Rating: 
Summary: As usuall ,totally original ,and brilliant.
Review: 22 century ,Man evolved into the "unusuals" ,which posses psi powers ,and "new man" with I.Q's that go off the scale. Regular people are called "old man" ,and although 90% of the populance ,they are being ruled by two political factions of the "new man" and the "unusuals". A fine work from the master. the book has a sense of tension to it ,like you know something's going to explode. The human society is pictured in the clear ,grim ,even psychodelic colors of P.K.D.Although not one of his hit masterworks ,"Our friends from frolix 8" has one of the most vivid and interesting future societies ,that P.K.D wrote. Very recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated gem!
Review: Another fine work from my favorite guy that's got great action, pacing and, above all, characterizations. The people in this story were very real to me and the society in which they live seemed very plausible. The meandering and intersection of the characters' fates is set against an impending climax that we know is coming from the beginning of the story and when it arrives, it's thrilling and very moving. I loved this one.
Rating: 
Summary: PKD was really striving with this one
Review: as another reviewer pointed out, the 'feel' of this novel resembles that of Philip K. Dick's masterpiece The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch - the collapsing 'idios kosmos' is mentioned here, along with recurring Yeats poetry, God, precogs, telepaths, expatriate saviors, alien encounters, and new societal paradigms . . . despite its various plot holes, caricatured protagonists and 'inconclusive' conclusion, this is a worthwhile 1967-1970 era PKD novel to read after Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Ubik (another 'collapsing reality' opus), Galactic Pot-Healer, and A Maze Of Death (the latter two also explore this one's philosophical-mystic/'nature of God' tack).
Rating: 
Summary: Less Weird Than Most of PKD
Review: In a way this book seems quite different from the other Phillip K. Dick books I have read. Most of his books start with a plot you can (mostly) follow, but, as the story goes on, it gets weirder and weirder. With most of his other books, I am usually left scratching my head, trying to figure out what was going on in the last quarter or so of the book. With "Friends from Frolix 8," however, PKD seems to have made an exception -- his customary, incomprehensible weirdness doesn't get started until the very last several pages, and even then you can still figure out what's going on! The story is set in earth's future. The world government is divided between two types of superior human beings: the new men and the unusuals. Each type runs a political party, and the world electorate alternates between the two for government office. Exams determine who can receive the good civil service jobs. In reality, though, the elections and tests are pretty much rigged. The new men and the unusuals have divided up power and rule the world as overlords. The normal people (old men) live subservient lives under the control of the powers that be. Nick Appleton, our hero, is a tire regroover. He (dishonestly, if not illegally) regrooves worn-out tires to make them appear still usable. His son has once again failed the civil service exam, and Thors Provoni, a famed, almost legendary, revolutionary has sent word from many light years away that he is returning with alien friends to end the tyranny. While this book does contain many good ideas, some suspense and a few interesting twists, something about it just did not work for me. The characters were probably the main source of the problem. For example, PKD's main female character, Charlie, almost seemed like a caricature, and Nick's wife and child all but vanish halfway through the book for no discernable reason. In one of PKD's other books this may not have mattered, but as this book did not flirt with madness, it's easier to see such character problems. For what it's worth, I did enjoy this book. If "Friends from Frolix 8" sounds interesting to you, by all means read it! It is certainly enjoyable. You should also be sure to read PKD's other and better books, such as "The Man from High Tower" or "Martian Time Slip."
Rating:
Summary: Less Weird Than Most of PKD
Review: In a way this book seems quite different from the other Phillip K. Dick books I have read. Most of his books start with a plot you can (mostly) follow, but, as the story goes on, it gets weirder and weirder. With most of his other books, I am usually left scratching my head, trying to figure out what was going on in the last quarter or so of the book. With "Friends from Frolix 8," however, PKD seems to have made an exception -- his customary, incomprehensible weirdness doesn't get started until the very last several pages, and even then you can still figure out what's going on! The story is set in earth's future. The world government is divided between two types of superior human beings: the new men and the unusuals. Each type runs a political party, and the world electorate alternates between the two for government office. Exams determine who can receive the good civil service jobs. In reality, though, the elections and tests are pretty much rigged. The new men and the unusuals have divided up power and rule the world as overlords. The normal people (old men) live subservient lives under the control of the powers that be. Nick Appleton, our hero, is a tire regroover. He (dishonestly, if not illegally) regrooves worn-out tires to make them appear still usable. His son has once again failed the civil service exam, and Thors Provoni, a famed, almost legendary, revolutionary has sent word from many light years away that he is returning with alien friends to end the tyranny. While this book does contain many good ideas, some suspense and a few interesting twists, something about it just did not work for me. The characters were probably the main source of the problem. For example, PKD's main female character, Charlie, almost seemed like a caricature, and Nick's wife and child all but vanish halfway through the book for no discernable reason. In one of PKD's other books this may not have mattered, but as this book did not flirt with madness, it's easier to see such character problems. For what it's worth, I did enjoy this book. If "Friends from Frolix 8" sounds interesting to you, by all means read it! It is certainly enjoyable. You should also be sure to read PKD's other and better books, such as "The Man from High Tower" or "Martian Time Slip."
