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hynekozana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
sagebarns's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jonmhansen's review against another edition
5.0
This is the way the world ends: not with a bang but with a quantum mechanic WTF.
just_jenxi's review against another edition
4.0
A mad scientist creates self aware single cell organisms capable of converting all organic matter into themselves and THEN shit gets crazy
david_agranoff's review against another edition
5.0
In 2005 or so author Cody Goodfellow mentioned Blood Music to me assuming I had read it. I had read Greg Bear. Eon, I think Darwin’s Radio. All before I tracked my reading, so it is fuzzy. Somehow despite all the award nominations and the nature of being a classic Science Fiction horror crossover I had not read it. Feeling like a poser I went the next day to the 5th ave books in San Diego, the bookstore we affectionately referred to as “the annoying guy bookstore,” and found a paperback copy of Blood Music. Good thing I rushed down there as it sat unread on my shelf for 17 years. Two weeks ago, Greg Bear’s wife Astrid announced that the award-winning author had died.
Suddenly I felt guilty that I never took Cody’s advice, and with the passing of Greg Bear thought it was time. Bear is from here in San Diego, and even if he ended up in Seattle I think we can claim him. David Brin and Kim Stanley Robinson are connected to UCSD but Bear has a degree across town as an Aztec at SDSU. Well I have for sure read his Star Trek and Star Wars novels, they were notable for being more SF than many of the similar books attached to the franchises. Eon is the book I have the strongest memory reading.
Now Blood Music. Is the hype real? I mean the awards are one thing, but Cody Goodfellow's recommendations are normally golden. There is only one time I can think of a book he urged me to read that I hated. Blood Music I am happy to say lives up to the hype and is all that. Bear is known for hard science so I assume that is the case with this novel which was an expansion of a novella.
Expansions can be a mixed bag. Often the original novella or story remains the core genius, in this case, I don’t have the shorter work to compare it to. I think the novel is a masterpiece as is, but as I said I have nothing to compare it to. Blood Music is the perfect hybrid of Science Fiction and horror, mind-bending and thought-inducing creep-out that starts like a mad-scientist story and morphs into Andromeda Strain-ish end of the world…wait end of the universe tale. The world doesn’t begin to describe it.
The thinking plague was an unintentional theme back to back as I just read David Koepp’s Cold Storage. Scientific hubris is not the point of Blood Music, even though it seeds that idea with the actions of Vergil who certainly looks like a main character at the start. As he drops out of the story you might be thinking this is a case of an SF author focused on ideas that sacrifice characters.
Blood Music comes close to doing that in the sense the ideas as grand as they are will run over your memories of this book. At the moment however Bear does give attention to several characters, although no one is a true POV character. For good reason the narrative shifts often. However, even characters like the journalist introduced only in the words of his report as he flies over America has little details that give the definition to that character.
The thing is the ideas of this novel, the concept is just so strong no matter what Bear does to make Suzy, Virgil, or Michael Bernard live and breathe you’ll close the book and think about the nature of the universe. That is the mission of science fiction when at its best. Horror at its best does that and makes you uncomfortable about it. The thing is if you are really getting into Blood Music on a cosmic horror scale this makes you feel puny like the best of Lovecraft.
“Almost every living cell there was already a functioning computer with a huge memory? A mammalian cell had a DNA complement of several billion base pairs, each acting as a piece of information. What was reproduction, after all, but a computerized biological process of enormous complexity and reliability?”
Blood Music is about a lab scientist who is experimenting with getting the cells in living bodies to think for themselves. And when he thinks he is getting fired and cut off from his experiments he injects himself. The side effects are not that different from Brundle's in The FLY. In a typical novel this would set up an arc for Vergil, but he is catalyst and not the point. His cells, his living cells come alive in a series of creepy moments.
“Are you Stoned?”
He shook his head, then nodded once, very slowly “listening.”
“To what?”
