7.78k reviews for:

Blade Runner

Philip K. Dick

3.89 AVERAGE

dark reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a book of themes and ideas. During the first read of this book, you might realize that a lot of things seem strange, and confusing. There will be points in the book that you find hard to understand. And many times you question what you’ve just read. It’s more important to focus on the themes here rather than the plot or characters. I think the goal of the book was to question the idea we might hold on being human and empathy. There is much to be gained from this book if you think about it that way. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

This may possible be the exception to the rule "movies turn out worse than books". But the two are so different that it's a stretch to consider Blade Runner a movie based on Do Androids etc.

Did I like this book? Perhaps. I can't easily say. It is technically not a great book, plot and prose-wise. It's good but not great. Characters are much less described than in the movie, bar for Deckard's. The first half of the book is superior to the second half, in which most of the great ideas are briefly introduced, or more like hinted at, but badly executed.

Action is non-existent. It's all "Rick shot, it died". Fine, I guess, it's not a pulp book after all. It's way more theological, philosophical and slightly more introspective than how the movie transposed it. Fans of descriptions, atmosphere, action and a more well-developed plot will be deluded by this book. Yet even as a great fan of the movie, I can't judge badly the book. It's much less than Blade Runner but more in another direction. Whereas Blade Runner is a sci-fi masterpiece, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a good sci-fi book. Ahead of its time but feels half-assed at times. Could have been great, it's simply good.

Still 4 stars deserving.
challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Maybe.

Interesting ideas and concepts which have now become familiar parts of sci-fi storytelling. A lot of clunky dialogue which I can't tell is bad writing or to emphasise the blurring of lines between who is real or synthetic - I'll go with the latter ..😀. It has dated terribly in that it paints a picture of the near future which is markedly different from when it was written (things don't change that much, we now know) but it was an enjoyable read.

5
Must read (but maybe I'm the last person to read it at this point lol)! I've been binging Philip K. Dick all of January, definitely one of my top 3 sci fi authors ever.
dark reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Books like this with cold electric air about them need to be read in the summer when you need air conditioning

not bad. i liked the ambiguous ending. harrison ford is a top g.
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes