The Stars My Destination by: Alfred Bester
From the prologue about how
jaunting (teleportation) can into existence this book hits no wrong notes. The
world building is fantastic. Every facet of society from how jaunting changes
things to the war between the inner planets and the outer satellites just fits.
But where most of the space opera type novels fail miserably (for me) and The
Stars My Destination succeeds is in the characters. Because as cool as jaunting
is, this book isn’t about teleportation. It’s about Gully Foyle, the
stereotypical common man and what happens after he’s left marooned on a
drifting spaceship and he’s forced to become extraordinary. It’s about revenge,
madness, love and war. It’s about a burning man on the Spanish Steps. It’s
about limits of power and what happens when someone can break through them.
Gully Foyle is hands down my
favorite fictional character of all time. He’s part hero, part villain, half
mad, and lusting for revenge. People view him as close to a monster and at
times he looks it. Foyle’s a mass of contradictions, gets things done by brute
strength as often as smarts. He betrays people and is betrayed, falls for the
unobtainable and does the impossible.
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