“I don’t know. Sounds. Not sounds. Like music. The heart, all the blood vessels, the friction of the blood along the arteries, veins. Activity. Music in the blood.”
The hint of the title, normally when a character speaks the title of a story it can be corny but in this case it works. It is also a hint of the mission statement of Bear’s musing with this concept. The notion should creep out any reader. The idea is that the cells in our body could awaken and become a universe in their own right. Much has been made of how the MCU and popular media popularized the idea of multiverses but also quantum universes. Blood music expands the idea that these cells in Virgil’s body become a universe themselves.
Fantasy has often taken place in these micro-universes, my favorite being Clive Barker's Weaveworld. It is something special for a hard Science Fiction novel. Mostly Blood music hints at these huge and heady issues.
“They’re trying to understand what space is. That’s tough for them. They break distances down into concentrations of chemicals. For them, space is a range of taste intensities.”
“Maybe that’s what your machine calls infection—all the new information in my blood. Chatter. Tastes of other individuals. Peers. Superiors. Subordinates.”
Once the cells become aware they want to spread and grow. That is when the horror elements begin, the thinking plague that starts by changing and manipulating of its environment or space. Just as we have changed the earth they change Virgil. Eventually, his friend Michael isolates himself and tries to learn to communicate with the cells in his body.
“You say they are a civilization—”
“Like a thousand civilizations.”
“What am I to you?
Father/Mother/Universe
World-Challenge
Source of all
Ancient slow
*Mountain-galaxy*”
This is when the multiple points of view really help in the narrative. While we learn about the nature of the virus, we see the effects through the eyes of Suzy and April back in California. there is one outlier chapter that is really smart in the context of explaining the scale of the apocalyptic events. As told in a transcript of a news report, a European reporter flies over America. Complete to a shout-out to my homeland of Indiana.
“How do I describe the landscape beneath us. A new vocabulary, a new language, may be necessary.” “Indianapolis is below us, and as indecipherable, as mysterious and…beautiful and alien as the other megaplexes.”
The changing landscape is the surface effect, but the reality of the universe and the cosmic issues are what really moves me. Blood Music is a classic and nominated with good reason. This book is a fantastic place to start if you want to honor the writer we just lost. I don't think it is similar to his other works but that is why it stands out. It is a fun, thought-provoking genre hybrid that questions the nature of reality. Yeah - that good.
“The human race hasn’t generated nearly the density or amount of information processing – computing, thinking, what have you – to manifest any truly obvious effects on space-time.”
Suddenly I felt guilty that I never took Cody’s advice, and with the passing of Greg Bear thought it was time. Bear is from here in San Diego, and even if he ended up in Seattle I think we can claim him. David Brin and Kim Stanley Robinson are connected to UCSD but Bear has a degree across town as an Aztec at SDSU. Well I have for sure read his Star Trek and Star Wars novels, they were notable for being more SF than many of the similar books attached to the franchises. Eon is the book I have the strongest memory reading.
Now Blood Music. Is the hype real? I mean the awards are one thing, but Cody Goodfellow's recommendations are normally golden. There is only one time I can think of a book he urged me to read that I hated. Blood Music I am happy to say lives up to the hype and is all that. Bear is known for hard science so I assume that is the case with this novel which was an expansion of a novella.
Expansions can be a mixed bag. Often the original novella or story remains the core genius, in this case, I don’t have the shorter work to compare it to. I think the novel is a masterpiece as is, but as I said I have nothing to compare it to. Blood Music is the perfect hybrid of Science Fiction and horror, mind-bending and thought-inducing creep-out that starts like a mad-scientist story and morphs into Andromeda Strain-ish end of the world…wait end of the universe tale. The world doesn’t begin to describe it.
The thinking plague was an unintentional theme back to back as I just read David Koepp’s Cold Storage. Scientific hubris is not the point of Blood Music, even though it seeds that idea with the actions of Vergil who certainly looks like a main character at the start. As he drops out of the story you might be thinking this is a case of an SF author focused on ideas that sacrifice characters.
