Rating: 
Summary: A Black Hole of Thought
Review: Bear's transcendental, BLOOD MUSIC, is an amazing masterpiece of philosophical thought. It is made even more remarkable by the 1984 publishing date. In it Bear foresaw the final end of individuality, Orwell's prophecy in his equally remarkable book. Unfortunately characters and worlds dissolving into the noosphere don't make for good literature. The lead up is terrific, but forsaking one's characters, allowing them all to fall into a techno-Hell, a techno-Sartrean NO EXIT, must leave most readers aghast.
As the reader attempts to follow this brilliant story, each character eventually loses his/her individuality, ego, self. They are all sacrificed to achieve the ultimate end which is to inhabit a bloodless, bodiless Nirvana world and as a member of the noocyte team to function only as a single cell in the collective whole.
The story is open to so many interpretations it is almost pitiful. We might be watching a VANILLA SKY where the intellectual framework to separate dreaming from reality has been removed. Perhaps we are being lectured on advanced information theory where all matter becomes a message or to play on Marshall McLuhan, all matter is the medium. In this story, every position is represented by one character or another. The reader can identify most easily with Susy, the one character who, given the opportunity, chose not to surrender herself to the runaway evolution of human genes.
Many questions are provoked that each reader must answer for himself.
Will man ever listen to the "music" within his own body? In accepting the biocomputer-clockwork of the human cell, must man disavow his own self? Will man's constructed dichotomy between the animate and inanimate have to be flushed away? Is there really a place for the old man within the approaching Brave New World?
Rating: 
Summary: Genetic thriller apocalypse odyssey
Review: Beware, there are some things in this review to spoil some surprises if you haven't read it yet. It's worth reading, OK (and did pick up both a Hugo and a Nebula, so it's not just my opinion). The first third to half of this felt like you were sitting in a taut, well made thriller film. Virgil is a classic tool to set up an action/slight SF plot - a gifted geneticist, socially inept, is caught out doing shonky private research on the company time, and in a classy scene told he has two hours to destroy all his stuff. He manages to hide the most crucial enhanced 'learning' cells he's been working on, but eventually can only smuggle them out by injecting them in his own body - a crazy act, but he can't bear the thought of losing years of successful research. The stuff will probably die anyway, although of course it shouldn't have been let out of carefully quarantined conditions. All this presented skilfully, with the pseudo-scientific dialogue (how would I know) not abusing your suspension of disbelief. Of course weird things start happening, and he calls on his friend (and seeming ideal hero vehicle), Edward, a Doctor and Harrison Ford style intelligent and resourceful (but still sort of everyman) figure. Has Virgil potentially unleashed a deadly virus? And who are these suspicious CIA types in the background - there was actually defence research secretly happening at Virgil's lab: are we squaring off for a standard little man against the establishment, using his wits to unravel the mystery while on the run, finally using whatever the discovery is to cleverly resolve the book? There's even a powerful potential mini-resolution relatively early on that Bear could have built up to as a satisfactory conclusion. I would have enjoyed that, and I'm pretty sure he could have pulled it off nicely. But the novel veers. First into, 'Oh, ok, he's sliding into Spiderman territory: the microbes in Virgil's body are reconstructing him, making him invulnerable to disease, attractive to women, and giving him superhuman powers.' Again, not what I was expecting, but, sure, lets run with it. But then the novel careers. We've got a plague on our hands - that casually wipes out North America in a couple of days. We're now in a holocaust novel following around a few anomalous survivors. Meanwhile, over in Europe, a researcher has bravely taken his infection to an isolation tank so he can be studied as he dies. He starts communicating with the cells within him - they are intelligent and myriad. The scope just keeps growing - now the cells are challenging our view of humanity: they're more like an alien species with Godlike powers. It's an odyssey, with basic questions about reality and life and identity. Quite a ride - a writer who could put out a very decent thriller who is an SF thinker at heart - he keeps on throwing in new, 'Yeah, but what if's' along the way, any one or two of which would probably sustain a whole other book for someone else. We do lose out a bit on character, perhaps, because of this, but the people are not gallingly one dimensional, and are enjoyable as the sort of larger than life people you'd expect to meet in a decently cast slick film. Somehow, while not being as tight as it could have been, the book manages to cohere while wildly changing direction.
