Read this first in 1980, again in 1985, and again in 2000. One of my favorites. ( )

I picked up this recommendation from the thread about science fiction novels to recommend to new readers of the genre; I'm hardly a new reader, but I am not widely read in it, I don't think, and I'd like to expand my horizons.

This was a good choice to do so: yes, it was written in the 1950s, and is somewhat dated in some small ways, but generally the story holds up exceedingly well. The main character, Gully Foyle, is a "dumb ox" at the beginning of the book, a worker on a space craft. He survives an accident that leaves everyone else on the ship dead; Gully lives for six months waiting for rescue. When a ship comes by and pauses after seeing his distress flares, then moves on without rescuing him, Gully becomes obsessed with the desire for revenge.

A central premise of the novel is that humans have learned to "jaunt," to travel instantaneously from one place to another. The process is limited in that a person needs to have a firm picture of the place he is going, and that about the furthest anyone is able to go is 1000 miles at a time. Bester explores some of the implications of this development on society, commerce, and crime; jaunting is an important factor in what happens in the novel.

The story moves along briskly and has a fair number of surprises along the way.

(2nd reading)

Gully Foyle of The Stars My Destination is a freak in a world of freaks. Like Paul Atreides (Dune) and Jack Remillard (Jack the Bodiless), Foyle has powers which make him the agent of evolutionary change for humanity.

This book rollicks along through the bizarre and sometimes brutal Solar System of the 25th century, following Gulliver Foyle on his vengeful and apocalyptic path. It's obvious that cyberpunk novels such as Neuromancer owe quite a debt to this book. Its language is fresh and clean, characters larger than life. Parts of it (Geoffrey Fourmyle's circus for example) also reminded me of Jack Vance's 'To Live Forever' (not sure which came first).

The only thing which didn't quite convince me this time (although I can see how integral it was to the plot) was Gully Foyle falling in love with Olivia Presteign. Gully seemed incapable of love up to that point; his rage against Vorga was too much. But otherwise, a ripper of a book. ( )

I enjoyed the book, I just don't quite understand why it ended when it did. Like much science fiction to me, it just didn't have a very satisfying ending. ( )

The writing is clean and spare, economically giving the reader the information they need (primarily through action rather than lengthy description). Extremely well-written and a very engaging plot.

"He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead."

Possible spoiler alert.

Good writer. Even though it was written in the 50's, Tiger Tiger! is not dated. Bester was ahead of his time, and should maybe be considered the first 'cyberpunk' author. The protagonist is dark predator, who finds his conscience after being confronted with his nemesis. Even though there is nothing likeable about Gully Foyle, it is hard to put the book down. Haunting, dreamlike ending. Negatives: Gullys tranformation into Geoffrey Fourmyle seemed out of character, and the end leaves you wanting, needing closure. Features: 'jaunting' (teleporting), as well as telepaths and telesends. ( )

Possible spoiler alert.

Good writer. Even though it was written in the 50's, Tiger Tiger! is not dated. Bester was ahead of his time, and should maybe be considered the first 'cyberpunk' author. The protagonist is dark predator, who finds his conscience after being confronted with his nemesis. Even though there is nothing likeable about Gully Foyle, it is hard to put the book down. Haunting, dreamlike ending. Negatives: Gullys tranformation into Geoffrey Fourmyle seemed out of character, and the end leaves you wanting, needing closure. Features: 'jaunting' (teleporting), as well as telepaths and telesends. ( )

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. ( )

http://geekylibrarian.wordpress.com/2... ( )

The age in Science Fiction was Space was Outer Space, and travel was by Rocket. But in essence, that is still true today. Just watch a NASA launch. The psychological traps laid by the players as they seek to find the elusive Gully Foyle are the core of this story. ( )

Bester creates a classic story of revenge spun in an entirely amazing and creative setting with gritty and fantabulous characters. This story follows Gully Foyle, "the stereotype common man", down to the depths and up to the stars and to all the emotions and mindsets in between. Bester's imagination is one of the best. This is my very favorite book. ( )

The next step in evolution: "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester is, in my opinion, an excellent example of classic science fiction. Starting off in the year 2420, it builds a very creditable world complete with sociological and political mores. This society has been irrevocably altered by new "technology", gaining geographical freedom of movement, but losing a great deal of privacy and personal freedom.

