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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
War had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn’t “retiring” them, he dreamed of opening the ultimate status symbol – a live animal. Then Rick got his big assignment: to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But things were never that simple, and Rick’s life quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit.
Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter who lives on an Earth so ravaged by radiation that very few real animals survive. Anyone wanting to own an animal – even a cockroach – has to pay a lot of money for it. Rick used to own a sheep but it died. Now he’s stuck with a robot replacement and hopes that his neighbours won’t find out. He’s married to Iran, a woman who can only experience emotion by using a Penfield and who hates Rick’s job – the extermination of androids that are so realistic they can pass for human.
Rick’s luck seems about to change when he’s assigned to “retire” six Nexus-6 targets – the most human-like androids ever manufactured. The reward for doing so will enable him to buy the large animal he’s always wanted, but he soon finds that this is no easy assignment. The Nexus-6 targets know that he’s coming and have prepared themselves ...
This is the novel used as the basis for the movie BLADERUNNER, but there are few similarities between the movie and the novel. Dick has crafted a bleak world ravaged by radiation – where some people have been so badly damaged that they’re nicknamed chicken-heads and denied the rights that others enjoyed, where men walk around in lead codpieces to maintain their sperm count and most people want to relocate to the space colonies.
Rick is lonely, desperate to nurture an animal of his own. He refuses to view the androids he hunts as being alive, administering the tests used to catch out androids with dispassion until he meets Rachel Rosen, an employee at the Rosen organization who also happens to be a Nexus-6. The story examines what makes someone human and what’s interesting is how cold and calculating the androids are. The marriage of Roy Baty and his wife lacks warmth and is a parallel to the marriage of Rick and Iran.
There’s also a quasi-religious element to the story in that to experience empathy, people recreate the death of a man called Mercer who was stoned to death for obscure reasons.
It’s a strange read, disquieting even and it can take a while to get into. But the ideas in the story really make you think and Rick is a sympathetic character who carries you with him as he goes through his journey. It’s a classic SF novel and definitely worth checking out.
The Verdict:
One of the classic SF novels, this is a strange and disquieting read that takes a while to get into but is well worth the effort.
War had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn’t “retiring” them, he dreamed of opening the ultimate status symbol – a live animal. Then Rick got his big assignment: to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But things were never that simple, and Rick’s life quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit.
Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter who lives on an Earth so ravaged by radiation that very few real animals survive. Anyone wanting to own an animal – even a cockroach – has to pay a lot of money for it. Rick used to own a sheep but it died. Now he’s stuck with a robot replacement and hopes that his neighbours won’t find out. He’s married to Iran, a woman who can only experience emotion by using a Penfield and who hates Rick’s job – the extermination of androids that are so realistic they can pass for human.
Rick’s luck seems about to change when he’s assigned to “retire” six Nexus-6 targets – the most human-like androids ever manufactured. The reward for doing so will enable him to buy the large animal he’s always wanted, but he soon finds that this is no easy assignment. The Nexus-6 targets know that he’s coming and have prepared themselves ...
This is the novel used as the basis for the movie BLADERUNNER, but there are few similarities between the movie and the novel. Dick has crafted a bleak world ravaged by radiation – where some people have been so badly damaged that they’re nicknamed chicken-heads and denied the rights that others enjoyed, where men walk around in lead codpieces to maintain their sperm count and most people want to relocate to the space colonies.
Rick is lonely, desperate to nurture an animal of his own. He refuses to view the androids he hunts as being alive, administering the tests used to catch out androids with dispassion until he meets Rachel Rosen, an employee at the Rosen organization who also happens to be a Nexus-6. The story examines what makes someone human and what’s interesting is how cold and calculating the androids are. The marriage of Roy Baty and his wife lacks warmth and is a parallel to the marriage of Rick and Iran.
There’s also a quasi-religious element to the story in that to experience empathy, people recreate the death of a man called Mercer who was stoned to death for obscure reasons.
It’s a strange read, disquieting even and it can take a while to get into. But the ideas in the story really make you think and Rick is a sympathetic character who carries you with him as he goes through his journey. It’s a classic SF novel and definitely worth checking out.
The Verdict:
One of the classic SF novels, this is a strange and disquieting read that takes a while to get into but is well worth the effort.