Rating: 
Summary: Should have been left at Novella Length
Review: Book Review by C. Douglas Baker Blood Music starts off with a promising concept and treats
it in a relatively sophisticated manner. Through the use of
recombinant DNA research, Vergil Ulam, creates a sentient single
cell organism. These organisms subsequently begin to build a
society to fit their needs. This means changing the molecular
structure of living creatures, including human beings, to suit
them. Thus begins (and ends) Blood Music. The better aspects of Blood Music involve the exploration of
the possibility of intelligent single-cell organisms. The scenes
where organisms actually "talk" or communicate with Vergil and
later Bernard had great potential. Unfortunately, most of the
novel reads like a second rate horror flick. I have not read the
novelette that won a Hugo so I suspect the more carelessly
conceived aspects of the novel were left out. The "blob" that
takes over New York city and the "ghosts" that appear to convince
Suzy to "join" them are simply trite B-movie devices. It's hard to recommend reading the entire novel. Only the
first third and second third are worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been left at Novella Length
Review: Book Review by C. Douglas Baker Blood Music starts off with a promising concept and treats
it in a relatively sophisticated manner. Through the use of
recombinant DNA research, Vergil Ulam, creates a sentient single
cell organism. These organisms subsequently begin to build a
society to fit their needs. This means changing the molecular
structure of living creatures, including human beings, to suit
them. Thus begins (and ends) Blood Music. The better aspects of Blood Music involve the exploration of
the possibility of intelligent single-cell organisms. The scenes
where organisms actually "talk" or communicate with Vergil and
later Bernard had great potential. Unfortunately, most of the
novel reads like a second rate horror flick. I have not read the
novelette that won a Hugo so I suspect the more carelessly
conceived aspects of the novel were left out. The "blob" that
takes over New York city and the "ghosts" that appear to convince
Suzy to "join" them are simply trite B-movie devices. It's hard to recommend reading the entire novel. Only the
first third and second third are worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Hard science Childhood's End
Review: For those few among you who don't know that my little title blurb means, Arthur C Clarke once wrote a nifty little book where the human race basically combined into this singular "Overmind" sort of thing and eventually left the planet to explore the Universe and join it. Sound familiar. Blood Music reminds me of Greg Bear reading it and actually trying to explain the science behind something like that (in Clarke's book it was said that it was part of evolution and natural mutation) and he does a fairly good job. The science in the beginning is mostly microbiology and for a science major like me it's a bit offputting because frankly I read this books to take a break from all the stuff they cram down my throat every day, being reminded of it isn't the first thing on my list when I pick a book. However the science is handled pretty well, and consider that the book is almost thirteen years old (if not older) I imagine if Bear went into detail about his science, it would make the book look out of date today, sort of like those books from the thirties that predicted by now we'd all have flying cars and hyperspeed. But the actual plot of the book ain't too bad, the suspense moves along well, most of the initial characters don't make it to the end of the book for a variety of reasons and that can be annoying if you're just getting used to them but it's all part of the plot. I think the scenario (barring Clarke) is one of the more interesting ones that have come across in SF and his marriage of hard science and what amounts to philosophical theories along the lines of nirvana comes across well even years later. Some of the scenes are a bit odd (I only wish I could pick up a girl that fast) but all in all it's a classic book that deserves to be read and discussed. It's thought provoking and entertaining and you can't ask for much more than that from a book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Biotech/Nanotech Books Ever
Review: Greg Bear originally wrote Blood Music as a short story but then later expanded it into a full-length novel. It is one of the classic and seminal works of biotech/nanotech fiction (for a more recent take on this subject, check out Kathleen Goonan's Queen City Jazz). This is a book that has everything for the sci-fi fan; great characters, great plot, great science, and a mind-blowing ending. This is a must-read!
Rating:
Summary: This is the way the World ends...
