Reviews

Las estrellas, mi destino by Enrique Corominas, Alfred Bester

gajeam's review against another edition

4.0

Quietly a banger. Got recommended it by the owner of Books and Bookshelves, a used bookstore in SF, and felt so bad about how empty his store was that I bought it on his rec alone. Trash cover though.

bookwomble's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I intensely disliked main character, Gulliver Foyle, as an individual and really wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading, but about a third through I started thinking of him as a personification of the struggle of the lumpenproletariat to achieve class consciousness, and that seemed to work for me, though I wasn't sure if that was Bester's intention. Ultimately, it did work that way for me, and the story is, if imperfectly, a dramatised sci-fi setting of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the "cosmic" ending symbolising Foyle's awakening to his potential as a revolutionary liberationist figurehead. It was worth sticking with.

A couple of the names struck me as being symbolic, though I'm struggling to fully integrate them, so maybe I'm pareidolically seeing what's not there:

• Gulliver Foyle - Gullible Foil - Gullible Fool
• Presteign - Pristine - Prestige - Priest-Stain

ramsfan1963's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gully Foyle is a monster, a dumb brute, a murderer, rapist and terrorist. Driving by revenge against those that left him to die, he will do anything and everything to punish those who have wronged him. 
I like the book, but I thought the ending was a bit of a cop out. It goes all cosmic instead of having its lead face the consequences of his actions.

exadius's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

7hm's review against another edition

4.5

I can’t believe this is nearly 70 years old. It feels so modern. 

ichirofakename's review against another edition

2.0

Too dated and overrated. Do not read.

chloeliana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

bedwinnjamin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

For a fairly old Sci-fi book, it had an interesting view on the future of technology and space travel.  The writing style also didn't seem that archaic compared to some other old Sci-fi that I've written.  I will say, the main character, (and the story is very character driven), is just all over the place.  Part of it was some of the interesting 'self' concepts and the idea of traveling by "jaunting", but still the character was tricky to follow at times.

leighbarlow's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

vincent1126's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape