The Stars My Destination
Bester rewrote *The Count of Monte Cristo* as pulp SF: a brutal, unstoppable revenge story set in a future where teleportation has transformed society. It has the best first chapter in SF and one of its finest antiheroes.
The misogyny has not aged: women are treated as property once a relationship starts, one is locked away for her own protection, and the sexual violence goes without any narrative critique. A Black character leans on a magical-helper trope. Critics point to “Plot holes you could pilot a ship through,” including a security measure that makes no sense given how jaunting works. The protagonist is a sticking point, “completely deranged... a complete psychopath,” which keeps some readers from connecting however hard the plot pulls. And the speed outruns comprehension for some, one finishing with “I only had a faint idea of what had happened.”
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