Blood Music comes close to doing that in the sense the ideas as grand as they are will run over your memories of this book. At the moment however Bear does give attention to several characters, although no one is a true POV character. For good reason the narrative shifts often. However, even characters like the journalist introduced only in the words of his report as he flies over America has little details that give the definition to that character.
The thing is the ideas of this novel, the concept is just so strong no matter what Bear does to make Suzy, Virgil, or Michael Bernard live and breathe you’ll close the book and think about the nature of the universe. That is the mission of science fiction when at its best. Horror at its best does that and makes you uncomfortable about it. The thing is if you are really getting into Blood Music on a cosmic horror scale this makes you feel puny like the best of Lovecraft.
“Almost every living cell there was already a functioning computer with a huge memory? A mammalian cell had a DNA complement of several billion base pairs, each acting as a piece of information. What was reproduction, after all, but a computerized biological process of enormous complexity and reliability?”
Blood Music is about a lab scientist who is experimenting with getting the cells in living bodies to think for themselves. And when he thinks he is getting fired and cut off from his experiments he injects himself. The side effects are not that different from Brundle's in The FLY. In a typical novel this would set up an arc for Vergil, but he is catalyst and not the point. His cells, his living cells come alive in a series of creepy moments.
“Are you Stoned?”
He shook his head, then nodded once, very slowly “listening.”
“To what?”
“I don’t know. Sounds. Not sounds. Like music. The heart, all the blood vessels, the friction of the blood along the arteries, veins. Activity. Music in the blood.”
The hint of the title, normally when a character speaks the title of a story it can be corny but in this case it works. It is also a hint of the mission statement of Bear’s musing with this concept. The notion should creep out any reader. The idea is that the cells in our body could awaken and become a universe in their own right. Much has been made of how the MCU and popular media popularized the idea of multiverses but also quantum universes. Blood music expands the idea that these cells in Virgil’s body become a universe themselves.
Fantasy has often taken place in these micro-universes, my favorite being Clive Barker's Weaveworld. It is something special for a hard Science Fiction novel. Mostly Blood music hints at these huge and heady issues.
“They’re trying to understand what space is. That’s tough for them. They break distances down into concentrations of chemicals. For them, space is a range of taste intensities.”
“Maybe that’s what your machine calls infection—all the new information in my blood. Chatter. Tastes of other individuals. Peers. Superiors. Subordinates.”
Once the cells become aware they want to spread and grow. That is when the horror elements begin, the thinking plague that starts by changing and manipulating of its environment or space. Just as we have changed the earth they change Virgil. Eventually, his friend Michael isolates himself and tries to learn to communicate with the cells in his body.
“You say they are a civilization—”
“Like a thousand civilizations.”
“What am I to you?
Father/Mother/Universe
World-Challenge
Source of all
Ancient slow
*Mountain-galaxy*”
This is when the multiple points of view really help in the narrative. While we learn about the nature of the virus, we see the effects through the eyes of Suzy and April back in California. there is one outlier chapter that is really smart in the context of explaining the scale of the apocalyptic events. As told in a transcript of a news report, a European reporter flies over America. Complete to a shout-out to my homeland of Indiana.
“How do I describe the landscape beneath us. A new vocabulary, a new language, may be necessary.” “Indianapolis is below us, and as indecipherable, as mysterious and…beautiful and alien as the other megaplexes.”
The changing landscape is the surface effect, but the reality of the universe and the cosmic issues are what really moves me. Blood Music is a classic and nominated with good reason. This book is a fantastic place to start if you want to honor the writer we just lost. I don't think it is similar to his other works but that is why it stands out. It is a fun, thought-provoking genre hybrid that questions the nature of reality. Yeah - that good.
