By Philip K. Dick
Rating: 4 & 1/2 out of 5 stars
A Maze of Death is one of Philip K. Dick's most aggravating
books. It is almost unbearably dark and loaded with insensitive
protagonists who often act like spoiled brats. And just as you think you
figured it out, it becomes even more nihilistic and disorganized.
It is also one of Dick's best novels.
It
starts out like a science fiction version of a horror novel where the
characters are sure to get picked off. I kept thinking about Agatha
Christie's
And Then There Were None for it has a similar idea. A group of strangers end up on an
island
planet not knowing the reason they are there and are put in a situation
that may mean death for some or all. But this is Philip K. Dick, so
nothing is as it seems. In many ways this is a transitional work in
which the author's Gnostic interests start to dominate his writings. In
the book, Gods exist as a perceived reality, prayers are sent
electronically and people live by their bible titled
How I Rose From the Dead in My Spare Time and So can You.
It is also one of Dicks' few works that explores the idea of death in
detail. Freud's Death Instinct hovers throughout this nihilistic work.
Yet I found this story totally engaging as it wobbles into the end where
the strange and selfish reactions of our usually dislikeable characters
actually make sense. This is clearly not the Dick novel to start with.
But if you already read some quality works of his like
Man in the High Castle and
A Scanner Darkly
you just may like where this morose novel takes you. I'm rating it four
and a half stars only because I feel I have to compare it to Dick's
masterpieces such as the two already mentioned. As I said, it
is a transitional work.
This was the first PKD novel I read......it "blew me away";surrealism and a universe where "God" was a perceived reality....wow! This was six years before I read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.....I still had little idea of what was to come.
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