Customer Reviews

A Maze of Death

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is a two-fold problem with writing a review of this fabulous novel: first, it is literally impossible to give detailed analysis of it without giving away things that really need to remain unknown for the reader to get the most impact from a first reading; second, I personally have very deep feelings about this book that might be difficult to express coherently without such a detailed analysis. But because of my love for this unjustly lesser known and appreciated Dick novel, I am going to cast some rational caution aside, write what I feel at the risk of some incoherence:
For me A MAZE OF DEATH is both a haunted and haunting novel: the book itself, the very object, seems to hold, or is held by, a mysterious, dizzying depth and it imprints this character deeply onto the reader. Haunted and haunting. You will perhaps understand what I mean when you finish reading the last page.
It's a novel with what we call a 'surprise' or a 'twist', but it is so much more than merely clever. With its casual, even banal, surface it draws the unknowing reader into a maze
(amazing) that leads to the most deliberately neglected and yet the most fundamental and profound of all human problems: the ego's struggle to find a transcending means of overcoming its seemingly endless, insane, fear-rooted conflicts with other ego's at the same time that it is trying to find a permanent sense of meaning for itself in the face of its own inevitable death which only increases its fear and tends to induce an excess of fantasy which in turn increases the difficulty of relating to other ego's. Existence as a darkly flaming whirligig that can, no matter how many of its own layers it burns away, only trace and retrace its own limited, circular condition. A maze of death called life that the most advanced technology can not essentially change but only turn like a kaleidoscope and create fantastic patterns that still just come back down to the same few tormenting colors and elements. A very dark vision. And yet the novel burns with brilliance and leaves a brilliance in the reader in the very midst of that darkness. Is there not, seriously, a truly positive quality is such clarity and depth of vision however dark its appearance? Another Dick paradox.
This novel is one of the reasons why Philip K. Dick must be considered the most important of all sci-fi writers and more than just a sci-fi writer.
My task here is not to tell you the content of the novel, but to help you decide to read it or not. I sincerely hope that you will. I highly recommend it without hesitation to Dick beginners and journeymen.

A Maze of Death is a strange mixture of science fiction, mystery, and theology. Fourteen people are assigned to colonize an uninhabited planet, Delmak-O. One by one, they meet mysterious deaths. It is unclear whether the malevolent agent is a military conspiracy, evil aliens, or each other. The solution to this puzzle is, however, in the end less important than the mystery of Delmak-O itself. This world gives indications of being a false reality; some of its life forms are organic, others are mechanical contraptions of unknown origin. Its central mystery is a monolithic Building that each member of the group sees in a different light. The lettering above the entrance changes according to the psychology of the viewer. The Building is the ultimate symbol, an irreducible core reality that cannot be entered and whose nature can only be inferred. Dick invented a completely original theology for this novel; it gives quite a fascinating dimension of meaning to the plot, but that religious system ultimately proves as unreal as any of the experiences of any of the characters. This is an essential novel for anyone interested in the "higher Dick" novels such as VALIS.

First off, Dick is the unsung hero of postmodern literature. If there is a sense of failure in any of his works it can only be attributed to his effort to take on too much of reality, to put complete portraits of men and women in an environment fully realized and even more complex than that in which we live presently. Call him Icarus or Ishmael, for his task is greater than the breadth of any of his novels is capable, which is to say that nothing seems to end satisfactorily, that Dick is more than ready to leave loose ends and frayed edges, not because of oversight or inability, but because he rejects conventionality. Simply put, if the universe were really in order, why would one be compelled to write? Like other novels, A Maze of Death ends ambiguously, but in a much different manner...
A Maze of Death is sheer mastery, and yet to characerize this mastery is at once to applaud its unconventionality and to give away the plot. This I cannot do, but I will say this: nothing ends so sweetly as this work. Unlike other works, this one is the epitome of postmodernism--it will wrap you in its folds, stretching your imagination and forcing you to carry out endless deductions, and then it will give you nothing to walk away with. It is a purely reflexive experience: this book connects to nothing in the world and is yet a world unto itself, a maze that can only be appreciated by getting through it.

maze of death is by far one of the most darkest of stories i've every read, a tale about the desperation of man clouding up the truth of his unavoidable fate in order to reestablish hope and meaning in his life to continue on, and reading this story you are confronted with the morbidly tragic life style that is the result, simulated in this story as a maze of frustration, anger, and paranoia that the main charactors in this story most go through, with no hopes of deliverance from this maze once they have reached the end, but instead being confronted with the revelation of that truth that they are so desperately but subconsciously trying to avoid....

maze of death is by far one of the most darkest of stories i've every read, a tale about the desperation of man clouding up the truth of his unavoidable fate in order to reestablish hope and meaning in his life to continue on, and reading this story you are confronted with the morbidly tragic life style that is the result, simulated in this story as a maze of frustration, anger, and paranoia that the main charactors in this story most go through, with no hopes of deliverance from this maze once they have reached the end, but instead being confronted with the revelation of that truth that they are so desperately but subconsciously trying to avoid....

