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A review by kerrygold
The Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick
3.0
The Cosmic Puppets, published in 1957, is Philip K. Dick’s fourth novel. Unlike the first three, it does not concern a dystopian world government; unlike the first two, it has no mention of aliens. The Cosmic Puppets is a new direction for PKD.
Instead, PKD tells of the implications for a small American town of the cosmic battle between the two Zoroastrian gods, Ormazd and Ahriman, Order and Chaos, respectively. The story tells of a situation where the town has been replaced by a false version of itself, in which the two deities themselves are human-like inhabitants, though with special powers.
The story reads like a thriller, with armies of rats, spiders, snakes, golems, bees, moths and so on involved. However, there is something lacking. Why is all of this happening? Why just this town? Why moths and rats rather than butterflies and mice, for example? How do the shadowy original inhabitants, the Wanderers, subsist? How is it that a few of the original inhabitants have not become Wanderers? And so on ….
Otherwise, PKD does dabble with the nature of reality—a signature quality of his work—through the distinction between the original and changed town. The distinction, however, is not clearly explained and developed.
The Cosmic Puppets is fun to read, with perhaps a more developed writing style than his earlier three novels, and it is unusual in its representation of the two gods. However, The Cosmic Puppets is not one of the great PKD books, in my opinion.
Instead, PKD tells of the implications for a small American town of the cosmic battle between the two Zoroastrian gods, Ormazd and Ahriman, Order and Chaos, respectively. The story tells of a situation where the town has been replaced by a false version of itself, in which the two deities themselves are human-like inhabitants, though with special powers.
The story reads like a thriller, with armies of rats, spiders, snakes, golems, bees, moths and so on involved. However, there is something lacking. Why is all of this happening? Why just this town? Why moths and rats rather than butterflies and mice, for example? How do the shadowy original inhabitants, the Wanderers, subsist? How is it that a few of the original inhabitants have not become Wanderers? And so on ….
Otherwise, PKD does dabble with the nature of reality—a signature quality of his work—through the distinction between the original and changed town. The distinction, however, is not clearly explained and developed.
The Cosmic Puppets is fun to read, with perhaps a more developed writing style than his earlier three novels, and it is unusual in its representation of the two gods. However, The Cosmic Puppets is not one of the great PKD books, in my opinion.