This book by Bester was first published in 1956 (and has been called one of the best sci-fi novels of the 1950's and seems perenially to be on everyone's top 100 lists ...) which I didn't realise until about halfway through the book. I was very surprised! This book seems to pre-empt, take into new directions and surpass some many of the themes and ideas in contemporary sci-fi that it is still remains as original today as it no doubt did in 1956.
Set against the backdrop of war against 'inner' and 'outer' planets this book truly has something for every sci-fi fan; teleportation (something that Bester deals with, for me, very intelligently. He doesn't simply say it exists he also demonstrates how society has and has had to change to deal with this), rockets, inter-planetary wars and spies, telepathy, a mysterious (and world-shatteringly) chemical substance, races against both time and enemies, improsement and escape and shady doctors in 'back-alley' surgeries to help with unwanted tatoos (... you'll have to read the book, I don't want to spoil it ...). The hero (if you can call him that) Gully Foyle is abondoned in space, his ship nearly destroyed by an enemy attack, when he sees another spaceship called the Vorga coming he thinks he is saved but when it flies by ignoring his signals his rage transforms him and drives him on to not only survive but to track down the ship and crew of Vorga with only one thing on his mind ... vengeance!
4 stars - a book I look forward to re-reading. ( )

Quite good. Much like _The Demolished Man_, the ending is bit a confusing as things get bogged down with typewrite poetry, spoken images and other cruft of the fifties avant garde, but the rest of it is just SO good, that you forgive the oddness at the end. ( )

Five star book right until the end. The last ten pages were, in my opinion, bad to the point of tainting everything that had come before. ( )

Pre09:
Characters: Love the lead. Others were meh.
Plot: Very very awesome. Borderlines on confusing, but pulls back enough to be enjoyable.
Style: Timeless Sci-Fi. Should be a hit for the ages. ( )

For one who doesn't go in much for science fiction, I found this book quite entertaining. Maybe because the well-worn tropes (as one other reviewer discussed) and memes were still new and fresh for me. I understand that this book was sort of a ground breaker for the genre, and that many of the concepts introduced here have been greatly expanded upon by other authors. I don't think that even Star Trek has caught up to the style of teleportation, or jaunting, described here. ( )