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: "Bloom" needs a sequel
Review: I'll make this short and sweet. IMHO - well fleshed characters for a book of it's type, which is to say HARD-SF. If you are looking for Melville or Fitzgerald, ya might wanna try English Lit 101 again. Everything here is in service of the plot - a manmade nanite has destroyed the underpinnings of human civilization and is threatening to destroy what is left of it. There's alot of suspense here, terror of the unknown, discovery on a landmark journey, treachery, chases, and above all else, a warning on just how far we've come a little too quickly. This one will stay on my shelf for good. McCarthy is a credit to the genre, and while I wasn't too thrilled with his latest book "Collapsium", I'm hoping that he'll next revisit the universe he created in "Bloom" and take it to the next step, kick it up a notch or two, and let it soar.
Rating:
Summary: Sim Nanotech
Review: I'm not a huge fan of hard SF, but "Bloom" won me over. Mr. McCarthy's knowledge and handling there of, is brilliant in this, his fifth novel. I agree w/ some of the other reviews, in that some of the dialogue/interplay between characters wasn't the strongest point in the book. However, the setting, the mind sets, the new society which mankind finds itself in explains the character's interactions to me and it was done exceptionally well. All that said, what I found really interesting was the tech details of the ship's flight, as well as the biological patterns of "life", either imagined or real, which are discussed throughout the story. Those are the true jewels of this novel, and no other reader/reviewer has mentioned them! I'm buying and reading the rest of his novels asap.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't ask for everything - one molecular biologist's lament.
Review: McCarthy, like most science fiction writers, must be a nerd. This being the case, the science is always good, the story moves but anything having to do with human interaction (especially with girls) takes a huge nosedive. That said, if you skip the embarrassingly written sex and love bits, and in fact all the parts where people talk to each other, you get truly breathtaking bio and nano-tech sci fi. Truly, really visionary and important. This book should get 6 stars for the science but gets 2 knocked off for bad writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Dry Reading
Review: Sometime in the mid-twenty-first century, a nanotechnology accident of unknown origin devours Earth and then the moon. The end result, the Mycosystem, is a growing rot feeding on any organic and inorganic material it encounters. Like its fungal namesake, it spreads by spores. Riding on the solar wind, these spores cause "blooms" when they enter the human habitats inside Ganymede, Callisto and assorted asteroids. For twenty years, man has survived by developing elaborate "immune systems" to fight the blooms. However, recent blooms show an alarming sophistication and ability to skirt these countermeasures. Armored against "technogenic life", the spaceship Louis Pasteur departs for the depths of the Mycosystem, Earth and Mars. Its mission is to determine whether the Mycosystem has developed the ability to inhabit new niches in the Solar System. Documenting the mission is John Strasheim, a former cobbler given the chance to practice his talents as an amateur journalist. But, shortly after the mission is underway, evidence comes forth that humans still exist in the Mycosystem -- and that someone wants the mission to fail. This book has a lot to like. McCarthy tells a taut, hard science story. His nanotechnology is not magic. Indeed, he shows various ways -- ph balances, chemicals, too much and too little energy -- the "gray goo" type of nanotechnology accident could be contained. He also delves into ideas of complex systems, their emergent properties, and the implications of using evolutionary design to combat the Mycosystem and understand it. McCarthy also does a very good job with the characterization of narrator Strasheim as he learns new truths about the Mycosystem and confronts the possibility of a violent death. The captain of the Louis Pasteur is also a memorable character, a man so lacking in a sense of humor that he literally has one surgically implanted. My only complaint with the novel is that McCarthy doesn't bring to life the other crew members of the Pasteur except for Renata Baucum, a Mycosystem specialist antagonistic to Strasheim. McCarthy keeps his scientific and political mystery brief and fast moving. While the revelations of the Mycosystem's nature are not totally unexpected, McCarthy brings in enough interesting detail and ambiguity to make it interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed Nanotechnology and Strong Characterization
