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to his concentration on the unassailable argument that ESP man is always, in the ultimate analysis, a man . . . and must live as such. |
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But these science and detective fictional enlargements, however perceptively done, are asides; Mr. Bester never forgets that his main job is to tell a story. The riches of his imagination are ever disciplined to his prime purpose, to carry the reader headlong from a savage, useless killing to the inescapable, curious fate of the killer. |
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Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas, [Review of The Demolished Man], Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 5, No. 1 (July 1953): 84 |
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If asked to name the enfant terrible among science fiction authors my choice would be Alfred Bester, narrowly ousting Ray Bradbury, the only other possible candidate for this role. The Demolished Man established his reputation as a writer of great power and ingenuity, but it is now clear that this was only a taste of this man's talents, and far better books were yet to come. For some time Bester's new novel has been waiting to see print. I believe it is due, after some postponement, as a serial "The Burning Spear" in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, or will it be as "The Stars My Destination" announced as Galaxy's new serial? But, to their eternal credit, an English publishing house has been brave enough, or shall I say astute enough, to present in first hard-cover publication Alfred Bester's Tiger! Tiger! In my opinion it is a slightly tarnished masterpiece. It is a furiously paced story which can bludgeon the unwary reader into accepting it on first impression as one of the most significant and spectacular novels ever written in the genre. When the first shock of wonder has worn off, and the pulse has quieted down, it might seem that Mr. Bester, perhaps with tongue in cheek, had resolved to write the science-fiction novel to end all such novels. Clearly it was intended that anything new based on psi powers after this would be an anti-climax. (. . .) |
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(. . .) It is as though Olaf Stapledon had finished a manuscript by Heinlein and Kornbluth and Spillane. But this is rather unfair, because Tiger! Tiger! is pure Bester, and as such must surely take its place among the top ten science-fiction novels of all time. |
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Leslie Flood, [Review of Tiger! Tiger!], New Worlds No. 50 (August 1956): 12628 |
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