World of Chance - Philip K. Dick Book Review

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Review Summaries

"Dick's story, published in 1956, bears an uncomfortable resemblance to present-day circumstances. In World of Chance, a few corporate powers control the world. When the Bottle twitches an unknown into the number one position, ironically restoring the original intent of the designers of the system, a team from the Directorate arrive. They expect that Cartwright will, like almost everyone else, have sworn fealty to one of the 'Hills' (multinational corporates) or perhaps sold his PowerCard on the black market. But Cartwright still has his Power-Card. Dick's hero, Cartwright, is the leader of the Prestonites, a society which reveres a dead writer who claimed that a tenth planet existed. When Cartwright takes power, the few members of the society take off in an ancient ore freighter, trying to find the planet. The planet, described in Preston's novel 'The Flame Disc', represents the last chance for men to establish a world free of corrupt corporate bosses. The ex-Quizmaster, Verrick, is determined to seize control again. To circumvent the telepathic Corps of anti-assassins, he has his Hill, the Chemie corporate, fabricate an android, Keith Pellig, that can be motivated by any one of a team of different operators, whose minds are switched into Pellig's body at random. Dick's story, which comes from the golden age of pulp SF, stands way above its contemporaries. The story still holds its own compared with any current offerings, and offers disturbing, prophetic, parallels with trends we see around us today. "
Clive Warner, Resident Philip K. Dick Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - deposing an evil leader
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - overthrowing govt/kingdom
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - engineer
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - dictator
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Spaceship setting: - futuristic human freighter/transport
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - none/very little science jargon needed
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Deathworld III by Harry Harrison

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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