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Liked It “Dick's stories on religion is pretty interesting. Had some trouble trying to figure what was going on in the beginning though.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It“After a fatal car accident on Earth, Herb Asher is placed into cryonic suspension as he waits for a spleen replacement. Clinically dead, Herb experiences lucid dreams while in suspended animation and relives the last six years of his life. |
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“Dick's stories on religion is pretty interesting. Had some trouble trying to figure what was going on in the beginning though.”
Henry D wrote this review Tuesday, December 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I don't know how to review this volume. It is the second of the trio of novels Dick wrote at the end of his life after a mystical experience had changed him. It is so multi-layered yet so compelling that I could not put it down. As I said with Valis, don't start reading Dick's work here, start with something much earlier. Realize, too, that he was far more than a sci-fi writer, he was a gift to us all. He covers so many genres, not all of them fiction, the he defies categorization. He was, perhaps, the best American writer of the 20th Century and that may be trivializing him.”
Superb Curmudgeon wrote this review Thursday, November 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“come on it PK Dick”
John H wrote this review Tuesday, November 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“After a fatal car accident on Earth, Herb Asher is placed into cryonic suspension as he waits for a spleen replacement. Clinically dead, Herb experiences lucid dreams while in suspended animation and relives the last six years of his life.
Wendy B wrote this review Monday, April 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
In the past, Herb lived as a recluse in an isolated dome on a remote planet in the binary star system, CY30-CY30B. Yah, a local divinity of the planet in exile from Earth, appears to Herb in a vision as a burning flame, and forces him to contact his sick female neighbor, Rybys Rommey, who happens to be terminally ill with multiple sclerosis and pregnant with Yah's child.
With the help of the immortal soul of Elijah, who takes the form of a wild beggar named Elias Tate, Herb agrees to become Rybys's legal husband and father of the unborn "savior". Together they plan to smuggle the six-month pregnant Rybys back to Earth, under the pretext of seeking help for Rybys' medical condition at a medical research facility. After being born in human form, Yah plans to confront the fallen angel Belial, who has ruled the Earth for 2000 years since the fall of Masada in the first century CE. Yah's powers, however, are limited by Belial's dominion on Earth, and the four of them must take extra precautions to avoid being detected by the forces of darkness.
Things do not go as planned. "Big Noodle", Earth's A.I. system, warns the ecclesiastical authorities in the Christian-Islamic church and Scientific Legate about the divine "invasion" and countermeasures are prepared. A number of failed attempts are made to destroy the unborn child, all of them thwarted by Elijah and Yah. After successfully making the interstellar journey back to Earth and narrowly avoiding a forced abortion, Rybys and Herb escape in the nick of time, only to be involved in a fatal taxi crash, probably due to the machinations of Belial. Rybys dies from her injuries sustained in the crash, and her unborn son Emmanuel (Yah in human form) suffers brain damage from the trauma but survives. Herb is critically injured and put into cryonic suspension until a spleen replacement can be found. Baby Emmanuel is placed into a synthetic womb, but Elias Tate manages to sneak Emmanuel out of the hospital before the church is able to kill him.
Six years pass. In a school for special children, Emmanuel meets Zina, a girl who also seems to have similar skills and talents, but acts as a surrogate teacher to Emmanuel. For four years, Zina helps Emmanuel regain his memory (the brain damage caused amnesia) and discover his true identity as Yah, creator of the universe.
When he's ready, Zina shows Emmanuel her own parallel universe. In this peaceful world, organized religion has little influence, Rybys Rommey is still alive and married to Herb Asher, and Belial is only a kid goat living in a petting zoo.
In an act of kindness, Zina and Emmanuel liberate the goat-creature from his cage, momentarily forgetting that the animal is Belial. The goat-creature finds Herb Asher and attempts to retain control of the world by possessing him and convincing him that Yahweh's creation is an ugly thing that should be shown for what it really is. Eventually Herb is saved by Linda Fox, a young singer whom he loves and who is his own personal Savior; she and the goat-creature meet and she kills it, defeating Belial. He finally discovers that this meeting happens over again for everyone in the world, and whether they choose Belial or their Savior decides if they find salvation.
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“Sounds interesting. Can't wait.”
Tracy P wrote this review Monday, April 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Again, another good example of Dick's seeming discomfort with our ability to know anything. This is also, in a round about way, a good primer on gnostic thought, though I'm sure incomplete. But the books makes us ask hard questions, like what is redemption and more importantly, how do we earn and how would we know if we were?”
Jake W wrote this review Friday, January 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I've read a lot of PKD and I think this is my favorite. Definitely on a par with Martian Time Slip and A Scanner Darkly, which I think is some of his best work. Very recommended -- in fact this is a really great book to start with if you have never read PKD.”
Otto_Maddox wrote this review Friday, July 11 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Of the "trilogy" this was the most difficult for me to grasp. And strangely enough it's the only one that's not based on people and events that have actually happened. It's strictly based on philosophy and it's purpose is to give that philosophy life--to make it more concrete. And in some ways it did, and in others it made it that much more abstract. Strange book, but really good.”
Nyla W wrote this review Sunday, April 6 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Valis, the Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer are a loose "trilogy of concept" written just before PKD's death. Taken together they explore his view of reality, or possible reality, in his most mind bending manner. ”
Rick S wrote this review Sunday, October 28 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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