2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

Please make sure to mark your spoilers by typing [spoiler] at the start and [/spoiler] at the end but replacing the [] with <>.

A lot of time spent at airports and in flights helped my reading time! I finished the book and have to say I liked it, which was a surprise as I did not understand anything about this story at the start and had to switch from english to french to give the book some chances. (view spoiler)[ In my opinion, this is a book about empathy and how robots, even if they look like us and have some biological parts, can not develop empathy and as such can never be like us and worst, can be dangerous to human. They have to be destroyed because of that. This premises is quite interesting in a place and time, where we are talking about AI and the impact it can have on human population. (hide spoiler)] I will certainly read book 2. And this books made me think, I should reread Asimov books about robots.

Try to see the original film. Whenever I am asked if a film is ever better than the book, my immediate answer is always Blade Runner. Don’t be put off by the idea that it is an ‘action movie ‘ because it is much more than that. It basically takes the themes from the book, especially empathy, and develops them.

Valerie wrote: "Try to see the original film. Whenever I am asked if a film is ever better than the book, my immediate answer is always Blade Runner. Don’t be put off by the idea that it is an ‘action movie ‘ beca..."

I will follow your advice and see the movie when I get back home. Will let the group know what I think of it.

Lorraine wrote: "...I will certainly read book 2...."

It's worth mentioning that the "second book" - along with a third and fourth book - is written by a different author, K.W. Jeter. These books were authorized by Philip K. Dick's estate after the Blade Runner film enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1990s due to the publication of a Director's Cut version that restored some cut scenes and stripped out the narration that had been added to the original version. So, no real need to read the sequels unless you really want to.

Should you enjoy the Blade Runner movie, you might also enjoy the sequel film Blade Runner 2049 - both an homage to and a continuation of the first film, which is typically listed as one of the great Science-Fiction films of all time. The sequel was not directed by Ridley Scott who directed the first film (as well as "Alien," another all time great Science-Fiction film) but instead by Denis Villanueve who also directed Sicario, Arrival, and the new 2-part Dune movie.

By the way, the film name "Blade Runner" never appears in the original novel. It is taken from The Blade Runner by Alan E. Nourse, a completely unrelated Science Fiction novel whose rights were purchased by the filmmakers just so they could use the name.

Valerie wrote: "...Whenever I am asked if a film is ever better than the book, my immediate answer is always Blade Runner...It basically takes the themes from the book, especially empathy, and develops them."

This is very true and I agree completely. Although the novel touches on the existential theme of what it means to be human, the film does a much better job exploring this idea.

I finished the book today and although I was often confused throughout, I really liked it. Both the themes as far as I understood them, and the writing style were very well done, and I’m glad I read this scifi classic finally.
I never saw Blade Runner but I definitely want to see it now and see how the story translates to the screen, although I’m expecting some changes too of course.