Rating: 
Summary: A Classic
Review: This is a fantastic novel. It truly is a page-turner. I've read a fair amount of science fiction in my 43 years, and this is one of the best.Although it was written in the 50's, there is absolutely nothing dated about it. It takes place in a far future, involves intrigues in a military-industrial complex fighting a Solar System-wide war, and yet is a very human story about the failings of men and women of any age. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely worthwhile
Review: This book appealed to me as soon as I picked it up and read the back--Occupation: None, Skills: None, etc. Boy, it did not let me down, this book is for real. Timeless, even though it was written long ago, and I can be very picky about little inconsistencies in old sci-fi books. I'm an avid reader of sci-fi, but this is a must-read for anyone who likes an adventure and great writing. One of the things that was great about the book was how the protagonist, Gully Foyle, is so unrelentingly true to his character throughout, despite all the changes he goes through and things he learns. "The Stars My Destination" or "Tiger, Tiger" is one of the most satisfying books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A Great American Novel
Review: Michael Moorcock called this the Great American Novel, with its extraordinary populist ending. This is a novel, among many other things, about the birth of real democracy! I absolutely hated science fiction until I read this. I still don't like most science fiction but this and THE DEMOLISHED MAN, plus perhaps a contemporary Pohl and Kornbluth or two, plus a bit of Ballard, Aldiss, Vonnegut and Moorcock, would be the core of any well-read person's library. The plot is The Count of Monte Christo, the characters, even at their nicest, are a pack of battling rats and the infamies and treacheries of tomorrow's Big Business don't seem a whole lot different to today's. A genuine classic. Read and be changed! TT Sisterhood.
Rating:
Summary: A CLASSIC of the genre!
Review: This is Bester's masterpiece. Read the first three pages and you will be hooked. Action and intrigue set against the backdrop of a colonized solar system. Published in the 1950's, this work not only stands the test of time, it reads like a contemporary novel. Bester's driving plot twists and turns as Gully Foyle seeks vengeance against the ship that left him floating in space.
Rating:
Summary: Jaunt out and get this book!
Review: As with other top-notch works of science fiction, "The Stars My Destination" is filled with insightful social commentary and psychological insight, is powerfully written, tremendously imaginative, audacious, exciting (I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3 hours), even very funny at times (i.e., the parody of scientific notation - "quant suff" for "sufficient quantity," the round-the-clock New Years' Eve parties and the amusing/pathetic spectacle of rich people desperately seeking a thrill!). All in all, an amazing feat by Alfred Bester, who wrote this book in the 1950s, wrote relatively little else, and died in 1987 a relative unknown outside sci-fi circles. In some ways, "The Stars My Destination" is a visionary work, including numerous science fiction elements that have become standard nowadays (in fact almost clichés) but weren't necessarily in the 1950s when this book was written. In fact, I would say that Bester was far ahead of his time in his views on the colonization of the solar system, conflict between Earth and her satellites, the rise in power of massive corporate conglomerates (and the relative shrinking power of the government and national sovereignty), the disruption of an entire economic/political system by a mutant with unusual powers/characteristics (Gulliver Foyle) and/or a rare yet absolutely critical physical substance (PyrE), androids and intelligent robots, issues of mind control, identity, and memory (echoed in works like "Total Recall" and "Blade Runner," among other sci-fi works). Despite the fact that it was written almost 50 years ago, "The Stars My Destination" remains relevant, original, and fresh today - quite and accomplishment for any author! Major themes of "The Stars My Destination" include: 1) the great power -- both potential and actual -- of our minds, and how in most people this power is sorely underutilized or misused; 2) the different ways of perceiving "reality," and the lengths that some - the very disturbing Skoptsky sect, for instance, which believes in living without any sensation whatsoever, and so has its members submit to an operation which severs their sensory nervous systems - will go to block it out; 3) the concept of "jaunting" - transporting ourselves over great distances (and even through space and time) by harnessing the power of our minds; 4) obsession/monomania; 5) various forms of repression (economic, psychological, social); 6) the "common" man vs. the "aristocracy," 7) issues of privacy, individuality, and freedom; and much more.... The bottom line is that there's a lot of "meat" -- satirical and otherwise -- here to sink your teeth into, besides the intrigue, mystery, and rip-roaring action! And what a great character Bester has created in Gulliver "Gully" Foyle ...definitely one of the most memorable in science fiction. In less than 200 pages, Gulliver (appropriate name, by the way, reminiscent of Swift's character who, among other things, travels to all kinds of strange destinations and sometimes seems to be a giant next those around him) evolves from a pathetically limited, passive, dull, miserable, wretched, almost sub-human lump of flesh at the beginning of the book to a smart, clever, complex, quasi-godlike creature by the end; from a psychologically "disconnected," violent sociopath consumed by anger and the desire for revenge (a theme borrowed from "The Count of Monte Cristo" and possibly "Moby Dick') into a psychologically complex, mature, resourceful human being with a conscience and evolved sense of ethics; from a nobody to (possibly) mankind's greatest hope for salvation. And, ultimately, Foyle is transformed from someone we look at with scorn and disgust to a heroic figure we admire and even find inspirational! The bottom line: this is one of the best science fiction books I have ever read, and I am just amazed how little known it (and its author) are, especially compared to far lesser works like "Stranger in a Strange Land," for instance (once again proving that life's not fair!). I'm also amazed that this book hasn't been made into a movie, although given how Hollywood usually screws things up, maybe we should all be grateful for that! :) Anyway, I'm glad that someone (a fellow Amazon.com'er -thanks) recommended this book to me, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to you!
