Stars My Destination

A science fiction written by Alfred Bester in 1956
Reviewed edition by Bantam from 1996
A paperback has 260 pages
ISBN 0-679-76780-0

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A typical vision of space-age future, human colonies throughout the Solar System turning their backs on Earth. One thing is different though - humans can teleport (AKA jaunte) themselves by the sheer force of will. Naturally, jaunting has its limitations - one must know the place where he wants to jaunt to, and one can only jaunt a limited distance on a planet, never in space.

Limited though it is, jaunting turns the world upside-down. Privacy becomes a privilege of a few, security is difficult to get, mass migration threatens cities ... you probably get the idea. Mankind happens to manage though, and jaunting gets to be almost an ordinary thing.

In the midst all this you get Gully Foyle - a good-for-nothing type of person with no ambitions, no interests, no friends. Gully Foyle happens to be stranded in space, and when a passing spaceship refuses to rescue him, he suddenly acquires one thing he has been missing all along - a drive to do things. In this case - a drive for revenge.

Obsessed with revenge, Gully Foyle finds the spaceship that deserted him and tries to blow it up. Naturally, he gets caught and jailed - but that is just the beginning. His activities draw interest of people looking for the wreck he was stranded on, and Gully Foyle slowly starts to realize there might be reasons behind his fate that are worth knowing ...

Review

You might have noticed that the book is relatively old, written in 1950's. One thing this is apparent on is the technology - computers are rare (now that I mention it, I do not recall any), weapons are funny (space colonies actually use explosive bombs to attack Earth), and a few other things remind the reader of good old Marvel comics (medicine can augment human strength and speed by ingenious implants, only they have to be activated by switches hidden in teeth).

Apart from the state of technology, the age of the book is also apparent in its ending - an all-encompassing, almost ideological appeal on people to take matters in their own hands gets a bit outdated nowadays. Fortunately, this only concerns the last few pages (living in a communist Czechoslovakia for quite a few years, I got kind of allergic to broad statements based on ideological views).

Having said all that, I still think the age of the book is not a problem, just a thing to be noted. Age aside, you get a nice variation on Edmund Dantes, fast-paced and thrilling.

Rated as good by Ceres on 1998-09-14

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