Despite being quite old in a genre that ages about as well as a computer, this novel reads like it was written yesterday. It’s fast and sucks you in.

It made me want to be able to jaunte.

Bester’s work on “The Stars My Destination” is just amazing. My one complaint turns out to be unfounded, as this book was released 5 years prior to “Stranger in a Strange Land.” I found many of the literary devices were quite similar, but, I can’t blame Bester for being 5 years ahead of Heinlein.

In his introduction to “The Stars My Destination” Neil Gaiman observes that one of the most quickly dated genres in the literary world is science-fiction. And he’s right. It’s hard to create a timeless science-fiction novel of universe that doesn’t quickly become dated or you have to read it from the persepctive of readers of that era.

I’d argue that Dune is one of those novels that transcends the time it was written.

Alfred Bester’s “The Stars My Destination” is another.

Bester creates the ultimate anti-hero in Gulliver Foyle. Foyle is a a common man in Bester’s vision of the future. Foyle has no drive, no ambition and no future until he’s trapped on a ship left for dead in space and left for dead himself. Foyle decides that no matter what it takes, he will avenge himself upon the ship that passed him by and refused to rescue him after teasing that it might. The rest of the novel concerns Foyle’s rise from common man to a man of means and a sophistication and his unrelented obsession with revenge. Along the way, his life is touched by four different women, each of whom has a profound affect on Foyle and his quest.

The story is borrowed heavily from “The Count of Monte Cristo” but Bester re-imagines it against a backdrop of a future society that is superbly realized. Bester drops in things that other writers would take entire novels or series to explore. Instead of spending pages examining the ins and outs of things, Bester creates a future world and society that is both timeless and interesting. His world-building skills are on full display here and they’re well worth the price of admission.

But what makes the novel timeless is the characters. Foyle is just one of an assortment of characters whose actions are all motivated by the fact they believe they’re in the right. Each character is intersting and they weave in and out of the novel in fascinating ways. And don’t ever think just becuase someone has gone off-stage that they won’t be back.

But all of the characters and world-building would be nothing if not for a good plot. And “The Stars My Destination” has that and then some. It’s fast paced, fun and frentic. I found myself turning the pages, wanting to find out where Foyle’s obsessive quest would take him next and why. There’s a conspiracy angle to the story as well and that keeps the interest going.

Make no mistake—this is one of the greatest novels—science fiction or otherwise—ever written. Definitely worth reading at least twice in a lifetime, possibly more.

One of the best novels it’s ever been my pleasure to read. Left-leaning, too!