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The Divine Invasion
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
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3 out of 5 stars
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Total Recall
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Philip K. Dick’s classic short story tells the story of Douglas Quail, an unfulfilled bureaucrat who dreams of visiting Mars, but can't afford the trip. Luckily, there is Rekal Incorporated, a company that lets everyday stiffs believe they’ve been on incredible adventures. The only problem is that when technicians attempt a memory implant of a spy mission to Mars, they find that real memories of just such a trip are already in Quail's brain. Suddenly, Quail is running for his life from government agents, but his memories might make him more of a liability than he is worth.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Too short
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 194
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The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course, there's a catch to the invitation...
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1 out of 5 stars
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urggghh
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Hyperion
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,886
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,524
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,520
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Inspired Sci-fi
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Volume I: The King of the Elves
- By: Philip K. Dick
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- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4 out of 5 stars 33
The King of the Elves is the opening installment of a uniform, five-volume edition of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, expanded from the previous Collected Stories set to incorporate new story notes, and two added tales, one previously unpublished, and one uncollected.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Poorly made.
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The City and the Stars
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 457
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 414
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Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar; for millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it ruled the stars. But then, as legend had it, the Invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge. It takes one man, a Unique, to smash the legend and discover the true nature of the Invaders.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Ahead of its time
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The Android's Dream
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 556
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 505
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 505
A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire.
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4 out of 5 stars
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No sleeping time allowed
- By Norma Miles on 05-09-15
Summary
A mind-bending, classic Philip K. Dick novel about the perception of reality.
Named as one of Time's 100 best books.
Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business - deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in "half-life," a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter's face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all.
Critic reviews
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What listeners say about Ubik
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. J. Forsyth
- 19-12-16
Very enjoyable
I cant call this a furious page turner (or ear flapper as it was audiobook?) but it was a good read. As with most pkd it didnt seem groundbreaking (anymore) but not without any weight or relevance, like all great sci-fi seems to transcend generations long after publish.
Some seem to see greater meanings or questions in this story and I can understand that if your looking for it but for me it was simply a very enjoyable story of easy digestion that passed from start to finish in just the right length to feel complete.
A welcome rest from aliens, spaceships, time travel, vampires, werewolves and magicians.
21 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Antonio Konitsiotis
- 30-05-16
a wild imaginative ride!
constantly keeps you guessing, a crazy amazing story! brilliantly narrated and a seminal piece of sci-fi!
13 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Oliver
- 10-05-16
Phantasmagoric
Looking for some 10/10 sci-fi? Trying to fill the formless void in your soul? Wondering when the last time you were ever truly happy was? Read Ubik by Phillip K Dick
19 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-05-16
Keeps you guessing
Good story. Quite trippy and keeps you guessing. In fact, it gets better as it goes on. Good voices by the narrator!
12 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Bashy
- 14-02-17
The original Inception
The story is very recognisable as older science fiction in its style but that doesn't take away from it at all. The story is very clever initially slow to build but then it hooks you.
I hope they don't ever make a film of this it would ruin a great book.
The narrator was good however I found some of the voices grating and irritating.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kamila
- 20-01-17
Great pleasure to listen to.
Very strong story, kept me gripped till end. Well designed world, complex and consistent, filled with interesting characters . All this wrapped up in masterpiece of narration. Loved it. Will look for other books by Dick and Daniels.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- F. Preo
- 14-05-20
Finished in two days
Vividly engrossing and sometimes disturbing. Excellent narrator with an impressive array of accents and timbres.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MartinL
- 18-01-18
I have discovered a gem unknown to me.
Great story in true Philip K Dick form. I have enjoyed it immensely. Reminds me of Inception movie, although it is much younger. I have seen it before I listened to the Ubick. Shame on me.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- L
- 28-01-17
Brilliant!
Absolutely sensational, one of best books I've listened too. Narrator and story top notch.
I would have never gone for a book written in the 60s but how glad I am that audible put it on the daily deal.
A must read!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Donal
- 24-01-17
A entertaining well written well read story.
It's a good story. Deeply fantastical and keeps you guessing exactly what is going on till near the end. The first person narrative works well and the language is intelligent. While I was not blown away by the characters and rushing to get another book by the author I can recommend it. Its not an addictive story but I got through it within a few days of housework etc without getting bored.
Impressovely orginal even if not very thought provoking.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Steve
- 10-07-16
A great performance of an SF classic
What made the experience of listening to Ubik the most enjoyable?
I first read UBIK nearly thirty years ago, and while I remembered a lot of the plot (including the final reveal), what I didn't remember (or hadn't noticed) is how well constructed the novel was. Dick took great pains to "play fair" and leave enough bread crumbs to figure out what was going on if you paid attention. I was also interested in how "dated" the technological references might seem, since UBIK takes place in a 1996 with a Lunar Colony established (and others implied); there are a few moments in which the tech references show their age, but they don't detract.
