For a long time, I have loved Bladerunner. Harrison Ford + a cyberpunk cityscape = greatness and the fact that Bladerunner 2049 was such a good sequel only pushed me further into wanting to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
After World War Terminus, Earth was covered in radioactive dust, causing a majority of what was left of the population to emigrate to colony planets. This was encouraged by the government who provided each emigrant with an android of their liking for companionship and labor. Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter with the San Francisco police department is tasked with hunting down and "retiring" rogue androids who killed their owners and fled back to earth.
The book is always better than the movie, it's just a fact. No exception in DADES, the story is very rich and complex, way deeper than the film.The only scene for scene match I noticed was Rachel's Voigt-Kampff test. That is immediately where similarities end.I don't even know where to start, I want to rant all day.
The characters were amazing. Rick was great, he wasn't some retired big time hotshot, he was just the secondary bounty hunter for the SFPD, thrust into the most dangerous possible situation. Driven by his need to make both himself and his wife happy, which he assumed could be done via the purchase of an animal.Rachel wasn't just some innocent android love interest for Rick, she was a cold, heartless weapon of the Rosen corporation, used to seduce bounty hunters into never retiring an andy again.
The setting was not at all what I expected, it added an indescribable amount to the story. The world, covered in radioactive debris, seems barren, empty and lonely. The people have little to cling to besides each other, hence the creation of and obsession with Mercerism. Yet, in that quest for empathy, they've created a sort of caste system with their pets. It's immoral not to have a pet, which drives up the demand, obviously spiking the price. Live animals are a sort of luxury, not necessarily only for the ultra-wealthy but not cheap for sure and the bigger or more uncommon the animal, the higher your social status is perceived. Those who can't afford a live animal can buy an almost indistinguishable electronic one but that comes with a deep, closeted shame. The shame and depression that drives Rick.
The conflict in the middle, with the discovery of the fake police department, the pins and needles anticipation on finding out whether Phil Resch was an android and Rick's struggle with empathy towards androids was amazing, I was hooked the whole time. Not to mention the final-ish interaction with Rachel, the reveal that she doesn't love him, that she's just a weapon for the Rosen corporation. I'm still not sure what to make of the ending or Rick's interactions with Mercer, I feel it'll take a few reads and a couple good thinks to reach the bottom of it. I know there's probably a lot I'm missing overall but that's what makes me want to re-read it and think over it. Overall I just really enjoyed the book, it's a very solid 10/10 and I will be reading it again.
I loved this book through and through, definately will be reading again 10/10.