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Rating:
Labyrinth of Death was written immediately after Ubik. Both novels are characterized by ingenious ideas, but the commonality stops there. They are both very dark novels, "Bad Trip" from beginning to end, with a compelling and hallucinatory psychedelia. But the comparisons can easily stop here.
Labyrinth of Death does not correspond to the first questions the author poses on the manipulation of reality, yet here too, he grants a depth that is rarely achieved on themes that will become very fashionable in the future both in literature and in science fiction cinema. A precursor and unparalleled master.
The plot is entropic, bleak, hopeless, punctuated by visionary flashes, psychedelic paragraphs inspired by the author's experience with LSD. It often spills into philosophical and theological digressions where you can find just about everything, making our knowledge of the universe blossom into something else. A new reality is created with a continuous matryoshka effect. Because Dick is a creator of universes, vivid and multifaceted realities that almost no other author would be able to create. A universe created by an extraordinary mind is the stage for a rather simple story that quickly degenerates due to entirely internal factors. It is the protagonists themselves who precipitate the situation, they are their own enemies. Paranoia is the true protagonist for most of the novel. Protagonist until everything shatters and claustrophobia takes over, making misfortune much more unsettling.
Finally, we find a hallucinating conclusion. An extreme and enigmatic overlapping of universes accompanied by a vigorous question with an elusive answer. Perhaps metaphorical. Also accusatory. Dick has a problem with someone. With us.
The vigorous question, however, would be: "What the hell did I just read?"
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