Testo tra i primissimi (e perciò considerato minore) di Philip K Dick. Immaturo lo stile, confuso lo svolgersi della vicenda, troppa carne al fuoco. Il colpo di scena è buono, ma non riesce a reggere un romanzo che nella sua totalità è poco più che scadente.
Avesse virato di più sulla fantapolitica, a discapito dell'azione, avrebbe sfruttato di più la potenzialità della premessa "il presidente/dittatura viene scelto alla lotteria", ma così com'è funziona giusto come lettura per chi vuole completare la collezione di libri di Dick e non si rivela troppo avvincente. 2 stelle. ( )

What a mess.

There’s rather an interesting publishing history detailed on Wikipedia which I will paraphrase for your edification. Dick wrote the novel and submitted it to publishers in the UK and US. The UK publisher edited out the adjectives and published it as World of Chance. The US publisher asked for substantial re-writes. Thousands of words out and thousands new in. This was published as Star Lottery. Star Lottery seems to be the version that was used for translations and is now the only version in print in the UK too. I can only assume it’s better. It can’t be any worse. I just can’t believe that anyone could launch a writing career off World of Chance. What am I saying?! James Patterson.

Anyway, World of Chance has a problem with characterisation. There is none. You could switch out any name for another and it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference. And there are a lot of names so every time there’s a change of scene you need to try to remember the context you last heard that name in. It’s impossible to know who you’re supposed to be rooting for. It destroys any tension the action scenes might have had.

Another problem is that critical information is not given prior to plot changing moments happening. Suddenly something will happen and you first have to work out what it is that’s happened. There goes any remaining tension. There’s no question of wondering if this or that attempt by some name will be successful. It’s already worked or not by the time you’ve worked out what it is they were trying to do.

If I didn’t have the book right here I wouldn’t have believed that anyone would waste time taking the adjectives out of this. If I were a publisher and someone submitted this to me I’d block their number. ( )

Bumped out by a twitch
the old boss wants his job back
fly, assassin-bot!
( )

Another short, thrill-filled ride by Philip K. Dick. The prose is sharp and the action is quick and unpredictable. Everything that most readers like about Dick is here and he keeps the reader entertained throughout the duration of the ride. A good read. ( )

Es una historia alucinante, con elementos policiales, políticos y demenciales, debería ser lectura obligatoria. ( )