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A review by theleafencounter
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
5.0
4.4 to be exact, but I will give it 5 star because it really is such a great read and I want more of you sci-fi nerds to read it. Almost a five star for me, it was lacking just a few of my subjective preferences to be a full fledged “5 star club” member.. The biggest preference being - emotional impact. I know it’s not everyone’s measure for rating a book, but although this is really a masterpiece and you should read it if you like sci-fi (if only for education), it lacked that emotional impact for me to be on the top.
I will list some pros and cons for the general reading “audience”. That being said, I’m fine with those as I always have the context in my mind, as well as having the understaning of the times/era the book was written in. So take what you want from it.
This is classical sci-fi book exploring classical sci-fi themes and ideas (identity, humanity, morality, impact of technology, religion..) Nothning to write home about, BUT if you like that kind of stories, it will be great. That being said, it is somewhat a sci-fi version of Count of Monte Christo blended with Neuromancer (the cyberpunk elements are in the book mostly for esthetics, since the term cyberpunk didn’t even exist). It is a revenge story set in a futuristic cold war Solar system with Cyberpunk esthetics (it feels like that). Despite being written in the 50s, it feels verry modern with its writing style: it is very cinematic and it is not too dense a read as its cyberpunk successor (I’m looking at you Neuromancer).
Those were the pros, as well as a short summary of what you should expect.
Some readers will be turned off because of:
•somewhat dated depiction of women, despite few good characters (although realistic for the story of the book, could also be social commentary or just the sign of the times)
•not very likable main character (although he is written masterfully for his purpose in the book and its general idea) who is also one of the reasons for the dated depiction od women
•some readers will find the structure not too conventional: it has chapters and it has beggining, middle and end, BUT it has that pulpy feel to it like a story was beeing written in pieces (such were the days od sci-fi magazines)
•although not too dense and not too complicated story, this is not what you would call a light read, it is pretty grim
..and those were “the cons”, but I’m sure sime will find the reasons to read the book in those as well as not too.
„Faith in faith' - he answered himself. 'It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief.“
I will list some pros and cons for the general reading “audience”. That being said, I’m fine with those as I always have the context in my mind, as well as having the understaning of the times/era the book was written in. So take what you want from it.
This is classical sci-fi book exploring classical sci-fi themes and ideas (identity, humanity, morality, impact of technology, religion..) Nothning to write home about, BUT if you like that kind of stories, it will be great. That being said, it is somewhat a sci-fi version of Count of Monte Christo blended with Neuromancer (the cyberpunk elements are in the book mostly for esthetics, since the term cyberpunk didn’t even exist). It is a revenge story set in a futuristic cold war Solar system with Cyberpunk esthetics (it feels like that). Despite being written in the 50s, it feels verry modern with its writing style: it is very cinematic and it is not too dense a read as its cyberpunk successor (I’m looking at you Neuromancer).
Those were the pros, as well as a short summary of what you should expect.
Some readers will be turned off because of:
•somewhat dated depiction of women, despite few good characters (although realistic for the story of the book, could also be social commentary or just the sign of the times)
•not very likable main character (although he is written masterfully for his purpose in the book and its general idea) who is also one of the reasons for the dated depiction od women
•some readers will find the structure not too conventional: it has chapters and it has beggining, middle and end, BUT it has that pulpy feel to it like a story was beeing written in pieces (such were the days od sci-fi magazines)
•although not too dense and not too complicated story, this is not what you would call a light read, it is pretty grim
..and those were “the cons”, but I’m sure sime will find the reasons to read the book in those as well as not too.
„Faith in faith' - he answered himself. 'It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief.“