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Summary: This novel has everything! One of my favorites . . .
Review: In Anvil, Bear combines speculations on quantum physics with war-story melodrama, immense ethical quandaries with teen romance, exobiology with whodunit. Yet with all this intellectual weight, the novel proceeds at a brisk and exciting pace. Anvil picks up where Forge of God left off: the earth has been destroyed by alien machines, and aliens from a different civilization have rescued a small population and resettled them on Mars. From the survivors are drawn adolescents to serve as crew on a Ship of the Law, charged with carrying out a death sentence passed by humanity's benefactors on the race which created the planet-killing machines. Fans of SF writer Orson Scott Card will see many parallels to the Battle School milieu from Ender's Game: youths incongruously training for war under the tutelage of inscrutable teachers. We join Earth's last children some years into the mission, when they are beginning to draw close to a prime suspect civilization. Bear does not shy away from the titanic moral questions raised by Galactic Law and its harsh retribution, as youths who might otherwise be arguing capital punishment or abortion in Philosophy 101 must weigh the evidence against the suspect civilization. Simultaneously, they must stuggle within the constraints of an alien justice system that has no provision for such human notions as mitigating factors, statutes of limitations, or redemption. Bear's young protagonists (and antagonists) stand out in the often bland universe of SF characters. The crew has established a unique shipboard society of pseudofamilies and shifting allegiances, a kind of co-ed Lord of the Flies. At times they embrace the shortsighted, hedonistic tendencies that would be the invevitable consequence of college-age kids cut off from polite society, parents, and pregnancy. But when they must focus on "the Job," the youths become a cadre of genius mercenaries, armed with - and burdened with - the ability to destroy suns. Particularly conflicted is the main character, Martin, from whose perspective the story is told. As the crew's leader at the outset, Martin is the focus of all their emotional turmoil as they struggle to balance their quest for justice with their revulsion at the prospect of slaughtering innocents. He must combat his own doubts and dreads while attempting to hold togeher the crew that includes cynical boatrocker Ariel, gung-ho Machiavellian Hans, and serene intellectual Hakim. The interplay becomes even more complex when the crew are joined by the Brothers, aliens that attest to Bear's supreme inventiveness. Even with all of Martin's introspection, the novel proceeds quickly through an obstacle course of unconventional skirmishes, disheartening setbacks, and mounting evidence against the suspects. The background is a milieu of superadvanced science featuring intelligent biomechanical ships and intriguing speculations on the nature of matter. The climax is exciting, and its aftermath devastating. The poignant coda serves to add even greater depth to the main characters and the story as a whole. It's been several years since I first read Anvil, but I pick it up occasionally to relive the enjoyment it originally brought me.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad. Earth needed justice and we got a bunch of perverts
Review: It seems that most good authors need to push the envelope in one way or another. Science Fiction offers so many avenues for this creativity... Tis a shame that Bear chose to carry the story forward with a bunch of perverted teens. The Forge of God gave us a slap-your-face end-of-the-world story and I was excited to see where Bear would take it us next. Unfortunately, no where I wanted to go.
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Summary: You're missing the point if you read AOS for the technology
Review: Look, I'll make it brief. Though I love a good techno-read, this book surpassed that by the same magnitude that the Pacific Ocean surpasses Lake Tahoe. Though there are plenty of geek gadgets and concepts in this book, what makes it memorable are the very real characters, how they react, and how they interact among one another, and their wholly believable responses to events... And finally a word on Greg Bear, stylist. Many persons read for the action, and while I love a good romp across the galaxy as much as the next SF reader, Greg Bear wrote prose so *beautiful* in AOS that there were times in the text that I *had* to stop and re-read the passage! Or simply stop and ponder for a minute the beauty of the prose. Yep, I'm pedantic, and I love words. But I also love good stories, and when I get both in one book, well lets just say that you can't shut me up when I sing the book's praises. Read this book! Be prepared to be startled, uplifted, depressed, and yes even surprised. As an earlier reviewer said, the book has a marvelous ending, but the coda which turns off all the lights took my breath away! Nuff said. Get this book.
