Book Review: Ubik by Philip K. Dick

As you would expect for a Philip K. Dick novel, Ubik is a mind...hanky panky. Whether it's entertaining or not is an entirely different question.

Ubik is about as much a sci-fi deep dive as you could possibly imagine. The first two chapters drop you face-first with no explanation into two sink-or-swim concepts. In the first chapter, it is revealed that in this far-off distant future (1992) that not only are there "pre-cogs", "psions", etc., that you have to discern for yourself are people with ESP powers (there is a more full explanation of this in the story, but it happens in the last third of the book, which is...interesting), but there are also people who have anti-ESP powers. Furthermore, these ESP and anti-ESP groups are at war with each other...in the boardrooms of the world (and the moon, which is colonized), as someone hires an ESP agency to spy on their competitor, and that competitor hires an anti-ESP agency to nullify the spying, and on and on. That's a lot to absorb for chapter one.

In chapter two, we find out we can communicate with the dead. For at least a couple of years.

If you're able to get through all that, the story really begins, which includes exploding floating humanoids, possible time travel, reality-bending spray cans, and someone with the most Philip K. Dick-iest anti-ESP power of all - she can go back in time to change things that already happened, making you question if all parts of the story are actually connected to each other.

Whew!

I don't want to give too much away about the actual plot, since I feel like trying to figure out what is actually happening is part of the point of the book. What I will say is that the story is a bit uneven - the first half is full of unending possibilities, but when a direction is picked for the second half of the book it leaves you wondering if it was the best possible story choice. Also, once it becomes clear what is actually going on, the only mystery is who the hidden hero and villain actually are - and it is instantly obvious from how the story was set up.

If you are new to Philip K. Dick, I wouldn't start with this one - this is nowhere near the heights of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Man In the High Castle, or A Scanner Darkly (one of the best books I've ever read), or his short story work, which might just be his specialty. But for fans, this is a still a worthy read. Six out of ten hot dogs.