Solar Lottery - Philip K. Dick Book Review

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Review Summary

In the year 2203, power is transferred through a random lottery that picks the Quizmaster, the most powerful position on Earth. Challengers may be chosen to take out the Quizmaster legally by assassination. This is not an easy method, however, because the Quizmaster is protected by a Corps of telepaths (known as "teepers") who can easily tell when a threat is near. When 10-year Quizmaster Verrick is toppled and replaced by 63-year-old Cartwright, an electronics repairman and socially progressive Prestonite (follower of the long-dead freethinker John Preston, who insisted there was a tenth planet in the Solar System, beyond Pluto, which he named Flame Disc), Verrick schemes to position an assassin to take out the new Quizmaster so Verrick can regain power. Biochemist Ted Benteley, the hero of this novel, has just been thrown out of work and pledges fealty to Verrick, only to learn that he will be one of about 24 experts and intellects whose consciousnesses will be filtered in and out of a robot Verrick has maneuvered to get chosen as assassin, so that teeps will not be able to keep mental track of him as he stalks Cartwright. The Corps responds by hiding the new Quizmaster at Luna base, where the robot assassin inexorably follows him, and the chase eventually leads to Flame Disc, the legendary tenth planet. This is one of Dick's simpler, more straightforward plots, from 1955.
David Loftus, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of Solar Lottery

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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 - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - factions fight within govt for control
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - strict rationing of freedoms/goods - has game where people are hunted
Mental/magical powers focus Yes
magical powers: - telepath (scifi)
Robot, PC, VR Plotlets: - fighting evil robot(s)

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - scientist
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: - Robot
Profession/status: - killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Terrain - Domed/Underground City
Which planet? - Earth's Moon
Earth setting: - medium future 22-24th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript

Most similar books to Solar Lottery
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
A Wizard in Bedlam - Rogue Wizard 2 by Christopher Stasheff
A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman
Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge
The Golden Torc by Julian May

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

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