Rating: 
Summary: The Little Mothers are disappointed
Review: (a phrase from the book).Surprisingly disappointing after Bear's history of books that I have enjoyed. I was hoping for something as interesting as Darwin's Radio. Well, the science in this one is fairly interesting at least. But the plot reminded me of a Ludlum wannabe (or Koontz or Cussler). It's full of mysterious people, shadowy recollections, and worst of all, mean old Russians. I dunno. Bear explains a lot of science in interesting ways, and hypothesizes interesting "growth areas". Most of the relationships are fairly well explored (for this genre). It just breaks down when the action (in a guns and bombs sense) gets rolling.
Rating: 
Summary: A solid follow up to Darwin's Radio
Review: I have to say that I am a bit surprised about the level of negative reviews for this book. The future directions of bacteriology that went into the theory at the foundation of this novel were, in my opinion, an enjoyable, albeit far fetched, extension of current biological theory. I spend my days working in a related field known as biomaterials engineering and from this extensive knowledge base I can honestly say that the material covered in Vitals is as accurate, or at least follows in the realm of what is accurate, as any other so-called hard science sci-fi novel. Other novels that claim to be "hard science"-fiction novels, such as Cities in Flight (Blish) or Ringworld (Niven), throw science and engineering "facts" around as if they actually KNOW what they are talking about, which is FAR from the truth. In reality Blish and Niven (while fine authors!) are no closer to the cuting edge of science and engineering, than Bear is in Vitals. But they all make for a truly entertaining read. Vitals does, aggreably so, throw in an overabundance of cliches from past classic techno-suspense thrillers, but this allows the writing to move the reader along and keep him/her interested. It relies a bit too much on this though....but does not in the least mean it follows the same old mass-produced Crichton-style. Readers looking for a relaxed and enjoyable read, with a bit of science fact, coupled with a whole LOT of brainstorming and cliffhangers will love this one. I thoroughly got my money's worth!
Rating:
Summary: left me shaking my head in hurt bewilderment
Review: I'm afraid that I must direct readers away from this work. It has some things going for it: good author, interesting plot (if you can stand far enough back and appreciate it in its entirity), and some creepy notions at how science and nature could actually spawn the "undead" (my word for it, not Bear's). I leave it to the other reviews and editorials to summarize the story for you. But... really, Greg Bear is MUCH better at characterization than he demonstrated in this book. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe he was just in a hurry to finish this story and move on to a more interesting project. At any rate, the lead characters- shoot- ALL the characters seemed really shallow. There was no one I liked, no character I could find myself sympathizing with. The Doctors Cousins were not stellar specimens of humanity by *my* reckoning. I'm not sure I'd even consider them decent people, and yet at least one of them was supposedly the protagonist. There also is little-to-no plot resolution at the end. Bear even does you the favor of ending this ditty with a nearly-full list of unanswered questions in case you'd forgotten one of the things to be annoyed about. It smacks of an attempt to lay the foundations for a sequel, but good grief, I *hope* not. I'll give this one a 2/5 only because the writing itself was still pretty good compared wo what is out there. Bear's still one of the best writers I've found, but, no question: this is definitely FAR below his usual standards.
Rating:
Summary: Good SF!
Review: I don't know what the previous two reviewers were reading but it wasn't the audio book I listened to. This is good SF! Playful with science and a plot that keep you interested. Yes, the first part is better than the later portion of the book and yes you can make some comparisons with Crichton and (yawn) yes it's about a conspiracy, but if you can't see the Bear style in this you're blind! Award material? Not qualified to judge (not another 'Blood Music', but I like it). Worth your $s and time? Yes! Keep up the good work Greg! We who like people who work at (not just 'play at') ...... REALLY appreciate it!!
Rating: 
Summary: Confused, Plotless Sci-Fi Novel
Review: Have you ever wondered what made the old time sci-fi authors so great? They had ideas, plots, and even characters. Bear's latest is the antithesis ... it's probably worth 'no' stars. Take one totally confused story line about mitochondria being a controlling factor in human life, and archaebacteria containing the secret of immortality, toss in some ridiculous identical twins who are biotech geniuses at 28, the obligatory sinister zillionaires with their castles, some of the most laughable inflatable rubber female characters outside of a porno movie, and you've got this book. Was the mysterious G doing biotech and genetic engineering in the 1930s? (How?) Is Stalin still alive, in an iron lung in a deserted skyscraper in New York? There are plots, plots and more plots, bombings and mind control, rogue CIA men, until it sounds like the ravings of some of our right-wing kooks ... Give this a miss, folks. 350 pages in, you'll be like me, wondering why the hell you are wasting your time on this tripe.
