The Cosmic Puppets

PKD is primarily known these days for his sci-fi. The Cosmic Puppets is probably his only attempt at a fantasy novel. One of his earlier and less well known works, the immaturity of the prose is definitely evident, but the wild ‘what if' ideas that characterize his best sci-fi works is absolutely present.

Here we are playing with the ideas of creation. The whole story steeped in heavy Zoroastrian imagery - the cosmic battle between light and dark - this time played out in a kind of urban fantasy setting. The idea of ‘what is real?' is something that PKD plays with a lot over the years. It is intriguing to see his early ideas on this front. The concepts have evolved into much more well fleshed out examples in his later works, but seeing how he has previously explored them is definitely interesting.

This is certainly not one of his best books. His prose is weak, the setting dated. However, seeing where some his more famous ideas started being developed is certainly fun for people who like his works.