The Stars My Destination

Gave up on this about 3/4 of the way through, just after the whacky circus was introduced. The misogyny and racism just got too much and there wasn't enough else to make me stick around. Some cool ideas, kinda, but it had neither the kind of quaint charm of many vintage SF books nor a gripping enough plot to keep me hooked. The SF ideas were ahead of its time but behind ours - space opera and teleportation being about all there was to it. It felt severely dated both in terms of the pure science fiction aspects and the societal attitudes. I'd rather read the Stainless Steel Rat any day.

”You pigs, you. You rut like pigs, is all. You got the most in you, and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you......I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great. Blow yourselves to Christ gone or come and find me, Gully Foyle, and I make you men. I make you great. I give you the stars.”

This book was nothing like I expected. It started great. Main character lost in space, waiting for someone to find him. But it never happens. Which makes Gully angry. Really angry. I mean “fate of the world is in his hands” angry. It doesn't begin that ridiculous but it gets there. Gully is not likeable at all. He's a monster. Thanks to a twist of faith not only on the inside but also the outside. But... it eventually works.

The book is split into two parts. I'd give part one 2/5... part two 5/5. I might adjust the rating to more fair 4/5* down the line when I look back at this book but for now thanks to a stellar ending it's full rating. 5/5 usually also means that I'd like to re-read the book sometime in the future and this one certainly qualifies.

What brings the first part down is the character of Jisbella. She's insufferable. There are other women in part 2 which are written much better but anytime Jisbella was in the scene it brought my enjoyment down by a lot.

The book actually starts strong with very pleasant and thoughtful prose style which fizzles out a few pages later, when prologue (exposition) ends and we meet Gully who uses a primitive English dialect, though not for long. I loved his character development. He goes from a dummy to smart villain to repenting antihero. Prose then picks up at the end where we get “the message” of the book on a golden platter, part of it literally told by the author in a form of a glitching robot.

What's more, in the background of all of this is a metaphor for cold war, arms race and whether the mankind should be trusted with weapons of mass destruction.

The worldbuilding is excellent for a sci-fi from the 50's and it's clear why this book is so highly appraised by so many people in the business. However, until the very end I was puzzled why this is called The Stars My Destination. While very catchy and poetic, there is no stars until the very end. “Tiger! Tiger!” seems like more appropriate title for the book – it was the original one for like a year before the book was reprinted as TSMD. But try to sell a sci-fi with title like that...