Rating: 
Summary: Crime, Punishment, and Still More Punishment
Review: This is the best Greg Bear book I've read. It's not as accessible as BLOOD MUSIC (his other really good one), but in many ways it's more impressive. A reviewer's blurb on the cover of my paperback edition calls it "...possibly the most ambitious novel ever written..." which sounds like the most ridiculous hyperbole, but I wouldn't call it completely off the mark.For some reason, the author wrote several sections in a deliberately obtuse fashion, which forced me to reread the first couple pages of many chapters. I haven't quite figured out the intent behind this literary "technique", but plowing through the difficult parts of this one actually pays off. The novel's obsessive focus on the themes of crime and punishment (mostly punishment), looked at from the perspectives of different characters in different situations, impressed me much the same way Frederik Pohl's novel GATEWAY did (which dealt with the themes of survival and guilt). It really sticks with you after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Crime, Punishment, and Still More Punishment
Review: This is the best Greg Bear book I've read. It's not as accessible as BLOOD MUSIC (his other really good one), but in many ways it's more impressive. A reviewer's blurb on the cover of my paperback edition calls it "...possibly the most ambitious novel ever written..." which sounds like the most ridiculous hyperbole, but I wouldn't call it completely off the mark. For some reason, the author wrote several sections in a deliberately obtuse fashion, which forced me to reread the first couple pages of many chapters. I haven't quite figured out the intent behind this literary "technique", but plowing through the difficult parts of this one actually pays off. The novel's obsessive focus on the themes of crime and punishment (mostly punishment), looked at from the perspectives of different characters in different situations, impressed me much the same way Frederik Pohl's novel GATEWAY did (which dealt with the themes of survival and guilt). It really sticks with you after reading it.
Rating: 
Summary: What's the message?
Review: This story is told from the point of view of three characters; a police officer assigned to find a murderer, a friend of the murderer, and a therapist assigned to examine the murder. Another story line about a robot mission to a planet in another galaxy is thrown in. The stories are loosely connected but really go in different directions. It's really three short stories thrown together. The story about the police officer was the most interesting followed by the therapist's. The friend's story was the most boring. None of the stories really have much of a resolution. Overall, it seems Bear was trying to say something about the nature of sentiency. However, I wasn't able to determine exactly what he was trying to say about it. I can't recommend this book because the author's message seems to be lost and the stories are only moderately interesting in their own right.
Rating: 
Summary: A Poor, Shameless Attempt to Copy Neuromancer
Review: This was a very difficult read because of the unusual grammar and punctuation, bold use of undefined jargon, and numerous stream-of-consciousness interruptions. My library copy must have been subjected to unusual vibrations, because most of the commas had fallen out of it. A lot of history is vaguely referenced, but never completed. This attempt at creating mystery only results in confusion. There are three story lines, and two of them are remotely related. After investing a great deal in understanding the book, the reader is left completely unrewarded by the ending. Several hours after completing the book, I realized it copies William Gibson's influential classic, Neuromancer, in writing style, plot style, plot content, and countless other ways. This was a shock, because Greg Bear is better than that.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: When science fiction is at it's best, it usually is a social commentary of the future. This is such a book and it one of the best commentaries you will find any time soon. A poet in the near future commits a gruesome murder and from there the story plot turns. Three seperate methods are used to examine why he did the murder and Bear does a wonderfull job of exploring the underlying social standards that each represents. The book is full of technology that seems far out by todays standards. If you read carefully, the underlining story is not far off of what could happen. This is a story about crime, punishment, and rehabilitation. This book can be read two seperate ways. One way is a social commentary, the other is a whodunit. Both are legitimate. This is a fantastic read that you will not be able to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: When science fiction is at it's best, it usually is a social commentary of the future. This is such a book and it one of the best commentaries you will find any time soon. A poet in the near future commits a gruesome murder and from there the story plot turns. Three seperate methods are used to examine why he did the murder and Bear does a wonderfull job of exploring the underlying social standards that each represents. The book is full of technology that seems far out by todays standards. If you read carefully, the underlining story is not far off of what could happen. This is a story about crime, punishment, and rehabilitation. This book can be read two seperate ways. One way is a social commentary, the other is a whodunit. Both are legitimate. This is a fantastic read that you will not be able to put down.
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