“The human race hasn’t generated nearly the density or amount of information processing – computing, thinking, what have you – to manifest any truly obvious effects on space-time.”
robbo_c's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
acrisalves's review against another edition
5.0
https://osrascunhos.com/2008/12/01/blood-music-greg-bear/
A premissa de Blood Music foi desenvolvida inicialmente num conto publicado em 1983 na Analog, que venceu os prémios Hugo e Nébula.
Encorajado pelos prémios, Greg Bear desenvolveu o conto num romance com o mesmo nome, que viria a ser nomeado para os mesmos prémios na categoria respectiva.
Apesar de não ter ganho os prémios referidos, Blood Music é considerado um dos melhores livros de Ficção Científica, fazendo parte de uma colecção de 8 obras da Gollancz – Future Classics.
Blood Music é um livro de FC sem naves, sem extra-terrestres, sem tecnologias informáticas ultra-avançadas – recorre apenas à microbiologia e à genética.
Não são vulgares os livros do género bem sucedidos que se baseiam única e exclusivamente em experiências laboratoriais. E se um cientista fosse capaz de dar inteligência a células?
Vergil Ulam é um cientista sem medo de recorrer a meios algo obscuros para conseguir o que pretende, como falsear informação curricular. No entanto, as suas capacidades intelectuais são suficientes para ninguém questionar o currículo.
Para além das experiências do projecto, Vergil utiliza o laboratório para desenvolver as suas próprias ideias fora do horário de trabalho – algo usual na área. O que não é normal são as experiências de Vergil – utilizando vários tipos de células (até células animais ou células humanas), e DNA humano silencioso (intrões, que segundo algumas teorias se tratam de lixo celular), Vergil constroe células inteligentes.
Quando os materiais que utiliza nos ensaios se tornam conhecidos, Vergil é despedido por as experiências não serem abrangidas pelas licenças da empresa e por serem consideradas pouco éticas. De modo a salvar os resultados, Vergil injecta-se com as suas próprias células modificadas.
Desempregado, a vida de Vergil modifica-se – conhece uma rapariga, Candice, algo para ele pouco normal; e sofre alterações morfológicas profundas – recupera a visão, o metabolismo modifica-se e deixa de ter alergias. Para além do bem estar geral, os ossos e os tecidos celulares são optimizados levando a uma re-estruturação geral. Tudo na transformação é prefeito, até que Vergil começa a ouvir música no sangue – as próprias células decidem dar-se a conhecer.
A história roda em torno de Vergil durante o primeiro terço, e lembro-me de ter achado que mais um pouco do mesmo e caísse na monotomia. Mas Greg Bear roda o tabuleiro e consegue-nos surpreender, evoluindo a história de uma forma imprevista, surreal e repentina que lhe dá um novo ímpeto. Após nova reviravolta, Greg Bear termina a história quando deve, sem se perder nem alongar para além do necessário.
A meio fica-nos uma introspeccção curta em que, propositadamente, se relembra de um clássico de FC – Frankenstein. Um livro que apesar de extraordinário, deixou na sociedade um medo patológico dos cientistas, e das suas experiências incompreendidas pelos restantes seres humanos.
Para além desta comparação, algo de interessante no livro é a sua estrutura interna – os capítulos são nomeados consoante as fases da mitose; em consonância com o desenvolvimento da história.
A premissa de Blood Music foi desenvolvida inicialmente num conto publicado em 1983 na Analog, que venceu os prémios Hugo e Nébula.
Encorajado pelos prémios, Greg Bear desenvolveu o conto num romance com o mesmo nome, que viria a ser nomeado para os mesmos prémios na categoria respectiva.
Apesar de não ter ganho os prémios referidos, Blood Music é considerado um dos melhores livros de Ficção Científica, fazendo parte de uma colecção de 8 obras da Gollancz – Future Classics.
Blood Music é um livro de FC sem naves, sem extra-terrestres, sem tecnologias informáticas ultra-avançadas – recorre apenas à microbiologia e à genética.