Philip K. Dick is best known for being the mind behind the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", better known to most as the cult sci-fi film "Blade Runner". Dick is a master of expressing paranoia and delusion, frequently within a science fiction setting, although it is the ideas that take center stage, rather than the "science" of it all. In a Philip K. Dick novel, things are never what they appear to be at first glance.

"A Maze of Death" fits right in with other Dick novels I've read, and as usual his explorations of paranoid thinking take center stage. As the back cover synopsis suggests, the characters here find themselves on the strange planet of Delmak-O, brought together through means not of their own choosing. While on the oddly deserted world, they find themselves packed together in a semi-modern encampment, surroundings not unlike what the characters in John Carpenter's "The Thing" lived in. Fact is, the plot follows in much the same way as "The Thing"; these people are being killed left and right, and nobody is beyond suspicion.

Another element Dick introduces here are far-future ideas concerning God and theology. Imagine taking some of the far-out ideas in today's theological studies, yet implementing those ideas as PART OF accepted beliefs in God. The Bible re-written, essentially... right down to the names of the divine characters involved. Combining this with firm evidence that the divine walk among us, the idea that prayers are answered on a frequent basis, and you have the basis for a LOT of interesting twists and turns, particularly when it's in the capable hands of Dick.

As the story progresses, however, this novel does not deliver what it promises. I had a hard time picturing Dick's ideas, which is unusual in my experience with him. This story seemed rushed a bit, and the theological ideas could have (and should have) been fleshed more thoroughly. Dick's skills with paranoid minds within a situation ripe with paranoia are well done, but compared to his other novels, this one is very flat and by-the-numbers. The proverbial rug is pulled out from under the reader near the end of "A Maze of Death", and I enjoyed that payoff quite a bit... but the abrupt changes in the plot leave earlier plot devices unsolved. I am giving this novel 3- stars, which I've translated to 3 for Amazon reviewing purposes. I didn't want to round "up", since in this case I won't recommend this novel to the novice Dick reader. Get "A Scanner Darkly" instead if you're new to the author.

Oh, and one more thing: to those reviewers who have decided to review this book from the perspective of the characters at the END of the novel, shame on you. Please, in future, refrain from RUINING the surprise endings of a book! How you can justify starting your review by giving away what's "really" going on in "A Maze of Death" goes beyond "spoiler" in my book. Shame on you!

_Maze of Death_ is among my very favorite Philip K. Dick novels. Entertaining, surprising, disturbing, and often profound in a truly literary sense, this book is perfect for garden variety sci-fi junkies as well as more refined literary snobs. Like all of Dick's works, _Maze of Death_ is simultaneously futuristic and down-to-earth in a realistic, believable sense. I can't tell you much more without giving away all the surprises, but suffice it to say that this is a must-read classic of American literature.

Realistic characters (all human this time), genuine suspense, a strange and oddly familiar view of religion and a really well handled twist at the end - for those reasons A Maze of Death is one of my favorite Philip K. Dick novels. It's a short book, but packs in a lot of insight about perceptions, the shifting nature of reality (of course), human interactions, paranoia and hopeless cases. I notice that the tone here is more dismal than Philip K. Dick usually offers, but (as always with his stories) reading it is an eye-opening and memorable experience.

While many authors have expanded on themes in this story, written in 1970, I don't think that anyone's improved on his presentation of them. Read it with your mind open to all possibilities.

I drew on to PKD from his reputation. After reading a few of his works with bemused admiration, this was the first of his books I really enjoyed.

SPOILERS

A Maze of Death is genuinely readable; most PKD is a little shoddily put together, but this one is perfect. It is a wonderful allegory of loss of faith in God. These people create a world with a virtual reality machine. A world where God exists. The trouble is, when they get out, they can't face reality any more... This is indicative of Dick's own religious confusion at the time - this was prior to his "revelation" of 1974. I can sympathise with him.

This is definitely in my top ten list of PKD's best. Here's the basic storyline: An odd group of people find themselves on a planet called Delmak-O. Just as they're about find out what they're there for, the satellite that's supposed to tell them does something strange, leaving them in the dark. Now, clueless as to their reason for being here, they try and find a way to regain communication. But then something else happens. Slowly, they start dying off, and no one knows who is killing who. It sorta reminded me of the movie CLUE. At first you might think that this is just a murder-mystery in space. WRONG. The ending was EXTREMELY unpredictable, but EXTREMELY brilliant. This story could only have come from one of SF's masters, PKD. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but his character development is good enough that you can tell who's who most of the time. I can't believe that this book didn't win an award or something, it's really great. If you find it, read it and enjoy!