What other book might you compare Ubik to and why?
In some ways this novel seems to have been a response (or even a commentary) on Kornbluth and Pohl's "The Space Merchants," while also involving some stylistic similarities to Bester's "The Stars My Destination" and Fritz Lieber's short story "Coming Attraction." But that's probably only me; UBIK is a legit, one of a kind original.
Which scene was your favorite?
The first time that Pat uses her power to change the past with Joe Chip and his boss Runciter.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I don't have seven-hour sittings available, but it did well in big chunks of an hour or so at a time while I was driving.
Any additional comments?
Luke Daniels' narration is a real plus, and made the character of Al much more central in my listening than he was way back when I read the novel the first time. I thought he also caught the sadistic/playful nuances in the character Pat much better than I would have imagined. But, then, Luke Daniels is one of my favorite narrators.
46 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 17-03-17
Holy sh*t
Was listening to this book on a trip from California and let me tell you it is one of the most nail biting adventures I have ever listen. to Philip K Dick is a master at suspense and deception a must read. Just wait to the ending it's worth the whole ride
55 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Kennedy
- 24-11-16
Incredible voice acting
This story is classic Philip K Dick. Definitely Philip K Dick at his weirdest. The voice acting in this performance is some of the best I have ever heard. The number of voices and characters in his repertoire is incredible. The wide variety of voices was particularly suitable for this story and it's whimsical, esoteric, and quirky details. This book is worth listening to for the voice acting alone, even though the story is a bit on the odd side.
48 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Sarah Ishida
- 15-07-17
Confusing
Just like the characters were unsure about what's happening to them, I was confused listening. Unlike a murder mystery or something of that sort, they were in a sci-fi then parallel world of people with varying/unknown skills and I had trouble keeping up. The last few chapter where everything was being explained was interesting.
23 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joe
- 12-06-16
Fantastic Performance
I read this book 24 years ago as a teenager. I grew up a Philip K Dick fan and truly loved this book. I hadn't read it since until recently, when audible offered it on sale, I thought it would be fun to listen to.
Wow! The narration of Luke Daniels makes this book so much fun to hear performed. Daniels brings the different characters to life with cleverly rendered voices. The book is as playful as it is mind-blowing.
I wish Philip K Dick were still around to hear his own work performed like this. I bet he would have loved it.
52 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Sensible Shopper
- 01-07-17
I Wanted to Like It
This is one of those books that is either genius or well... not genius. Maybe I am just not smart enough to "get" it. I can admit that, no harm. In the beginning I wanted to like it, hell by the middle I just wanted to understand it. By the end I figured I must have somehow missed an important bit of narration that was the necessary key to unlocking the meaning of the book. It was confusing, emotionally fragmented and just downright baffling. I would give you a short synopsis of the story, but I never did figure out what the story was. Don't get me wrong... there were moments of sheer brilliance, glimpses of shining insight and a breath of deep and profound vision. And then, I was just back to being confused. Can't recommend this one.
35 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Alan
- 29-08-16
I liked it, but I haven't figured everything out..
I liked the story, but it was very confusing as to why certain things were happening, and when it ended I thought it was rather abrupt and didn't understand. I used to enjoy sci-fi quite a bit in my younger days, maybe age has dulled my abilities to figure stuff like this out... Anyway, it was entertaining and engaging, but to my ears an old fashioned sci-fi novel. Its primary goal is to make you think, entertainment is just a by- product.
31 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nothing really matters
- 21-07-16
Confusing. Convoluted. Too clever.
Ubik makes it onto some lists of recommended sci-fi novels so I was keen to finally read it. I enjoyed the beginning and was looking forward to a good sci-fi yarn. Despite the promising beginning the story just kept getting more and more and then even more convoluted.
Things hadn't cleared up significantly by the end, though I still had high hopes. Unfortunately, I found the ending was as mystifying as it was unsatisfying. I'm not a fan of deep and meaningful endings.
If you love high brow sci-fi you may like this book. Personally, I value a satisfying and engaging story over literary panache. If you are like-minded, you may want to consider giving this book a pass.
Luke Daniels does a fine job narrating, though.
37 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- T. McCloskey
- 15-02-17
Unfinished themes
Would you try another book from Philip K. Dick and/or Luke Daniels?
They are both very talented, I have never been disappointed with Luke Daniels, Iron Druid, Marko Kloos stories, and many more. PKD improved with time and his short stories seem more fleshed out.
Any additional comments?
This book started with some interest and humor. but by midway through it seemed to wander and ended rather abruptly leaving the reader to either do some serious linking of ideas or simply saying meh. I chose the latter.
36 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- joan
- 07-07-17
I usually love Philip K. Dick
...but this one is so far out that it's almost impossible to find the story.
14 people found this helpful