I had no idea what to expect from this novel. I bought it years ago in Kindle format because Amazon cajoled me into it with a sale and some algorithm-based sales push. Then Gail mentioned that it was coming out in TV format and that she wanted to watch it, so my hand was forced and I cracked the book open.
Philip K. Dick is normally associated with sci-fi. I would call this sci-fi for sure, but it also involves some serious alternative history. It’s set in San Francisco and Denver(ish) in a post WWII America where Germany and Japan have triumphed and effectively divided the US between them.
The two main characters, a man in San Francisco and a women in Denver, struggle with living under this regime, but they’re making it. They also seem to be in and around some big conspiracies brewing that could undermine the tentative peace between Japan and Germany.
It’s short and has an abrupt ending. I enjoyed it but it left me wanting. I’ll certainly watch the TV show (created by Amazon, actually), but it’s only loosely based on the book because the book translates to about 90 minutes of screened entertainment I’m guessing.
I struggle with sci-fi because it seems like you either have to be prepared to read huge, multi-volume tomes or be satisfied with a shortish story. Are there any big, awesome, single-volume pieces of sci-fi that I should read? Let me know.