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Summary: Unbelievably absorbing .Sciense is corporeal and touchable
Review: Once every once in a while you find a Science Fiction book that you find so phenomenally deep and tangible.
Sometimes you will suspect the author might be something other than human .
This book will confound you it this very direction.
Read it and you will find that science Fiction can be real as you know it could be
Rating:
Summary: Cha cha cha
Review: One of my all time favorites! Suspensful, heroic, lots of fighting. Perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Decent X-Rated Sci-Fi...
Review: Personally, I found this book, overall, to be decent. This is mainly due to the theme of Earth's survivors getting revenge on the planet-killers, which I found quite interesting. However, the main story is not what struck me as memorable. Rather, Bear's ultra-graphic descriptions of sexual situations between the "children" is what I remember best. For a sci-fi novel, this is a shame. In fact, many of the sex scenes could be labeled X-rated. Obviously, I can't be explicit, but he describes EVERYTHING. Imagine an XXX film put into words and that's what you have. I realize that these situations are natural, but so is defication, and I don't need a description of that in detail (maybe in a Romance novel, but not hard sci-fi)! As a result, Bear's main story often got lost for a few pages while the "children" were pleasuring themselves. Maybe I'm too used to the Asimov/AC Clarke style of writing, but I just couldn't get into this book, mainly due to the excessive sex scenes.
Rating: 
Summary: Can a book be disappointing and yet, satisfying?
Review: That's how I feel about this incredibly ambitious mess of a novel. As a writer, Greg Bear really swings for the fences, which sometimes works brilliantly. Sometimes, however, it fails. "Forge of God" delivered, "Anvil of Stars" does not. Yet, why did I keep reading? It's Bear's incredible imagination that keeps you going. There are really wonderful things in this book that will blow your mind (the Brothers, anti matter). Just don't expect a great story like "Forge."
Rating:
Summary: A good read but not a masterpeice like Forge of God
Review: The Forge of God was a hard act to follow, being one of the most compelling Sci-Fi novels I've ever read. Even though Anvil of the Stars doesn't quite match it in quality, it still is worth reading in its own right. Greg Bear's wonderful insights in the world of quantum physics are in the forefront of this novel. He takes theories of today and molds them into a multitude of potential culminations in the future. The work is wonderful to read just because of this. The other compelling aspect of this work is the moral delimma thrust in front of the characters and readers. At what point is revenge too high a price, and how do you know when the information used to make decisions is accurate? When do you rely on instinct, and when do you rely on perceived facts? This work is by no means the nail bitter Forge of God is, yet it still is worth reading in its own right.
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Summary: Human Fiction
Review: The most unimaginable facet of this story (as is the case with most other Bear books) is that its a true science fiction novel with all the far out technologies which still manages to portray a human element which lesser authors sometimes lose in the telling. The subject matter is on the cusp of theoretical science/fantasy, but it all seems completely plausible and expected. And all the while, Bear manages to make the characters much more complex than any of his scientific musings. This is what makes a science fiction novel a classic. Its the feeling that you could be there because you are moved by what moves these characters. Its the belief that what you are is what the characters are, and your concerns, your fears, your loves, and your shame is fleshed out in a way even the loftiest dreamer amoung us never considered before. This book has all of that. Read it
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: The Power. The sense of sheer,incomprehensible and unimaginable power and might that Bear masturfully conveys is intense and truly gripping. When I think of this book, I have this sense, this impression of genuinely grandiose and vast, humbling workings of societies so advanced, they make humans look like lost ants. Add to this the very human elements of political divisions, power plays, and the murder of chrarismatic religeous leader, you have a book that resonates with every human emotion like a finely tuned instrument, with an ending off the Richter scal
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