#170 Solar Enemy Number One: The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester

The Count of Monte Cristo make not seem like the likeliest template for an SF novel, but Alfred Bester was able to take this 19th century French classic and turn it into the basis for his 1956 book The Stars My Destination. This frenetic, fast-paced adventure also begins with a kind of parody of the opening to Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. It's a hectic, baroque tale of revenge, and one of the most praised SF novels of the 1950s.

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