The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester Book Review

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"The Stars My Destination"
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Review Summaries

"By the 25th century, three inner planets of the Solar System and eight satellites farther out are inhabited, and many humans are able to teleport themselves some distance across a planet (though not across space) simply through mental effort. Gulliver ("Gully") Foyle was a simple mechanic aboard a space ship that was attacked by an Outer Satellites raiding party and left a bombed-out hulk. Barely alive, he hailed a passing space ship but it ignored him, and in his rage he vowed to destroy it and its crew when he got back to civilization. But there was more aboard his own craft than just himself and his dead crewmates, much more, and various powerful interests become interested in his fate, as he educates, strengthens, and trains himself for his mighty revenge. Bester's second science fiction novel, published in 1956, is one of the great classics which inspired scores of other writers and tales. Bursting with ideas, any handful of which could have filled dozens of short stories or other novels (consider porn that consists of Christian content because religion has been outlawed; the Vegetative Lynch Law, which makes it a capital offense to harm any plants vital to the transformation of Mars' atmosphere from CO-2 to 0-2; the Disease Collectors who get off on the sensation of suffering illegal illnesses -- just a few of the ideas that whiz by without any further development), it nevertheless has not aged quite as well as _The Demolished Man_ and reads a bit choppy and episodic today. A landmark work, in any case."
David Loftus, Resident Alfred Bester Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 40%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - cynical or dry-wit
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - accused criminal
Age: - 20's-30's
Has magical/special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character: - teleportation
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Water - Mountains - Space, need spacesuit - Domed/Underground City - Asteroid
Which planet? - Mars - Asteroids
Earth setting: - distant future
Spaceship setting: - a space station - futuristic human freighter/transport
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a moderate amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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