Rick Deckard, along with his wife, is hanging on, lingering on an Earth that is nearly deserted by a nuclear war and subsequent widespread immigration to Mars. He works as a bounty hunter, "retiring" any human-like androids that escape from the colony back to Earth. In a world where many species have gone extinct and it is considered the proper task of every human to buy and care for a (very expensive) animal, he keeps up appearances by tending an electric sheep, which he deeply resents. His workmanlike attitude toward his job is imperiled on two fronts: his growing sexual attraction to a particular android and his encounter with a bounty hunter who strikes him as morally repugnant.

I know it's a sci-fi classic, and I was often intrigued by the ideas. but it left me cold. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic. The novel seems to make a complex point about the androids: that they are on the one hand morally vacant, and on the other deserving of being treated with dignity. The only logical conclusion is that they should simply not exist, especially as their lifespans are short--only a few years. A side plot involving a religion called Mercerism, in which people use "empathy boxes" to take the role of Mercer, an old many climbing a hill amid a hail of rocks, seems to be saying that something need not be real or authentic to carry meaning. I am drawn more to the human drama in a book, though, and that made it difficult to connect with the novel. ( )

PKD raises some interesting philosophical issues in this novel: should we feel empathy for machines, what makes a human or animal different than a machine, or what is the proper status of 'specials'. Very thought-provoking. I was also very intrigued by the initial exchange between Deckard and Mercer - "You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature that lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation: this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe." ( )

Wow. So much more to this than the Blade Runner link suggests. Extremely well written (no surprise, with Philip K. Dick as author), and delving into some rich material of a post-apocalyptic flavor, touching on loneliness, animal ownership lust, the importance of empathy, and religion--for starters. But on top of that, it's a lot of engaging fun. ( )

Excellent book - there is a lot of scope to discussing this work, on many levels (philosophical, religious, gender, postmodernist) that I do not know how to present it. It is a sort of post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel. Humans have left earth for Mars and only remain the sub-humans and some escaped androids that the bounty hunter, Deckard, has to hunt and kill for the government. Animals have nearly completely disappeared from the planet and they have become a symbol of social status. The style is most definitely pessimistic, but the novel is very well written nonetheless.

If looking for the same as the movie 'Bladerunner', you may be disappointed, as they are similar in the main storyline but different in the sub-plot details.

This is a good read if you want to start on the science-fiction genre, or as a classic of literature. ( )

I absolutely loved this book! It kept me flipping through the pages as quickly as I could, and it also made me stop and think about things afterward. If you like the movie, you will more than likely like this book. I personally felt that overall, the movie kept fairly close with the book. ( )