Metaphorosis Reviews
2.5 stars

I've noted before that I encountered Philip Jose Farmer via Riverworld, which I thought was (mostly) a great feat of imagination. When the opportunity arose, I acquired a lot of Farmer novels. I started reading them with the World of Tiers series I'd heard of years before. I was sorely disappointed - all of Riverworld's flaws were greatly exaggerated, and new ones added.

Dayworld is a point midway between the two. Farmer gets carried away and self-indulgent (especially on sex and pop-culture), but the story and character are interesting enough to carry through. It's all a little easy, but to his credit, while the premise is thin, Farmer has thought through some of the mechanics. At the same time, he's trying to throw too much into the story - stasis, division into day worlds, immers, and a multiple personality issue which seems to develop as the story progresses (in the sense that he made it up as he went along). It's a decent book that might have been a good one with a firm editorial hand. The book doesn't end in any satisfying way, so it's not a functional standalone novel other than as an exploration of the concept - but not in terms of narrative arc or character development.

It was a mistake to request all of these PHF books at once because reading them all together recalls how old they are and how tastes have changed. These books were revolutionary and fun at the time but they have been so widely imitated that they have lost their specialness. This is too bad because really, PHF sampled a little bit at a time can be quite a treat.

I received a review copy of this and five other volumes of the works of Philip José Farmer through NetGalley.com.

Dayworld by Philip Jose' Farmer takes us into a future world where earth is so overcrowded that people only get to spend one day per week out of suspended automation. There are some, part of a secret society, like our protagonist who is part of every day, under a different guise and personality. The fun part of the book is watching him carry out his mission by navigating these days.

Having shared that summary, though I enjoy fantasy novels, more main stream science fiction does not usually interest me, and thus I did not care for this work as much as I do others from this author. I assume that I am in the minority, for the obvious reasons that this is not a genre that generally excites me. If you are like me, you might want to move along and try something else. If you love the genre than this might have more entertainment value to you than it did for me.

Rating: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

In Dayworld, human immortality had been unlocked. With an application of energy, humans can be "stoned," a process which suspends the animation of their cells, rendering them immune to damage or age. To accommodate the skyrocketing population of Earth, the government had instituted a time-sharing arrangement. Each person is un-stoned for one 24-hour period and allowed to live their life normally. At the end of the day, they return to their cylinders to be stoned again and someone else wakes up to take their place for the next day. This essentially allows one house or apartment to have seven different families living in it.

Of course, something like this has to be carefully monitored and organized at all times, which is handled by the government. Not everyone is happy with the government's oppressive hand in their lives and an underground of spies, rebels, and informants has developed. Jeff Caird, the protagonist is one of these, known as immers. He lives every day, juggling seven different personas, seven different lives in an effort to gather information for the immers. But when an immer goes rogue and starts daybreaking, Jeff and all his personas are in danger and it's a stop-and-go roller coaster of a chase.

I love this book. I'm a little embarrassed that I just found out that it isn't a new book (the Netgalley book appears to be a reissue/rebranding of the original), but that does help sort out my reaction. As I was reading Dayworld, I couldn't help but think of some of the original masters of science fiction and dystopian fiction: Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, E. E. Doc Smith. I was swept up in the world, integrated into the story so quickly that it was almost impossible to put it down again. Dayworld is fantastic. I am so glad they're reprinting it so it can catch the imaginations of another generation.

Not what I was expecting maybe? Dated maybe? Dunno, just didn't like it at DNF it at Chapter 3. No sense in continuing when I know I won't like it.

Dayworld by Philip Jose Farmer- In a far future dystopian world, there are too many people, so the government breaks up the population into days of the week. Each person is allowed one day of activity while the rest of the week they are put into a stasis or hibernation state called "stoned" and kept in isolation tanks. The main character, Jeff Caird, works for a rebel group within the government that wants to remove some of the harsh restrictions. He is a daybreaker. He violates the law by being awake every day to deliver messages and handle projects for the rebel "Immers". He also has to fabricate multiple personalities, friends, families, etc, to match each day he is awake. Adding the stress of his already dangerous job, this leads to mistakes, gaps and personality disorders, and soon government agents and even his rebel contacts are hunting him.
I think the concept is intriguing and Farmer sure seems game, and for about the first two-thirds of the book it was very entertaining, but the last part starts to bog down and I wasn't that fond of the ending. This is only the first book in a trilogy. If you like a fast paced interesting story, it's not bad and way better than most of the current crop. I still give it four stars for the most of the book. It's amazing!