I’m going to get up off my ass and walk across the room I’m in to pick up Lawrence Sutin’s 1989 biography of PKD, Divine Invasions and crib from the “Chronological Survey and Guide” at its end. But wait, that’s not the plot, that’s like, theme, which is just a way of condensing the plot. (And, like, how does consciousness mediate the ultimate promise of a life-maze that leads to Death, the apparent undoing of consciousness?). What is A Maze of Death about? I mean, that’s what a book review is supposed to do, maybe? Give up some of the plot, the gist, right? The short short answer is Death. Hell, Ubik probably peters out too, but it’s funnier and sharper. Still: A Maze of Death delivers a strong conclusion, a thesis statement that will resonate with anyone who’s ever envied a machine’s “Off” switch.īut book reviews aren’t supposed to start with endings, right? Too, A Maze of Death suffers perhaps in comparison to its twin, Dick’s bouncier 1969 ensemble satire Ubik. Or perhaps it was only an allegory assembled for its author’s sad delight. The thin allegory he’s patched together crumbles. Sad because I didn’t quite expect (hence that adverb unexpectedly) Dick to stick any kind of ending, what, after nearly 200 pages of cardboard characters wandering through a pulp fiction death maze, ventriloquized by the author to perform monologues on consciousness and perception and reality and religion and prayer and faith and afterlife and salvation and so on and so on and so on.Ī Maze of Death has some strong moments and strong images-one-way space shuttles, organic 3-D printers, riffs on a deity that would necessarily absorb the concept of a non-deity, a cosmic recapitulation of Odin, space sex, etc.-but on the whole A Maze of Death peters out towards the end, its energy sapped as Dick tires of revolving through (and killing off) the cast of characters (and consciousnesses) he’s assembled in his Haunted (Space) House. It’s a sad end, profoundly sad in some ways, and the unexpectedness of the sadness, is, like, particularly sad. The end made me tear up a little, unexpectedly. Dick’s 1970 novel A Maze of Death this afternoon. Light Blue then reappears and says "This isn't over" and declares revenge, setting the tone for the NEW Stick Death Maze Series.I finished Philip K. Brown then proceeds to the victory square, but before he goes he says "I'm sorry Yellow" and then leaves. However, Brown gets up and then uses the block Light Blue threw at them to knock Light Blue off the balcony, causing him to fall to his apparent death. Yellow and Brown face off against him, and, after a short fight, Light Blue celebrates his supposed victory. In this maze, Light Blue appears to have become nicer until the very end of the maze, where he possesses the boss and declares he will win the maze himself and effectively eliminate the competition. Light Blue ends up winning because of this.Įath Maze 10.5, the winners from 5-10 compete to win once again. In this maze, a revived Navy Blue attempts to kill the sticks again, but dies, and Light Blue is revealed to kill other sticks for his own benefit to win. In Maze 5, the winners of the first four mazes compete against each other to win. In these mazes, the outlines of the mazes are generally harder than the first 5 mazes, so they pose more of a challenge. Again they face a boss at the end and only 1 color wins the maze. In Stick Death Mazes 6 through 10, more colors are introduced and compete to win. The reason for this will be revealed in the NEW Stick Death Maze Series.
For example, Light Blue competes in Stick Death Maze 1 and wins, but he later appears in Stick Death Mazes 2 and 3. Over the course of the mazes, small evidence of plot show themselves. After the first four winners have won the first four mazes, all of them compete again in Stick Death Maze 5 and then again in Stick Death Maze 10.5. Throughout these mazes, many of the colors die, but later return to compete again. In the first 4 stick death mazes, the first of all the colors are introduced. Throughout all the Stick Death Mazes, there is only 1 winner, but this changed with the NEW Stick Death Maze Series.
The survivors of each maze generally have to face a boss, or the guardian of that maze, with the exception of Stick Death Maze 1.
Within the Stick Death Maze Series, various colors of sticks compete to reach the end.
Stick death maze series#
The Stick Death Maze Series began on Mawith the release of Stick Death Maze 1 - Levers, and ended on Decemwith Stick Death Maze 10.5 - Terminal. The Stick Death Maze Series is the common term used to describe the first series of mazes created by phantomisle on Youtube.
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