Rating:
Summary: What Happened?
Review: What has happened to Greg Bear? I was a bit worried after "Darwin's Radio," which indicated a mild slide into the land of David Baldacci and Michael Crichton, but "Vitals" appears to have been authored by somebody else altogether. And not necessarily a writer. Sloppy plotting, atrcoious dialogue, ill-formed scientific concepts and a cop-out recap at the end of the book made this a huge disappointment. Don't get me wrong -- I am a fan of Bear. So who wrote this one?
Rating:
Summary: Spoiled by success?
Review: How can such a good writer as Bear produce such a loser? I envision it happened like this. Bear had the germ of the idea for Vitals and had perhaps even begun writing it when his agent or editor said "Hey, Greg. Darwin's Radio has become a mainstream best seller! See if you can repeat with this one, and you can make the BIG breakthrough! Action is where it's at, baby. Conspiracy! Keep it moving. Be sure to include some gruesome violence or torture, the more perverted the better." Perhaps against his better judgment (at least, I hope his judgmentis better than that), Bear tried to comply, but he writes SF, not thrillers, and he is clearly out of his element. Instead of another Darwin's Radio we got Michael Crichton meets John LeCarre on a bad day. This scenario explains a lot. Like why the first part of the book was pretty good and engaged our interest quickly. And why the second part fell down so badly; the plot became increasingly gimmicky and farfetched, and even the writing deteriorated. And finally it explains why the plot became so convoluted that even the author didn't know how to explain the puzzle and simply failed to do so.
This book will certainly NOT be a bestseller, so Bear may be expected to return to writing the good SF that readers like me have enjoyed for many years. However, the next time I think I'll wait before I invest my money in the hardback!
Rating: 
Summary: A powerful science fiction thriller
Review: Brilliant biochemist Hal Cousins conducts research on bacteria living on the ocean floor that if proves fruitful will be the Fountain of Youth as immortality would be the norm. However, someone does not want Hal's work to reach fruition and actually one of the team tries to kill him. Others are also murdered and Hal comes under suspicion of the homicides that include his twin brother, Rob.
Hal soon learns that under Stalin's rule, Soviet microbiologist Maxim Golokhov discovered how to use bacteria to control human behavior. His program, Silk clandestinely came to the United States to set in motion a plan for world domination. As Hal uncovers more of the truth, he wonders if he is paranoid as he sees Silk operatives in everyone including his brother's widow and wonders why Silk wants to stop him from developing the immortality elixir?
VITALS is a powerful science fiction thriller that never slows down whether the tale is in a bathysphere on the ocean floor or in a lab. The story line is fast-paced, seems credible, and is loaded with action though the climax leaves some threads dangling perhaps for a sequel. As he did with DARWIN'S RADIO, Greg Bear stirs up the biological paranoia that seems part of living in this century. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but could have been better
Review: This would be the least favorite of Bear's books for me, except he wrote Darwin's Children, which is just plain awful.
The book has some intriguing science, plot twists and real historic detail woven into it. It could have been a haunting masterpiece. Unfortunately, somewhere two thirds into the story, Bear loses focus. He tries to accomplish so much, that he seems to forget that it needs to tie together in some fashion for the reader.
I think a really good editor could have made him go back, lop off ninety pages and tighten the whole thing up, and it would have been swell.
As it is -- two thirds swell.
Rating:
Summary: An Odd Book
Review: Every now and then Greg Bears writes a book that misses. This is such a book. This book reminds me of a sciencetific version of "Raiders of the Lost Arc". There is a good guy and an Evil scientist and all of the assorted paraphernalia that is associated with a saturday morning serial. The Hero, Hal Cousins, is researching an eternal life project when things go very wrong for him. His twin brother is killed and he is pulled ever deeper into a twisting story. The rest of the story reads like a mystery with the hero trying to unravel the truth.
The problem with this book is that it misses. I know that this is an unsatisfactory answer. There is nothing overtly wrong with the story except that it feels both half-finished and already done better by somebody else. This is not really badly written, but not up to Bear's usual standards. This book reminds me of his earliest works when he was still finding his voice and style. The book is probally two drafts from being very good, but Bear stopped for his reasons. This book is not bad, but not great either.
| 
