A review by additionaddiction
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
4.0
It's hard to read Science Fiction when it's a few years old. A lot of the "futuristic" technology can instantly fall flat and pull you right out of the story. Reading Science Fiction that's 63 years old had me feeling more than a little skeptical. But The Demolished Man really didn't feel that dated. Maybe in a few spots, but even then it felt more noir-like a la Brazil.
A low-crime future world where detectives can read minds did have an air of Minority Report about it (even though Minority Report was based on [b:The Minority Report|581125|The Minority Report|Philip K. Dick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390719396s/581125.jpg|63086] and definitely not this story). However just like in [b:The Stars My Destination|333867|The Stars My Destination|Alfred Bester|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433671750s/333867.jpg|1398442] (which is one of my favorite SciFi books), Bester again kept the narrative so action-packed that it was hard to take time out to nitpick the details.
Having read TSMD a few years ago, I noticed a few similarities in plot between the two. In that story humans have learned how to teleport at will. In this story humans have "learned" to become telepathic. Both stories also have a very angry protagonist who is struggling with some very confused inner-demons. Overall I enjoyed TSMD more as it had a better futuristic feel to it, but The Demolished Man was still a fast, fun read.
A low-crime future world where detectives can read minds did have an air of Minority Report about it (even though Minority Report was based on [b:The Minority Report|581125|The Minority Report|Philip K. Dick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390719396s/581125.jpg|63086] and definitely not this story). However just like in [b:The Stars My Destination|333867|The Stars My Destination|Alfred Bester|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433671750s/333867.jpg|1398442] (which is one of my favorite SciFi books), Bester again kept the narrative so action-packed that it was hard to take time out to nitpick the details.
Having read TSMD a few years ago, I noticed a few similarities in plot between the two. In that story humans have learned how to teleport at will. In this story humans have "learned" to become telepathic. Both stories also have a very angry protagonist who is struggling with some very confused inner-demons. Overall I enjoyed TSMD more as it had a better futuristic feel to it, but The Demolished Man was still a fast, fun read.