UEL English PEN Society Book Reviews

Written in 1968, this novel is set in 1992 during the aftermath of 'World War Terminus'. Earth has been left in a post apocalyptic mess where animals are all but extinct, and the planet is being engulfed in a nuclear dust. Amongst the abandoned buildings, Rick Deckard works as a bounty hunter on a mission to 'retire' rogue androids who have killed their human owners in order to try and live within society as humans themselves. The 1982 film Blade Runner is loosely set on this book, and though the plots differ quite radically, it is easy to see how Blade Runner found its dystopian, almost hopeless, sense of futility amidst the pages of this novel.

I enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? more so than the film, and really liked the overall atmosphere created within just the first couple of pages of the novel. Characters are incredibly well drawn out, and I felt like I understood the world in which it is set perfectly given that it is not only a short book, but also set during just one 24 hour period of time.

Though incredibly genre orientated as a piece, I loved this book in its own right, and would happily recommend it until I'm blue in the face.

Rachael Spencer, guest blogger

Note from the society; Rachael very kindly offered to help us out with some reviews when lost a member from the team at the last minute of the readathon, so thank you SO MUCH, Rachael, for being a friend of UEL PEN. Rachael also happens to be taking over Unbound, our creative writing anthology publication here at UEL, this coming semester. Look out for some amazing work from her and her team here; UEL Unbound