Não são vulgares os livros do género bem sucedidos que se baseiam única e exclusivamente em experiências laboratoriais. E se um cientista fosse capaz de dar inteligência a células?
Vergil Ulam é um cientista sem medo de recorrer a meios algo obscuros para conseguir o que pretende, como falsear informação curricular. No entanto, as suas capacidades intelectuais são suficientes para ninguém questionar o currículo.
Para além das experiências do projecto, Vergil utiliza o laboratório para desenvolver as suas próprias ideias fora do horário de trabalho – algo usual na área. O que não é normal são as experiências de Vergil – utilizando vários tipos de células (até células animais ou células humanas), e DNA humano silencioso (intrões, que segundo algumas teorias se tratam de lixo celular), Vergil constroe células inteligentes.
Quando os materiais que utiliza nos ensaios se tornam conhecidos, Vergil é despedido por as experiências não serem abrangidas pelas licenças da empresa e por serem consideradas pouco éticas. De modo a salvar os resultados, Vergil injecta-se com as suas próprias células modificadas.
Desempregado, a vida de Vergil modifica-se – conhece uma rapariga, Candice, algo para ele pouco normal; e sofre alterações morfológicas profundas – recupera a visão, o metabolismo modifica-se e deixa de ter alergias. Para além do bem estar geral, os ossos e os tecidos celulares são optimizados levando a uma re-estruturação geral. Tudo na transformação é prefeito, até que Vergil começa a ouvir música no sangue – as próprias células decidem dar-se a conhecer.
A história roda em torno de Vergil durante o primeiro terço, e lembro-me de ter achado que mais um pouco do mesmo e caísse na monotomia. Mas Greg Bear roda o tabuleiro e consegue-nos surpreender, evoluindo a história de uma forma imprevista, surreal e repentina que lhe dá um novo ímpeto. Após nova reviravolta, Greg Bear termina a história quando deve, sem se perder nem alongar para além do necessário.
A meio fica-nos uma introspeccção curta em que, propositadamente, se relembra de um clássico de FC – Frankenstein. Um livro que apesar de extraordinário, deixou na sociedade um medo patológico dos cientistas, e das suas experiências incompreendidas pelos restantes seres humanos.
Para além desta comparação, algo de interessante no livro é a sua estrutura interna – os capítulos são nomeados consoante as fases da mitose; em consonância com o desenvolvimento da história.
mitchellsack's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
Disturbing stuff! Great ideas too.
bigenk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A suspenseful and grotesque story that slowly unfolds itself into something with massive scope. Bear builds momentum in the story bit by bit, and then unleashes some really captivating moments and ideas. There were several twists that were memorable enough that I am sure they will stick to my brain for quite some time. Bear writes with a steady hand that draws you into the story. Characters are better than most within the science fiction genre for sure, but nothing to write home about. I think that the first 1/2 of the book was a little more compelling and exciting to read, but the second half sure does have it's moments too, especially considering the ideas that it touches upon (E.g. genetic memory, consciousness, & reality).
I think that some consider this to fall into the horror genre, but I don't know if I agree fully. Suspenseful? Sure. Body horror? Absolutely. But I don't think that the horror elements are really the focus. A stunner for sure, highly recommended.
I'm not sure if this is just an issue with my printing of the book, but there were an egregious amount of grammatical errors, so much so that they became distracting at points. Hoping to eventually get a different copy in my hands and see if it is better copy-edited.
I think that some consider this to fall into the horror genre, but I don't know if I agree fully. Suspenseful? Sure. Body horror? Absolutely. But I don't think that the horror elements are really the focus. A stunner for sure, highly recommended.
I'm not sure if this is just an issue with my printing of the book, but there were an egregious amount of grammatical errors, so much so that they became distracting at points. Hoping to eventually get a different copy in my hands and see if it is better copy-edited.