Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a book that feels both visionary and uneven. Written in 1968, it tackles ideas that are now central to science fiction and philosophy: what makes us human, whether empathy is unique to us, and how we define morality in a world full of artificial life. While I admire its ambition, I was not entirely convinced by the execution, which is why I landed on a three star rating.

The novel is set in a bleak, radioactive future after a nuclear war. Most of Earth’s population has fled to colonies in space, while those who remain live among ruins and silence. Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, is sent to “retire” a group of advanced androids who have escaped to Earth. His job is complicated by the fact that these androids are nearly indistinguishable from humans. As he hunts them down, he questions the morality of his work and the true meaning of empathy.

The story introduces many memorable concepts. The Voigt-Kampff test, Mercerism and its shared suffering, and the obsession with real versus electric animals all add texture to the world. These details make the novel ahead of its time, foreshadowing themes of artificial intelligence and virtual reality that would only grow more relevant. The questions it raises are profound and still resonate today.

Where the novel stumbles is in its uneven pacing and lack of emotional depth. Deckard’s struggle is interesting in theory, but his character often feels flat on the page. The androids themselves are not given enough nuance to make their moral dilemmas truly haunting. The book gestures at big questions but does not always carry them through with clarity. By the end, the ideas linger, but the story itself feels more like a sketch than a fully realized exploration.

I can appreciate Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? as a cornerstone of science fiction. It broke ground in ways that later writers and filmmakers would refine and expand on. But as a reading experience, it did not fully work for me. It is a novel I respect more than I love.

Rating: 3/5