Space Opera and the New Frontier: The Stars of My Destination by Alfred Bester

Space Opera and the New Frontier: The Stars of My Destination by Alfred Bester

            First off, had I known that this was just Count Of Monte Cristo in space, I may have been more prepared for the story. As is I wasn’t expecting such an old fashioned revenge story hiding within a galactic epic. Some truly excellent cultures are created through the course of the story and one of the most villainous and despicable “protagonists” is formed from a simple catastrophe. The story highlights the exceptional life of the initially unexceptional Gully Foyle, an unambitious crewman of a space freighter. When his ship is damaged and the rest of the crew killed in an attack, he barely survives, marooned in space. Just when he is about to be saved, his rescuers abandon him and leave him to die. For this act, he vows to kill the ship which abandoned him, the evil “Vorga.” In his quest fro revenge he uncovers conspiracies revolving around the strange material known as PyrEand. Foyle must educate and train himself to counter it. Driven by revenge Foyle transforms himself from an unambitious brute to a refined and driven individual capable of changing the galaxy.

            The story is worth reading but with a few parameters: First, Foyle is not a good guy. Even at the end of the novel, he is still a selfish and conflicted individual. He is however and extremely developed and interesting character to follow and he does do good things occasionally. Second: the books pacing is entirely bizarre. Things can happen in rapid succession or slow to a crawl. The worst however is the tendency to jump (almost like a jaunte) between time and places with very little information in between jumps leaving the reader a little disconcerted. Finally, the cultures and worlds are introduced and established quite well. Then they are discarded without a backwards glance or any more impact on the story. They serve only to get the story from one point to the next and are then discarded.

            I don’t know if I can recommend The Stars Of My Destination. I like the cultures established but they are trashed too quickly. The Protaganist is likewise and unlikable and brutish man driven by the wrong reasons to do the wrong things. If you like stories like The Prince Of Thornes or the classic Count of Monte Cristo, then give it a try. Otherwise I do not recommend.