The Divine Invasion
by Philip K. Dick · first published 1981
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Late-career Philip K. Dick novel ranked among his stronger later works, with a focused story and the philosophical and religious themes of the VALIS period; often suggested to readers who already know his work.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2172513W/The_divine_invasion
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…In Space. Still very good stuff, but I think you need to be already well acquainted with PKD to fully appreciate them and see how his style and ideas were developing. - The Valis Tri/Tetralogy (Valis/Divine Invasion/Radio Free Albemuth/The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). That's where you start to get deep into PKD lore, and you should read about his life to get the context in which they were written. - Most of…
on “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)” ↗…a lot of PKD, though not everything. My top three picks would be: 1 - Ubik 2 - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 3 - Martian Time Slip Honorable mentions: 4 - A Maze of Death 5 - Divine Invasion (the 2nd of the VALIS trilogy) 6 - Eye in the Sky Of his short stories, I'd recommend "Beyond Lies the Wub" and "Roog". Regarding movies influenced by his work: The original "Blade Runner" movie…
on “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)” ↗…Scanner Darkly", but far behind "Ubik", "The Three Stigmata", and "Martian Time Slip"; and even behind some other lesser works like "Maze of Death" and "Eye in the Sky". Of the "VALIS" trilogy, I enjoyed "Divine Invasion" much more. I did enjoy "DADoES", but just found it to pale in comparison to the movie and to Dick's best works. Dick's evocation of compassion for animals in that novel was quite compelling. Compassion…
on “Sci-Fi Novels You Should Read” ↗…rest of his life trying to understand. It has some great moments, but it doesn't hold together terribly well as a story. I much prefer more focused stories like Scanner Darkly, Flow My Tears, or even Divine Invasion. Supposedly Dick's experience conceived three published novels--Valis, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and Divine invasion. There is a fourth, unpublished novel--Radio Free Albemuth that came…
on “The Essential Philip K. Dick” ↗…don't really understand why people call it "the third novel in the VALIS" trilogy. It explores some of the same philosophical and religious themes, but has no connection otherwise. The "second book", The Divine Invasion, feels closer to VALIS (and it's pretty good, I'd recommend it!), especially because of the gnostic themes. But even that is distinctly different. VALIS honestly stands entirely on its own. PKD never…
on “The “baseline” scene in bladerunner 2049 was written by Ryan Gosling” ↗…about this author, but this reads to me a lot like late Philip K Dick but without the "what is real" element. After his religious event in 1974, he wrote some real bangers - A Scanner Darkly, Valis, The Divine Invasion - alongside his religious exegesis. This feels a bit like an alternate timeline where PKD saw even more drugs as the way to chase this feeling, but somehow came out the other side.
on “The seam through the center of things” ↗…(usually) interesting is coming. The only PKD I've read that I've actively disliked was Timothy Archer which is comparatively tame, and nothing really comes of it compared to VALIS or Three Stigmata or Divine Invasion for example. I've had other authors recommended based on this, but none of them really grip me the way they do. :( Maybe I just need to stick with it, like the author says - it eventually gets good.…
on “Every novel is boring until it isn't” ↗…personally rate it higher than the Three Stigmata. For me, Ubik is PKD's greatest and most accessible book. 1st rank - Ubik, The Three Stigmata, A Martian Time Slip, Faith of Our Fathers 2nd rank - (The Divine Invasion or The Galactic Pot Healer ... don't remember which now... it's been a long time), A Maze of Death 3rd rank - VALIS, Eye in the Sky Honorable mention: the middle of Lies, Inc -- it has a weak start…
on “How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, Philip K. Dick” ↗…the wrong mood that time. The other first-tier PKD book for me is Martian Time-Slip. Second-tier PKD books for me are VALIS and Galactic Pot Healer. Third-tier are Maze of Death, Eye in the Sky, and Divine Invasion (the 2nd in the VALIS trilogy.. didn't like the 3rd in the series, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer at all). Many of his other books, like Lies, Inc, also have great parts in them, but are kind of…
on “Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans (1975)” ↗Philip K Dick - VALIS, Divine Invasion and (next) Transmigration of Timothy Archer.
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗if we’re into this, Valis, The Divine Invasion, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, A Maze Of Death, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch are all facets of the same diamomd. IMHO, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is by far the best PKD…
on “How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, Philip K. Dick” ↗…Scanner Darkly * VALIS (but probably not until you've read some of his others, and also read a bit about his life, because it's pseudo-autobiographical) I just finished reading a biography of him called "Divine Invasions" (not to be confused with his book "The Divine Invasion", which is roughly a sequel to VALIS), which I recommend as well. PKD was an utterly brilliant, fascinating, and sadly broken man.
on “The “baseline” scene in bladerunner 2049 was written by Ryan Gosling” ↗Yeah, I wonder if whoever wrote the script confused Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? with Divine Invasion and added Christian motives from there :)
on “Philip K. Dick: Stanisław Lem Is a Communist Committee (2015)” ↗…the publisher/editor: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Dr. Bloodmoney The Simulacrum Ubik We Can Build You Martian Time-Slip The Transmigration of Timothy Archer The Divine Invasion A Maze of Death Counterclock World Radio Free Albemuth Solar Lottery The Zap Gun [1] The World Jones Made Among his notable works, the only titles PKD came up with were The Man…
on “Philip K. Dick: Stanisław Lem Is a Communist Committee (2015)” ↗