The Computer Connection

Rating:
Summary: incredibly underrated
Review: When this book first came out in 1975, it was Alfred Bester's first science fiction novel in twenty years. Bester's first sf novel (The Demolished Man) won the very first Hugo Award for best novel. His second (The Stars My Destination) is so dazzling it leaves TDM in the dust; it's considered by many (including me) to be the finest sf novel ever written, then or now. So you can only imagine the kind of anticipation that this novel generated. The buzz at the time was that it didn't "live up to the greatness of Bester's earlier work". I've even heard it referred to as "third-rate Bester". This is out-and-out balderdash (I'd use a stronger term, but then this review wouldn't get past the censors :-)). This novel doesn't compete with the earlier novels; it works on its own terms. It's the story of a society of immortals in a very bizarre future indeed, and their struggle against a computer which wants to take over the world. What impressed me most of all is that Bester's trademark "pyrotechnic" style hadn't been diluted at all in the twenty years since he wrote TSMD; if anything, this book is even more outlandish (a case in point: its characters speak a weird mishmash of languages of which twentieth century English, or "XX" as its known, is one of about ten). Bester's usual theme of man becoming superman is here again as well, but in a totally different setting. This story doesn't take itself as deadly seriously as TDM or TSMD, which may account for the lukewarm reception it received. Despite this, it's a thoroughly satisfying read that is miles ahead of most sf in terms of its imagination, its plot and its humanity.

Rating:
Summary: incredibly underrated
Review: When this book first came out in 1975, it was Alfred Bester's first science fiction novel in twenty years. Bester's first sf novel (The Demolished Man) won the very first Hugo Award for best novel. His second (The Stars My Destination) is so dazzling it leaves TDM in the dust; it's considered by many (including me) to be the finest sf novel ever written, then or now. So you can only imagine the kind of anticipation that this novel generated. The buzz at the time was that it didn't "live up to the greatness of Bester's earlier work". I've even heard it referred to as "third-rate Bester". This is out-and-out balderdash (I'd use a stronger term, but then this review wouldn't get past the censors :-)). This novel doesn't compete with the earlier novels; it works on its own terms. It's the story of a society of immortals in a very bizarre future indeed, and their struggle against a computer which wants to take over the world. What impressed me most of all is that Bester's trademark "pyrotechnic" style hadn't been diluted at all in the twenty years since he wrote TSMD; if anything, this book is even more outlandish (a case in point: its characters speak a weird mishmash of languages of which twentieth century English, or "XX" as its known, is one of about ten). Bester's usual theme of man becoming superman is here again as well, but in a totally different setting. This story doesn't take itself as deadly seriously as TDM or TSMD, which may account for the lukewarm reception it received. Despite this, it's a thoroughly satisfying read that is miles ahead of most sf in terms of its imagination, its plot and its humanity.