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The Defenders (2000)

by Philip K. Dick(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

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review 1: I've noticed a theme with reading PKD's '50s era work: you can see the twist coming, but PKD brings it early, then takes the concepts further. It's a nice surprise to see the twist explored.PKD's usual 1950s subjects and themes are on display here - war, peace, and dumb hatred - though his style is a bit more didactic than I would prefer, or is usual for him.Though his ability to reveal details about the world and its inhabitants via dialogue and action are still tippy-top notch, and very instructive for a wannabe author such as myself.Overall, a very competent and concise post-apocalyptic drama.
review 2: PKD seems to operate less effectively in a short story than he does when given the wide-expanse of a novel. The Defenders takes a clever idea about human nat... moreure and drops it into the expected dystopian future. In a relatively short space the idea plays out to its resolution. The reader is dropped in and brought up to speed through a careful mix of character dialogue that illustrates the state of the world and exposition that elaborates upon these character interactions, which is pretty SOP for PKD (and he does it so well). But the way the story hinges upon a single twist that couldn't really sustain a novel-length work of fiction makes it a bit sub-par in the PKD library; unfortunately, this hinge also used to beat the reader about the head at the end of the story just to make sure that he/she gets what the story was trying to say. Still fun, and not a big time commitment, so worth the twenty minutes to half-hour it'll take you to plow through it. less

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