Review: Greg Bear's masterpiece "Blood Music" is astonishing. Compelling. Breathtaking. Horrifying. It is a remarkably deft, cogent, pithy little sorcerous book from the Master of "Big Idea" science fiction, so gripping and lucidly written that it will take about three hours to read through it, and three years to think through its implications. Bear's anti-hero is the socially inept but staggeringly brilliant Vergil Ulam, a cellular biologist who makes a startling discovery with genetically modified human leukocytes (white blood cells Ulam has been tampering with), attempts to contact a rival genetic researcher, gets caught, and promptly finds himself out of a job and---more importantly---out of a laboratory. With a discovery in hand that could catapult him to the forefront of the field of nanotechnology (the science of creating molecular-level machines that are capable of self-replication), what's a Mad Scientist to do? He injects himself with the little nanites, of course, and then goes out on the town. Greg Bear is a consummately gifted science fiction thinker who typically sacrifices character development, plot, and pacing to the more visceral and esoteric ramifications of the science at the core of his stories. "Blood Music", then, is even more of a rare gem, a book in which Bear's scientific acumen and literary craftsmanship come together. In the first few chapters, "Blood Music" takes on the pace and grue of a horror novel. At first the nanites in Ulam's body do nothing, and the scientist suspects they've been consumed and destroyed; then it becomes apparent that the modified leukocytes are reinventing Ulam, improving him, making benign little modifications: restoring his eyesight overnight, improving his stamina, and tucking his spine under a sheath of flesh (the better to protect it, of course). But as with the rest of Bear's best work, "Blood Music" wants to push further into the dark territory of the possible: the nanites get out of control, escape by the billions into society, and start reinventing humanity according to their own internal "blood music." The novel begins as a whimsical romp at the periphery of scientific knowledge, picks up momentum as an apocalyptic horror tale, and then---oddly enough---ends almost optimistically, playing with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. The best part of "Blood Music" are the constant, unexpected shifts and changes: just when you think you know where the novel is heading, Bear masterfully, and nastily, alters course. The field of nanotechnology has come a long way since Bear wrote "Blood Music", and much of what was theoretical then is very possible---if not already in application---now. With that in mind, "Blood Music" is a delicious and unforgettable journey into the horror and hope of a mysterious and powerful science, and one of the classics of modern science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A good foundation leads to chilling speculation
Review: Greg gave the appearance of knowing his science in this book. It felt convincing. It showed an important part about scientific squabbling and reminded us of the arrogance of "being the only one who knows". The two most significant characters, the scientist who started the "change" and the one who offers himself up as an experiment are drawn well, and work in a consistent manner with their characterizations. The ending is not something I would want, given my individual tastes, but the fact that many characters find it desirable is a credit to Greg's thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Exhilarating Adrenaline Rush & Great Speculative Fiction!
Review: Looking for a book so good you drop everything else and get behind on all that stuff you should be doing? This is one of those books! This had the same derail-my-other-projects distraction factor as King's "The Stand," Case's "The Genesis Code," Preston's "The Hot Zone," and assorted other favorite thrillers. Reading "Blood Music" felt like a ride on a really fast train. Even when I had a good idea of where we were going, the ride there was exhilarating. "Blood Music" is also a great piece of speculative fiction. Lovers of hard SF will appreciate the solid science foundation. People who don't care about hard SF for its own sake will find "Blood Music" all the more creepy because it is oh-so-believable. Greg Bear is excellent. If you have not read him, this is a great start. If you like him and missed this, buy it now. If you wait, you'll be sorry you did when you finally get around to reading "Blood Music." If you read this and would like more Greg Bear, try "The Forge of God." For more plague fiction by someone you may not have read, try Connie Willis's "The Domesday Book."
Rating:
Summary: Exhilarating Adrenaline Rush & Great Speculative Fiction!
Review: Looking for a book so good you drop everything else and get behind on all that stuff you should be doing? This is one of those books! This had the same derail-my-other-projects distraction factor as King's "The Stand," Case's "The Genesis Code," Preston's "The Hot Zone," and assorted other favorite thrillers. Reading "Blood Music" felt like a ride on a really fast train. Even when I had a good idea of where we were going, the ride there was exhilarating. "Blood Music" is also a great piece of speculative fiction. Lovers of hard SF will appreciate the solid science foundation. People who don't care about hard SF for its own sake will find "Blood Music" all the more creepy because it is oh-so-believable. Greg Bear is excellent. If you have not read him, this is a great start. If you like him and missed this, buy it now. If you wait, you'll be sorry you did when you finally get around to reading "Blood Music." If you read this and would like more Greg Bear, try "The Forge of God." For more plague fiction by someone you may not have read, try Connie Willis's "The Domesday Book."
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