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Earth is trapped in the crossfire of an unwinnable war between two alien civilizations. Its leader is perpetually on the verge of death. And on top of it all, a new drug has just entered circulation—a drug that haphazardly sends its users traveling through time. In an attempt to escape his doomed marriage, Dr. Eric Sweetscent becomes caught up in all of it. But he has questions: is Earth on the right side of the war? Is he supposed to heal Earth’s leader or keep him sick? And can he change the harrowing future that the drug has shown him?
In a novel that makes our notions of politics, personality, and time seem terrifyingly provisional, Dick tells of a hapless doctor, whose planet is enmeshed in endless war, whose wife is addicted to a time control drug, and whose newest patient's demise could decide the fate of the world.
Anonymous
Posted Sun Dec 18 00:00:00 EST 2011
Full of conundrums and paradoxes, both logical and moral. Like most of Dick's novels, this is sci-fi that uses the science as a tool to explore the fiction, not the other way around. To its credit, does not fall into the usual sci-fi trappings of reading like a technical manual.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.How is it after 28 years and 30 books, I finally discover PKD's best novel? I have read the one's people say are his best, and I have loved every one I have read, from SOLAR LOTTERY to MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE and VALIS. But today I finished my 30th book I have read by him, and I am stunned how amazingly perfect it is compared to his other works. Have no doubt, I love PKD. I adore his crazy plots, awesome extrapolations, and wacky world view. I like his writing because he uses sci-fi for what it should be, for what makes it the best genre of fiction--he uses it to explore the human condition that cannot be done in any other way. This novel stands out because of the flaws in his other works. Again, keep in mind I love PKD partly because of the flaws. They add charm to his work. The silly names. The characters who talk like no one would ever talk in real life. The science that could never work. The unnecessary amount of side plots, digressions, and secondary characters. The crazy ideas he sticks in just because it came to him that day at the typewriter, not because it even works in the current novel he was writing. The unfinished endings that wrap up to quickly or wrap up too easily. His other novels are just raw and rough and uneven. What makes this novel stand out is that it is tight. Every character matters. Every plot line eventually has real meaning to the story he is telling, even down to the silly inventions in chapter one that just seem like a goof and the robot taxi drivers that just seem cliche. Every thematic meaning he draws from his characters, from marriage, to being a man, to being a leader, to understanding what it means to be human and what it means to be inhuman. It all just works. I have read almost all his sci-fi novels (over 20) and have only a few more to read (around 5), but as of this moment, I feel I have read the best thing with which PKD blessed his readers.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Dec 03 00:00:00 EST 2011
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Anonymous
Posted Fri Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2010
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Overview
Earth is trapped in the crossfire of an unwinnable war between two alien civilizations. Its leader is perpetually on the verge of death. And on top of it all, a new drug has just entered circulation—a drug that haphazardly sends its users traveling through time. In an attempt to escape his doomed marriage, Dr. Eric Sweetscent becomes caught up in all of it. But he has questions: is Earth on the right side of the war? Is he supposed to heal Earth’s leader or keep him sick? And can he change the harrowing ...