Review: Sometime in the mid-twenty-first century, a nanotechnology accident of unknown origin devours Earth and then the moon. The end result, the Mycosystem, is a growing rot feeding on any organic and inorganic material it encounters. Like its fungal namesake, it spreads by spores. Riding on the solar wind, these spores cause "blooms" when they enter the human habitats inside Ganymede, Callisto and assorted asteroids. For twenty years, man has survived by developing elaborate "immune systems" to fight the blooms. However, recent blooms show an alarming sophistication and ability to skirt these countermeasures. Armored against "technogenic life", the spaceship Louis Pasteur departs for the depths of the Mycosystem, Earth and Mars. Its mission is to determine whether the Mycosystem has developed the ability to inhabit new niches in the Solar System. Documenting the mission is John Strasheim, a former cobbler given the chance to practice his talents as an amateur journalist. But, shortly after the mission is underway, evidence comes forth that humans still exist in the Mycosystem -- and that someone wants the mission to fail. This book has a lot to like. McCarthy tells a taut, hard science story. His nanotechnology is not magic. Indeed, he shows various ways -- ph balances, chemicals, too much and too little energy -- the "gray goo" type of nanotechnology accident could be contained. He also delves into ideas of complex systems, their emergent properties, and the implications of using evolutionary design to combat the Mycosystem and understand it. McCarthy also does a very good job with the characterization of narrator Strasheim as he learns new truths about the Mycosystem and confronts the possibility of a violent death. The captain of the Louis Pasteur is also a memorable character, a man so lacking in a sense of humor that he literally has one surgically implanted. My only complaint with the novel is that McCarthy doesn't bring to life the other crew members of the Pasteur except for Renata Baucum, a Mycosystem specialist antagonistic to Strasheim. McCarthy keeps his scientific and political mystery brief and fast moving. While the revelations of the Mycosystem's nature are not totally unexpected, McCarthy brings in enough interesting detail and ambiguity to make it interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Scared the heck out of me.
Review: The main idea brought forth in this book scared the heck out of me. The idea is that wandering nanotech could drift for ages, then suddenly "bloom", eating all matter in the vicinty, thus creating terrible destruction. The book would translate to film very well. Sure, some of the characterization is weak, but that's not why we read hard-SF like this. The science and the ideas are key here, and Wil McCarthy delivers on both.
Rating:
Summary: Scared the heck out of me.
Review: The main idea brought forth in this book scared the heck out of me. The idea is that wandering nanotech could drift for ages, then suddenly "bloom", eating all matter in the vicinty, thus creating terrible destruction. The book would translate to film very well. Sure, some of the characterization is weak, but that's not why we read hard-SF like this. The science and the ideas are key here, and Wil McCarthy delivers on both.
Rating:
Summary: A good view on how technology can go unchecked.
Review: The mycora a nanoscale biological/technological device created in the mid twentieth century has gotten completely out of control. endlessly mutating, endlessly evolving, and endlessly ravenous the have taken over the entire inner solar system from mercury to Mars. Humanity (the less than 2 million that escaped earth) is now forced to inhabit the asteriod belt (Gladholds) and the Jovian moons in the area of space known as the Immunity where they have created macrophages capable of digesting the myvora. Blooms or a group of mycora that have gotten into the habitable moons are frequent and kill nearly twenty people a month. On a mission the explore the mycosystem (inner solar system) a group a scientists aboard the Loius Pasteur are sent to earth and mars to place detectors to tell the Jovian moons when the mysore have adapted to the the cold of the outer system. This mission is wrought with sabotage and disaster. A good book from one of the great science fiction writers. It illustrates how unknown biological technology can quickly become dangerous and out of control. If you like nanotechnology this is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: This one was stunning, I stayed up late to finish it last night. In the not so distant future tiny nano machines have reduced the inner solar system planets to gooey soup. Humanity sits cowering in the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter. Saved by their own nano-immune response machines. The powers that be want a mission to Earth, but why, and who stands to benefit (or lose) the most? Great sci-fi, a speedy action-packed plot, and fantastic characterisations made this a gripping read.
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