Gully Foyle, Mechanics Mate 3rd class, holds the key to the next step in mankind's evolution. How will he use it?

This is on most of those lists of the top 100 science fiction novels of all time. It was written in the fifties and it has certainly worn very well. Ultimately it fails to live up to expectations simply because those expectations are set very high in the context of the history and development of the genre.

Take it out of this context and simply read it as a book for entertainment and its fine, even quite good, but not spectacular.

Ultimately we have an adventure story with a classic anti-hero. Well written and certainly thought provoking.

Worth a try. ( )

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. Bester, took the premiums of the Count of Monta Cristo and placed it in a scifi setting. And in so doing set an incredible standard for all other scifi writers after him. It is a shame that he wrote so few books. Most of his writings were for television. ( )

The enthralling opening passage:

This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living, and hard dying...but nobody thought so. This was a future of fortune and theft, pillage and rapine, culture and vice...but nobody admitted it. This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks...but nobody loved it.

All the habitable worlds of the solar system were occupied. Three planets and eight satellites and eleven million million people swarmed in one of the most exciting ages ever known, yet minds still yearned for other times, as always. The solar system seethed with activity...fighting, feeding and breeding, learning the new technologies that spewed forth almost before the old had been mastered, girding itself for the first exploration of the far stars in deep space, but—

“Where are the new frontiers?” the Romantics cried.

This beginning veritably forces you to read on, to plunge into the world thus described - how could one resist reading on after that? - and you won’t be disappointed when you do. The protagonist starts as a clump of flesh with no redeeming qualities, and driven by the need for revenge for a brutal abandonment, improves himself in every way. His dedication to a purpose is improved - he lives for one purpose, revenge. He disciplines his mind to learn what he must learn, he disciplines his emotions to develop the patience and the craftiness he must have, he alters his body with technological modifications to acquire the physical abilities he must have. He is remade. And then...

...accidentally, without meaning to, he becomes a moral person, a person animated by purposes beyond himself.

Grabs you by the hair and doesn’t let go until the last sentence. ( )

In a future where teleportation has replaced conventional transportation, one man has been left to die. He survives and lives for one thing: revenge. Will he be destroyed by his obsession? Bester writes in a direct, get-to-the-point fashion that makes for a psychological read. ( )

Without question, this is science-fiction of the highest order.

What begins as a pulse-pounding, fast-paced novel -- one with the rare gift of having an incredibly complex plot that somehow avoids being too confusing -- eventually reaches a climax in which time, space, and sense are thrown into a fanatical jumble and we have to slow down and wait, patiently, along with the Scientific People, for an answer that will never come.

It's a lightning-fast read, one that seems so simple but blindsides you, like a rapid-fire jaunte around the world, before you can even expect it.

Whether for fun or for provocative thought, this is definitely worth the read.

Underachieving prole Gully Foyle is galvanised into action by a need for vengeance when his distress signal in deep space is ignored by a passing ship. In a society where will is the instrument of power, where most can teleport or "jaunte" themselves by thought alone, Gully's will is extraordinary.

This was always an enjoyable read, and surprisingly little dated, though Gully's sudden romantic attachments fell a long way short of credible. Action drives the plot and the implausibilities can easily be ignored. Unfortunately, by the end a lot of the earlier humour has leached away. Gully is a lot more appealing as an obsessive brute than a burdened hero. There's not a lot of room for other characters, and the finale reduces most of them to cyphers, but Jizbella the quick-minded thief stands out in the first half of the book.

