Decker reflects on what self fulfillment, empathy, and identity means to the human experience.

My largest negative to the story is the inability to truly humanize the Androids as it creates a strange conflict of interest when it comes to the ethos that I believed Philip to be leaning towards and the outdated understanding of Schizophrenia, as a reminder that this book is from 50 years ago, is a bit annoying to overlook while reading.

Contemplative and interesting this book is worth your time but do not expect a literary Blade Runner.

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itsnicholaslashay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I’ve never watched Blade Runner so I didn’t have many expectations coming into this other than what I’ve heard about PKD. Unfortunately, he did not deliver for me and I couldn’t get myself to be interested in this book.

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louisallama's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

2.0

Read if you enjoy:

Misogyny
Sentences that don't make sense the first time you read them
Action scenes that are over in two sentences

Infidelity
The protagonist sleeping with an 18 year old
The protagonist who kills androids for a living sleeping with an android
Sleeping with someone the day you meet them
Falling in love immediately after having sex with someone
Power imbalances

The stuff about specials was fucking gross, a person doesn't need a certain IQ to be seen as human good grief
I don't understand why this is a classic. I've heard the film is only loosely based on the book which is good because this is garbage. I liked the stuff about animals.

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