Space Opera- The Stars My Destination

The Stars My Destination is an impressive introduction to the space opera subgenre of science fiction. It combines familiar with the unfamiliar. The science supports the fiction, rather than the other way around. The storyline exists for its own purpose and the science only acts to help in relaying that message. There is a larger idea, involving common human complexities, and although the sciencey world around it adds interest and mystery, it is not entirely essential.

The Stars My Destination takes place in a future where teleportation (called “jaunting”) has been achieved, although it has strong limitations. The universe is on the brink of war and our protagonist is an anti-hero who falls into the middle of the chaos driven purely by his brutal need for revenge. He begins as the ultimate Common Man archetype, uninspired by anything and everything. Only when he is wronged by being abandoned in space by a potential rescue team is a fire lit in his belly to save himself, but his only goal is to destroy the people who left him there to die. The novel is a character’s journey to self-awareness- which is a popular literary theme- but thrown into the realm of space travel, teleportation, and telepathy.

I can definitely see elements of fantasy within this type of science fiction. While the concept of teleportation is rooted in scientific questioning, in modern day it is still entirely imaginative. But the novel presents it as fact and the reader goes along with it. The same could go for alien races in other space opera works like Star Wars. There is no true scientific evidence to suggest competent life forms on other planets or in other galaxies, humanoid or otherwise, but the genre has been saturated with aliens enough that readers can understand the believability. This is similar to fantasy vampires, witches, spirits, etcetera.

There is one narrative element that I both loved and hated about The Stars My Destination. Every woman who comes into Gully Foyle’s life- apart from Olivia, who turns out to be the subject of his revenge- falls in love with him despite his horrible treatment of them. Robin is raped by Gully and treated terribly the rest of the time and she still develops feelings for him which makes me cringe as a woman who tries to encourage strong female characters. The reason I also love this pattern, however, is because I understand its presence. Gully is a man driven by his passionate revenge scheme, and he will eventually lose interest in anyone who stops being of use to him. Every strong female character ends up helping him because they can see something good within his evil, and they end up getting hurt because of it. To show the complexity of Gully’s character, you need the conflicting emotions of the people who surround him, and I think that’s very interesting.