The Stars My Destination

by Alfred Bester, Alfred Bester

Paperback, 236 pages

English language

Published June 30, 2011 by iPicturebooks.

ISBN:: 978-1-876963-46-0

(17 reviews)

In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hitmen—and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive.

The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.

18 editions

Allen Shull reviewed The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

As Operatic as Space Opera Gets

4 stars

Content warning CW: Spoilers, Violence

Undeniable to see why this book is a classic. At the same time, it is problematic as all get out. The main character is terrible; at least, Bester seems to be saying, he knows he’s horrible. You’ll see people comparing this to The Count of Monte Cristo—but does that main character commit rape in the first 30 pages, and then halfway through kidnap his victim in order to force her to obey him? Everyone in this story is utterly out for revenge.

And yet, the imagery and the invention is so particular. The grandeur of scenes is arresting. There is pure spectacle—not mere garishness but also interesting and strange and fascinating images. There’s so much going on in the occasional details. A man builds train tracks to make a grand entrance. A street hustler sells photos of Christians offering illegal prayers. A space colony of stoics is kept in shelves like sardines. A woman who is blind to the visual spectrum but sees above and below it delights in the flashes of an orbital bombardment. And of course I’m not even mentioning the ending. I’ll say this: I don’t know how this book works as an ebook, strictly because of the typesetting.

Is it worth it? Dostoevsky can show terrible people doing terrible things with a good message to the reader; just because the main character is a monster does not mean the main character is a hero. We do not want to identify with Gully Foyle, and we readers can tell that everyone who judges him is right. But still, I just don’t know.

4thace reviewed The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Review of 'The Stars My Destination' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Here is a book with a violent, dangerous protagonist at its heart. It took me nearly the entire book before I could find Gully Foyle in some way sympathetic, through a wild assortment of adventures with cliffhanger escapes exchanging zinging dialogue with supporting characters who mostly make their own impression on the reader even in the face of Foyle's furious drive. He does some monstrous things along the way which anyone would find hard to forgive, and yet by the end, where the survival of Earth comes to the fore and he makes an ethical choice from a place of unequaled power I found I have to feel a little admiration for what he's become. There is a payoff on the book's (American) title there too which felt fresh and audacious to me.

After over sixty years, there are bound to be a few passages which jar, but I thought …

bluedepth reviewed The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Review of 'The Stars My Destination' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Quite a horrible and repellent nasty piece of work. I hate read it to the end. The characters are worthless, the men are jokes and the women are the punchlines.

I poured myself a glass of fine whiskey, and as I savored my drink I ran my finger over the delete button. Then when I was done, I toasted all the awards this repulsive book received and with a shout of released agony I gave one single tap to the delete button.

If I had a real copy, I would have doused it in gasoline and set it on fire.

I pray to God that I never have to endure anything this awful again.