Rating: 
Summary: What a classic sf novel should be!
Review: A classic novel of science fiction needs ideas or environments we have never seen before, believable and intriguing technical details, a STORY, many surprises and pleasures along the way, interesting characters the reader can relate to, and a conclusion to set the whole work back into a broader context. This book delivers on all counts. I wish I had read it sooner.
Rating:
Summary: What a classic sf novel should be!
Review: A classic novel of science fiction needs ideas or environments we have never seen before, believable and intriguing technical details, a STORY, many surprises and pleasures along the way, interesting characters the reader can relate to, and a conclusion to set the whole work back into a broader context. This book delivers on all counts. I wish I had read it sooner.
Rating:
Summary: McCarthy brings sci-fi back a whole new life.
Review: Absolutely magnificent book combining the some of the best of traditional science fiction themes with the author's unique voice and vision. I was thoroughly engaged and entertained, and even surprised at the end when the true nature of the mysterious mycosystem was revealed. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent concept, poor execution.
Review: Bloom's concept grabbed me right away. Unfortunately, the tone is annoyingly breezy, the plot is predictable, and the characters are unconvincing. The author is an engineer, and it shows; he should have spent less time inventing twenty-second century geek jargon and more time developing his characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read
Review: Excellent read. I found the characters, future society and plot believable, and remained engaged to discover the mystery hinted at along the way. I would re-read this book, and look for more from McCarthy.
Rating: 
Summary: If Wil McCarthy could write endings, he'd be dangerous
Review: Few of my recent SF reads have started off as well as this one. McCarthy gives us an unpleasant but plausible future where nanomachines have taken over Earth and most of the solar system as well, literally gobbling up worlds. He then decorates this with plausible details, gives us some interesting characters, and sends them off on a perilous, mysterious, high-tech ride to danger and glory. By the middle of this book I was quite thoroughly hooked. McCarthy's description of a transfigured solar system, where runaway nanotech has literally changed the shape of the planets and filled space itself with tenuous, mysterious structure, is one of the most memorable things I've read in recent years. And then... Well, let's just say that the ending is, not so much unsatisfactory, as annoying and (thematically) inconsistent with the rest of the book. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I *really* didn't like the ending... not so much what McCarthy did, but the jarring and poorly executed way in which he did it (feel free to contact me directly if you disagree!). This book had such great potential that the disappointing ending hit pretty hard. Still, I'd say it's worth buying and reading anyhow if you're interested in nanotech and a gritty, well realized future.
Rating:
Summary: Great beginning; lousy ending
Review: Gripping, enthralling . . . at least at the start. However somewhere in the book, around three quarters of the way through, the novel takes a turn for the worse. But that was OK, McCarthy could have pulled it off and it still would have been a decent novel. But, NO, the last few pages see another twist and the book spirals in for a crash and burn. And so it ended, leaving me asking this question -- What? Was the manuscript due in a real hurry?
Rating:
Summary: Good read, but would have liked to know more....
Review: I felt Bloom was a good read. The author spends alot of time trying to develop the characters. Very good description of the surroundings... I was able to picture exactly what was going on. The concept of the Mycora and how human's own creation will come back to bite us is an interesting idea. I would have liked to read more about the Mycora. The entire time I was wondering what are these things? The author tries to explain everything about it, but I wanted to know more. By the end, I realized what they really were, but then it was over. Maybe Wil McCarthy will do a sequel to explain more.
Rating:
Summary: shrug
Review: I had high hopes for this book, but here's my report: interchangeable characters, disappointingly predictable extrapolation of technology, and a trite conclusion. It pains me to say this, but this novel could've been written by any number of fellow engineers--except they don't pen novels, they stick to engineering.I do know some folks who could use a 'tickle capacitor', however! Time to 'Preview my Review'...
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I read BLOOM in one sitting. It's full of neat scientific ideas, smooth to read, and optimistic in a hard-headed sort of way. McCarthy is always smooth and smart. Someone once said that the difference between fantasy and science fiction is that fantasy is a quest to restore order and science fiction is about transformation. I can point to a lot of exceptions to that dichotomy, but by God, BLOOM is clearly about transformation. Good Book.
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