Rating:
Summary: PKD was really striving with this one
Review: In my continuing effort to read all of Dick's work, I picked up the finally-reprinted Our Friends from Frolix 8 this week. What a disappointment! I really like Dick's writing, and I have even enjoyed some of his less than stellar novels, like The Zap Gun or Clans of the Alphane Moon. This one, though, just doesn't do much for me. It's got a decent premise and some decent (but predictably Dickian) characters, but it just doesn't pull it all together and produce. The climax was too long in coming and, once it came, was a let down. For the most part, I'm just glad to have finished it.
Rating: 
Summary: Lousy (But Still PKD)
Review: In my continuing effort to read all of Dick's work, I picked up the finally-reprinted Our Friends from Frolix 8 this week. What a disappointment! I really like Dick's writing, and I have even enjoyed some of his less than stellar novels, like The Zap Gun or Clans of the Alphane Moon. This one, though, just doesn't do much for me. It's got a decent premise and some decent (but predictably Dickian) characters, but it just doesn't pull it all together and produce. The climax was too long in coming and, once it came, was a let down. For the most part, I'm just glad to have finished it.
Rating:
Summary: PKD sparkles even in minor works
Review: In the body of PKD's works this is not a masterpiece, but neither is it insignificant. My review is based on rereading the Ace book edition of 1970, a paperback plagued by misprints. Mostly these don't matter but I struggle to make any sense of the third paragraph of page 140 - perhaps someone else can resolve it for me. I was also a bit confused about New Men - sometimes they seemed to be marked by huge heads, but at other times their identity as New Men was obscure as in the case of Thors Provoni, the returning astronaut bringing, well, was it God - our friend from Frolix 8. But then another character (it had to be Nick) was involved in this dialogue:
'God is dead,' Nick said. 'They found his carcass in 2019. Floating out in space near Alpha.'
'They found the remains of an organism advanced several thousand times over what we are,' Charley said. 'And it evidently could create habitable worlds and populate them with living organisms, derived from itself. But that doesn't prove it was God.'
'I think it was God.' Of course Thors is the name of a god, albeit a Norse one and he is supposed to be bringing salvation for Old Men (and Under Men, the underground resistance) against New Men and Unusuals. But nothing is simple in the worlds of PKD. The ending is magical as characters entwine in unexpected interactions, the last few pages seem to go on forever - there is so much potential and I kept wondering how can I be so close to the end of the novel - so much could still happen, and what does happen is so unexpected - like Beethoven introducing a new theme to the last movement of the fifth just before the symphony ends - opening further possibilities. Of course, just like life, things are rarely resolved and even if one thread of life does resolve, it can only do so in the presence of an infinite variety of other ongoing threads.
Rating:
Summary: PKD sparkles even in minor works
Review: In the body of PKD's works this is not a masterpiece, but neither is it insignificant. My review is based on rereading the Ace book edition of 1970, a paperback plagued by misprints. Mostly these don't matter but I struggle to make any sense of the third paragraph of page 140 - perhaps someone else can resolve it for me. I was also a bit confused about New Men - sometimes they seemed to be marked by huge heads, but at other times their identity as New Men was obscure as in the case of Thors Provoni, the returning astronaut bringing, well, was it God - our friend from Frolix 8. But then another character (it had to be Nick) was involved in this dialogue:
'God is dead,' Nick said. 'They found his carcass in 2019. Floating out in space near Alpha.'
'They found the remains of an organism advanced several thousand times over what we are,' Charley said. 'And it evidently could create habitable worlds and populate them with living organisms, derived from itself. But that doesn't prove it was God.'
'I think it was God.' Of course Thors is the name of a god, albeit a Norse one and he is supposed to be bringing salvation for Old Men (and Under Men, the underground resistance) against New Men and Unusuals. But nothing is simple in the worlds of PKD. The ending is magical as characters entwine in unexpected interactions, the last few pages seem to go on forever - there is so much potential and I kept wondering how can I be so close to the end of the novel - so much could still happen, and what does happen is so unexpected - like Beethoven introducing a new theme to the last movement of the fifth just before the symphony ends - opening further possibilities. Of course, just like life, things are rarely resolved and even if one thread of life does resolve, it can only do so in the presence of an infinite variety of other ongoing threads.
Rating:
Summary: underrated
Review: Ok, so Frolix 8 isn't PKD's best book, but it has been criminally ignored nonetheless. The frequent references to the Yeats poem are good, and the plot itself is reasonable. I realise that this was a 'need money, must produce' book but that doesn't mean it isn't a good read.
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