The Stars My Destination

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Summary: Possibly the best sci-fi book ever written
Review: Okay, so this is a take-off of an Alexander Dumas classic, but so what -- it's a wonderful story about a guy stranded in outer space who figures out how to teleport himself out of danger and in doing so, changes the course of civilization. Just another day at the office, right? It's your basic sci-fi classic, and a wonderful novel to boot. I, for one, am glad that it is back in print

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Summary: Truly great story of obsession and awakening--SF classic!
Review: Now THIS book is so good that many writers and readers about a decade ago proclaimed this the best SF novel EVER, quite the hyperbolic praise and rather well earned. Bester was an ad man in the '50's who let his personal demons out by writing a little SF. This book has been redone into a graphic novel quite recently (about 1991). _The Stars My Destination_ is about a man who, after being shipwrecked and abandoned, awakens to become an elemental of rage and anger. It's got the Golden Age tone to the novel, and the typefaces and scenes that were so different then are a little more common now. It's a novel-long chase scene, essentially. Hey, you have the bucks somewhere. Sell plasma or something, but get a hold of this thing! Another cool novel of his is _The Demolished Man_, which is a science fiction novel _and_ a whodunit, posing the question "how does a murder get committed if everyone's a telepath"? Another great obsession-themed book.

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Summary: Another Jaunt for a Timeworthy Classic
Review: What incredible news for another generation of science fictionfans. Ever since I first read this novel, more than twenty-fiveyears ago, I have always included it in my own "Top 10" list. This is rich tale of revenge and redemption set in a well-sketched, complex future society, bouyed by enough semi-hard SF to mask [pun intended] plot origins in Dumas, "The Stars My Destination" is a catching page-turner for a captive afternoon's enjoyment. THIS is one science fiction novel that would be a great movie. Arnold, are you listening? The central figure, Gulliver Foyle, floats through his life on the bottom of his society's ladder, until, under duress, he exhibits a skill that transforms him, and his society. In the process, he loses himself, his freedom, his heart and his humanity, in an excruciating series of incidents and challenges, ultimately finding simple love and simple human bonds are the true steel of existence. And society's beauties/norms/conventions may in truth be ugly. As would be typical of almost all novels from this era, the future society lacks obvious modern touches, but, overall, this book will have aged well. The S-F, rockets/space travel, planetary colonies, and the like are merely stage dressing for a psychological adventure. But don't worry, this isn't a psychobabble baby story. We should hate and despise Foyle, yet but the tale's end we are cheering him on. Since, "feeling his pain," we undergo the same transformation, and the stars are truly our destination. Can I say enough? They don't make them like this anymore.

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Summary: Count of Monte Cristo at Warp Speed
Review: Alfred Bester wrote one breathtaking space opera that has haunted me since I first read it decades ago. Because I wasted my early life as a literature major, I cracked on to the connection to the Count of Monte Cristo instantly - but unlike a cover of a hit song, Bester takes the framework of the original and creates a completely new structure.

Very little science fiction feels fresh 20 years after it was written. This story is fresh now - could have been finished yesterday. If it has a weakness, it's that it reads so much like a high-budget screenplay - and for some bizarre reason, no one has brought it to the screen. I've read it an uncounted number of times, and it has infected my dreams with jaunting and glowing tattoed faces.

Best read late at night, when the energy of the sun has dropped to its lowest.

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Summary: Overrated Space Opera
Review: I was extremely disappointed in this book. It's at the top of many lists as the best science fiction book of all time; indeed, many critics applaud the "timeless" quality of the book and talk about the surprise ending.

To summarize the story: Gully Foyle is your everyman spaceman, a man without conviction, ambition, or substance. He could be a robot for the existence that he lives. (Bester's description here is excellent, fully illustrating a character that lives for the moment without ever having really lived.) He is left for dead in a hulk of a spacecraft by another ship. Surviving and escaping, he vows to have his revenge on everyone on that ship.


