Scan barcode
A review by joshknape
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
4.0
The Stars My Destination is one of the most interesting books I have read in years: partly because it just is, and partly because I don't read a great deal of sci-fi, much less the cyberpunk sub-genre of sci-fi. I didn't understand before I started that it was recognized as a proto-cyberpunk novel, because I simply added it to my readlist after seeing this edition's back cover blurb and thinking it sounded intriguing. (Also, for some reason, I am interested in old sci-fi novels from the first half of the 20th century. Ones written before the "Big Three" of Heinlein/Clarke/Asimov.)
Further comments later.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
I think I'll review this book before I finish it.
The Stars My Destination, whose original title apparently was Tiger! Tiger!, is my first experience ever of reading a recognized classic in the cyber-punk sub-genre of sci-fi. I simply saw the novel's back cover blurb on Goodreads earlier this year, and thought it sounded very interesting; but I don't believe I understood it was cyber-punk.
Actually, based on what I'm reading, I now see that I unwittingly got a taste of the stuff once. Where? The 1990s Doctor Who novels, the "New Adventures" published by Virgin. I now recognize that many of the "New Adventures" obviously were heavily influenced by cyber-punk, especially the "Psi Powers" arc and the ones written by Andrew Cartmel.
As for book I'm actually reading now: it very quickly made me find cyber-punk revolting. Well, what was I supposed to think when the author makes his protagonist's superiors write in his file that he's essentially an uninteresting loser; makes the protagonist rage against a passing ship that mysteriously fails to rescue him; and rapes a woman almost as soon as he meets her? But...a few minutes later, it also made me appreciate a certain quality of the sub-genre that I sensed in my limited knowledge and experience of punk styles. What quality? The greater honesty and discernment than the naive humanism I saw in Star Dreck. As (again) with Doctor Who, there's no nonsense here to the effect that human nature will suddenly become beautiful in the future. There's a reason that readers consider The Stars My Destination cyber-punk: nasty but real.
Further comments later.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
I think I'll review this book before I finish it.
The Stars My Destination, whose original title apparently was Tiger! Tiger!, is my first experience ever of reading a recognized classic in the cyber-punk sub-genre of sci-fi. I simply saw the novel's back cover blurb on Goodreads earlier this year, and thought it sounded very interesting; but I don't believe I understood it was cyber-punk.
Actually, based on what I'm reading, I now see that I unwittingly got a taste of the stuff once. Where? The 1990s Doctor Who novels, the "New Adventures" published by Virgin. I now recognize that many of the "New Adventures" obviously were heavily influenced by cyber-punk, especially the "Psi Powers" arc and the ones written by Andrew Cartmel.
As for book I'm actually reading now: it very quickly made me find cyber-punk revolting. Well, what was I supposed to think when the author makes his protagonist's superiors write in his file that he's essentially an uninteresting loser; makes the protagonist rage against a passing ship that mysteriously fails to rescue him; and rapes a woman almost as soon as he meets her? But...a few minutes later, it also made me appreciate a certain quality of the sub-genre that I sensed in my limited knowledge and experience of punk styles. What quality? The greater honesty and discernment than the naive humanism I saw in Star Dreck. As (again) with Doctor Who, there's no nonsense here to the effect that human nature will suddenly become beautiful in the future. There's a reason that readers consider The Stars My Destination cyber-punk: nasty but real.