Rating:
Summary: A CLASSIC, in the true sense of the word!
Review: Heck, what makes a 'classic'? Is it staying power? I first read THE STARS MY DESTINATION about 25 years ago. I couldn't believe it. And I wouldn't part with the book. I told all my friends about it, SF fans or not (probably converted a few in the offing). I used to talk about it, go to bed thinking about it and wake up right where I'd left. I dreamt about making a movie out of it - or at the least a 'Comix' book. I was totally, unashamedly, captivated. OK, that was quarter of a century ago. Time took its toll. The fascination eventually faded and I finally even managed to lose the book... familiarity breeds contempt. Oh, yeah? I re-read the book last week and was AWED afresh! So what's so special about this story? Well, to begin with, the story itself. It's, er, FRESH. Yes, after a half-century. You rarely get to read such an original expression of a tired old idea. Which one? Revenge, surely. Then there's the plot. It unwinds in the best tradition of the finest detective or spy stories. Parallels with Le Carre come easily to mind; but THE STARS can only be compared to THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD for sheer inventiveness. There's more: THE STARS is, amazingly, a Love Story. What? Oh yes, and a very good one, to boot. Superbly penned, too. Mr. Bester's staccato prose reminds one of Hemingway, but if need be it borders on poetry with deceptive ease. So what is this? An Oedipus tale, a murder mystery or Romeo and Juliet of the Stars? Surprisingly, all and none. It is an SF story from a Master who realizes that humans will still be human even when they will have conquered the Stars. Whim, disappointment, wrath, cunning, greed, hate and -yes- love will always be the mark of a man. Is this insight into Human nature then that makes this such an excellent read? Nah, methinks it's a Classic because it has succeeded in setting stardards other creations will have to match.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and creative
Review: Alfred Bester didn't write tons of books like some other authors, but what he did write was incredible. Both this book and "The Demolished Man" deserve a place in any sci fi library. One of the things I appreciate about Mr. Bester's books is how creative her is not only in content, but how he expresses that content in writing. The last few chapters of this book are brilliant. The main character is pretty disgusting. He's a rapist and a murderer, but Bester gets you on his side and it's fascinating to watch him grow as a person. In some ways this book is more a study in psychology than anything else. Fascinating!!
Rating:
Summary: Top sci-fi novella
Review: If I were to recommend one book to turn a lit snob into a sci-fi devotee, this would be it. It is the type of book one can recommend that allows complete confidence in the recommedee's being totally wowed. From the pell-mell plot to the intriguing characters to the protagonist's fascinating use of "gutter language", this is a story that will stay with the reader long after the final page is turned. Read it: and enjoy frequent re-redeadings thereafter.
Rating:
Summary: Hate science fiction? Try this.
Review: I was fortunate enough to read this novel at the age of 13--possibly the best age to read it. I was never the same afterward. I don't know what went on in the wild and wonderful mind of Alfred Bester, but there should have been more like him. This book is indescribable--a pyrotechnic, psychedelic comic book of a novel. I sometimes suspect the explosive wham-blam style of such movies as _The Terminator_ and the lesser-known _The Hidden_ were influenced by Bester's writings. Heck, for that matter, since this book was published, what science fiction _hasn't_ been influenced by it? The world in this novel is marvelously well-thought-out and realistic. And there's never been a hero (or is it anti-hero?) quite like Gully Foyle. It is quite obviously based on _The Count of Monte Cristo,_ and I suspect also _Moby Dick._ I sometimes wonder if it wasn't also based on an okay novel by Edgar Rice Burrough's called _The Mucker,_ which was about a brutal Gully Foyle-type character who
becomes educated and turns completely into a different, and better man. But no matter what _Stars_ is based upon, it is a classsic SF novel, and one that any reader of SF should be familiar with.
Rating:
Summary: Don¿t miss it.
Review: Sometimes you come across a book which leaves you gasping and defies description - it is the same with this book. If you can imagine David Lynch doing a space fantasy with Borges as the screenwriter, then you approach the world this book attempts to convey. Don't miss it.
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