I wish I could Jaunte to class at 8:29 everyday.

As the semester has progressed, I have found it harder and harder to continue reading the novels assigned for homework due to the fact that I’m up till almost 4:00A.M. everyday slaving away behind a computer screen. There are two novels that I plan on reading regardless of how much work I have.  One of them is Orxy and Crake, I’ve wanted to read that novel for a while and finally have an excuse to do so. The other was The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. Which I finished about two weeks ago and finally have time to blog about. (Sorry for the delay, Mr. Steiling.) I’ve wanted to read this story because it’s basically the Count of Monte Cristo goes to space and I’m a huge fan of that story. However, it needs to be unique. It needs to have it’s own special elements that make it stand out as a story worth reading. Otherwise why not just read the original by Alexandre Dumas? Let me explain what makes The Stars My Destination stand out among the crowd.
The novel is set in the future and a new form of transpiration has been discovered. It’s called Jaunting and it is basically teleportation. There are some limitations to how and where you can jaunte. These boundaries make it all the more interesting, especially in the main character Gully Foyle. In addition to the cool idea of Jaunting it’s interesting to see how it evolves throughout the course of the book. (What I’m about to say is a spoiler and my opinion so if you haven’t read the novel yet you may want to come back and reread this post later.) The man on fire. That is Gully. That is Gully after he found a way in the future to travel through space and time but that is also jaunting. What I am trying to say is that Jaunting became a character. It evolved from an idea, to a mode, to a character and hey, that’s really cool.
I could talk about this novel for hours. The idea of inter-solar system war is believable and how I think space travel will naturally go. (Think about our own human history and you can see parallels that would make sense for this to happen.)  The story is old but at the same time fresh and engaging. I haven’t enjoyed everything I’ve read this semester. But hey, I’ve enjoyed most of it! (Night Circus was meh.) But this novel and A Wild Sheep Chase are my two favorites so far. Up next Orxy and Crake.