Yes, the story is interesting, the milieu interesting, the words captivating. But the other essential elements of what a timeless book should be are missing. The principal fault lies in the central character: Gully Foyle is not a sympathetic character by any means or measure despite the legitimacy of his quest. Instead of becoming more human through his ordeal, he become less human. He never learns or adapts until the very end.

Bester was a fine writer--"The Demolished Man" in my opinion is a much, much better book--but this book is really typical 1950s space opera, not much more. For a better revenge tale with the space opera trappings, try Jack Vance's Demon Princes series. That character is better drawn and more likeable despite his onerous task.


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Summary: One of the best Sci-Fi books Ever!
Review: "The Stars My Destination" (or its original and most suitable title "Tiger Tiger") is an incredible Sci-Fi novel. This is what the genre should really strive to do. It has everything from three-dimensional characters to well-crafted prose to insightful and intellectual ideas.

First, the character of Gully Foyle should go down in literary history - not just sci-fi annals. He's an incredible person who typifies the average Joe becoming extraordinary. I love how after having extensive tattooing removed from his face, his "tiger mask" becomes visible only when his emotions get the better of him. Moreover, he actually changes quite a bit throughout the course of the novel. Awesome!

Secondly, the prose is outstanding, and in a sci-fi novel, this is almost without precedent. The writing is clear, concrete and direct.

Finally, the book has enough ideas to make your head spin - like all really good Sci-Fi. I love the concept of the average person taking history and destiny into his/her own hands. Moreover, the ideas of mind teleportation and the doomsday substance are excellent as well if more expected in this genre. What's completely unexpected is how the plot is really a reworking of Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo." Not only that, but the simple notion of revenge, itself, is questioned and deciphered. Sure, the book's full of adventure, but if you don't want to think, you're only going to get half of what's going on.

In summary, if you like Sci-Fi at all or even if you don't - this is an incredible book. Read it. Now!


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Summary: I was blown away
Review: One of best protagonists ever. Ingenious plot: thrilling, vicious, and violent. The ultimate revenge story. I would have never guessed it was written in the cheesy 1950s. I'm going to read it again.

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Summary: Terra is my nation....
Review: Just a great book. It will seem a little odd because its written in something of an introspective style but just give it time to grow on you and you will not regret it.

Overall-One of those books that has LOTS of reread value.

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Summary: Absolutely Brilliant - cyber-punk written in the 1950's
Review: As Neil Gaiman explains in the introduction, you have to keep in mind, when reading this, that Alfred Bester was looking far forward from a long time ago (as science fiction goes). Some of his sociological predictions now seem rather unlikely, but there is much of our world today would have seemed unlikely in the 1950's. On the other hand, many of his technological and (para)psychological predictions are the same ones our contemporary science fiction continues to make.

I had heard of Alfred Bester from time to time for years before I finally got around to reading this book. Now that I have, I am planning to go out and get more of his books, starting with The Demolished Man. This tale of obsession and empowerment is compelling and provocative, and Gully Foyle the Everyman Anti-Hero is credible and memorable. My only complaint is that it was so short. I might just have to go read it again.

Rating:
Summary: What more can be said?
Review: If you want adventure, this book's for you. If you want character development, this book's for you. If you want mind-blowing creativity from a writer who will take you through a strange new science fiction society, this book's for you. If you want the literary allusions and metaphors, this book's for you. To me, the joy of the novel is the inventiveness of Bester's mind--who can forget the Martian colonists who seek to find enlightenment by severing their sensory cortex and becoming only memory?

Although rough in some areas--it was written in the 50s and isn't PC or even pleasant in some areas--this book basically invented the existential anti-hero for the science fiction age in the form of Gully Foyle. Bester picked the character of Gully from Camus' brain. But Bester doesn't leave Foyle wallowing in the pit of nihilism. Structured around the Count of Monte Christo, yet w/ a nastier protagonist, the story comes to be about more than revenge, but rebirth, or birth period. The novel begins in a dank, broken down ship reaking of death, and ends w/ new life, a new concept of life itself. Now that's a journey.