A second tier PKD novel involving a few of the his regulars: reality and unreality, time travel, drug use/abuse, etc. Enjoyable, but not one I'd recommend to newbies.
A slow first half - introducing the characters, the future Earth caught in a galactic war, the novel's magic drug - leads to a frenetic second half, whose manic energy reminded me of a Rick & Morty episode, or one of the Doctor Who episodes which tried to do too much in too little time: TIME TRAVEL! ALIENS! PARALLEL WORLDS! ALTERNATE SELVES! LET'S CHANGE HISTORY! MORE ALIENS! FUTURE SELVES!
As well as all the good fun pulpy sf stuff, there's reflections on middle age, relationships, and divorce. Clearly Dick was middle aged and going through one of his many divorces while writing this, and directed a lot of his bitterness into his women characters: there is more misogyny here than your average PKD novel. Part of the charm of PKD's work is that he relates the emotions he felt while writing it in a very raw way: you can feel the bitterness that made him write unpleasantly, you can feel his angst about getting older and fatter. As well as being a fun and silly SF novel, it is also about getting older, reflecting on your life so far, and living with your choices. It comes to a surprisingly affective ending.
