The novel “The Divine Invasion” by Philip K. Dick was published for the first time in 1981.

Emmanuel (Manny) Asher is virtually orphaned and “uncle” Elias Tate is the only one looking after him. His parents, Herb Asher and Rybys Romney, came from the colony of the planet CY30-CY30B but were involved in an accident that killed his mother and reduced his father into a coma before he was born. His delivery took place when she was already clinically dead.

At school, Manny meets Zina, a girl far too mature for her age who knows a lot about him. Everything is preparing for the final confrontation planned by Yah, the god banished from Earth who is trying to take back the world by defeating his opponent through Manny, his incarnation. To be able to do his work, hosever, Manny has to recover the memory lost following the accident.

Philip K. Dick wrote “The Divine Invasion” as a sequel to “VALIS“, so much that is considered the second novel in the Valis trilogy but the link between the two novels is little more than in the philosophical-religious theme. The VALIS system is mentioned in this second novel but it’s set in a quite far future so the characters are different. The initial part of “The Divine Invasion” is based on the short story “Chains of Air, Web of Aether”.

In its structure and in the way Philip K. Dick develops the themes, “The Divine Invasion” is also very different from “VALIS”. In the second novel the science fiction element is the basis of the story and not just secondary. The author builds a story based on an attempted invasion of Earth from space which is not planned by your usual alien but by God, who on the planet-CY30 CY30B is called Yah.

In essence, “Divine Invasion” tells a science fiction version of the second coming. Rybys, the new Mary, is a virgin but conceives Emmanuel and marries Herb, the new Joseph. Since this is a novel by Philip K. Dick things are inevitably more complex with a very personal development of the story’s themes.

Yah wants to invade the Earth because he was exiled from the planet after the fall of Masada. He must take revenge of Belial, who tries to kill Emmanuel before he’s born and almost does it so Manny suffers brain damage and has no memory of his identity. To help the child God sends Elias Tate, who is actually the prophet Elijah.

The plot of “The Divine Invasion” is made up of many theological discussions. Again Philip K. Dick mixes elements of different religions but in this novel draws especially from Judaism, including the Kabbala. To further complicate the story there is the experience of Herb Asher, who has lucid dreams while in cryonic suspension and parallel universes are included as well.

It’s certainly not surprising that a novel by Philip K. Dick is convoluted and “Divine Invasion” brings everything together in a relatively short story. On the other hand, in “VALIS” there was the creation of a cosmogony and a mystical / religious / existential research by the author himself while in the second novel there’s above all a search for God and his nature through the characters and in particular by Emmanuel himself.

Personally, I appreciated only in part “The Divine Invasion”. I liked “VALIS” especially because in the end the story was very focused on the author and I read his first novel (“Time Out of Joint” for the record) over thirty years ago so I was very curious about it. The second novel contains many religious speculations I wasn’t interested in very much and kept the pace of the story slow, though it still has a number of twists.

During his career, Philip K. Dick has often incorporated religious elements in his works but in the Valis trilogy they’re more central than ever. In “Divine Invasion” I found the religious element particularly heavy so I recommend it to the author’s fans and to people interested in religious discussions that are definitely unorthodox.