In terms of ideas, the central new technology is the ability to jaunte, or teleport at will, and there is very little hard science. The tranformation of the global economy and the social order through jaunting is fairly briefly sketched but interesting. The circus-like amusements of the rich, and their attachment to a heritage of old corporate brand names, provide a nicely decadent counterpart to the more authoritarian and repressive aspects of their regime. Women are supposedly secluded and subject to Victorian sexual mores, though those we meet circumvent this without difficulty. More convincingly, organised religion has been declared illegal and is voyeuristically enjoyed as a form of pornography. Free will is under threat from mental controls, with lobotomy replacing the death penalty and psychological interrogation replacing torture. A lot of the ideas touched on by Bester have been fleshed out more fully in later science fiction, and part of the fun is in spotting these. ( )

Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination is usually considered one of the finest works of science fiction ever created. Although largely forgotten now, it is a highly imaginative piece of work which involves a sort of futuristic dystopia and a man named Gully Foyle who tries to change things based on a questionable frame of mind.

Alfred Bester stands in a position on the platform of Science Fiction Greats similar to that of Ray Bradbury, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. The only difference is that he is standing behind them and as such, is largely unheard of.

The Stars My Destination is about a fictional Earth that has become controlled by the huge conglomerate corporations. The planets in the Solar System are all at war and there is much havoc associated with the Human race. The novel deals with the dark nature of people, how technology advancement can lead to a very possessive and materialistic society with an emphasis on classes and minorities and how a lack of real education brings out various powerful yet primitive factions.

An interesting feature in this novel is the use of an evil hero. Gulliver (Gully) Foyle is a criminal, murderer and rapist but manages to attack the present situation he lives in because of past wrongs done to him and although he is a criminal, you still find yourself rallying on his behalf throughout the novel.

This story turned out to be worthy of all its acclaim and is a fun and interesting one to read. The reader should note the curious aspects between the historical situation Alfred Bester lived in and how what he has written is very similar to a path our present society is following in many ways.

From: http://briandarvell.wordpress.com/200... ( )

Why did I wait so long to read this? Bester's depiction of a future world where nearly everyone can jaunte, or teleport, and his protagonist Gully Foyle is a classic of SF and now I know why.

The plot is strongly reminiscent of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, complete with an undereducated, imprisoned protagonist who escapes and uses the power and wealth he falls into as a tool against his enemies. However, its more than that. Bester explores the implications of a society where everyone can teleport. What happens to privacy in homes? How do you imprison someone? How does the social structure change?

And Bester doesn't even stop there, when the nature of the real Macguffin that was aboard Foyle's ship is revealed, and even beyond that, the true abilities that Foyle protests.

Sure, by the standards of today, there are a few weaknesses in the plot and the writing--characterization, mostly, of the characters outside of Foyle himself. Still, the book holds up today very well indeed.

Its clear that The Stars My Destination is one of those novels that anyone who considers themselves educated in the seminal texts of SF must read. Let me clarify that though, since it makes it sound like its a chore to read. The Stars My Destination is fun, engaging, well written and entertaining. If you enjoy SF and you haven't read it--do so. ( )

I admired the virtuoso storytelling of this book, but could never develop enough empathy with its anti-hero protagonist Gully Foyle to fully engage. Gully is driven by rage and a thirst for vengeance; I can understand when these motives drive a character to do bad things (even if I don't approve), but Gully goes far beyond this. And the other characters are generally interesting, but far from likable.

The Stars My Destination certainly displays the same dazzling imagination and witty use of language that made The Demolished Man such a great book. Surprisingly, for a science fiction book published 50 years ago, the science doesn’t feel particularly dated (which is not to say that the science is in any way plausible, but it clearly isn’t meant to be plausible, it is rather a vehicle to explore character and ethics and society). This book makes limited use of experimental prose (similarly to TDM, if not as effectively). Like TDM, I found the ending a bit of a let down.

This isn't one that I will add to my list of favorites but I can see why it has been so influential and attracted so many fans. Incidentally, this is one where I'd have to say that the UK title makes more sense than the US title. ( )