Customer Reviews

Vitals

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

How can such a good writer as Bear produce such a loser? I envision it happened like this. Bear had the germ of the idea for Vitals and had perhaps even begun writing it when his agent or editor said "Hey, Greg. Darwin's Radio has become a mainstream best seller! See if you can repeat with this one, and you can make the BIG breakthrough! Action is where it's at, baby. Conspiracy! Keep it moving. Be sure to include some gruesome violence or torture, the more perverted the better." Perhaps against his better judgment (at least, I hope his judgmentis better than that), Bear tried to comply, but he writes SF, not thrillers, and he is clearly out of his element. Instead of another Darwin's Radio we got Michael Crichton meets John LeCarre on a bad day. This scenario explains a lot. Like why the first part of the book was pretty good and engaged our interest quickly. And why the second part fell down so badly; the plot became increasingly gimmicky and farfetched, and even the writing deteriorated. And finally it explains why the plot became so convoluted that even the author didn't know how to explain the puzzle and simply failed to do so.
This book will certainly NOT be a bestseller, so Bear may be expected to return to writing the good SF that readers like me have enjoyed for many years. However, the next time I think I'll wait before I invest my money in the hardback!

**1/2 It beats being stuck on the beach with nothing to read.

I've enjoyed all of Greg Bear's books that I've read so far. This one just doesn't cut the mustard.

It starts out with all his cylinders clicking as usual. We get some convincing, heart-in-mouth deep sea exploration footage. We get a plausible and intriguing science fiction premise about how a bit of archaic bacteriology could turn us all into Lazarus Long, and it really makes sense that it leads to our hero poking around in the Juan De Fuca trench. We get a couple of neat scientists we'd like to see a bit more of, and we get an unsettling, mysterious series of phone calls from dead people.

Unfortunately, the phone calls remain mysterious - or at least only lamely explained. The well thought out longevity theme gets swallowed up in a slapped together bacterial mind control theme. Characters we cared about disappear, and characters we never get time to know wander on and off stage.

In short, it's a terrific first reel. But don't buy any popcorn, because you may find yourself ready to leave the theater before you get to the bottom of the bucket.

Bear can do, and always has done, better than this. And the first third shows he still has the stuff. I won't be dissuaded from trying out his next offering.

This could have an exciting, gripping techno-thriller. This could have been a deep examination into the hows, whys, and moral correctness of immortality. This could have been a strong expose of how cutting edge research into 'fringe' areas of science is funded and the influence such funding has on the results and how they are used. Unfortunately, we get none of these.

At the start, we find Hal Cousins on a deep bathyscaph dive to try and collect specimens of truly primitive bacteria that he thinks hold the key to the biological 'clock' that seems to control aging in all higher lifeforms. During the dive, the bathyscaph's driver, for no apparent reason, attacks Hal, and later, after surfacing, commits apparent suicide by jumping into a very cold sea. This whole scene does nothing but confuse the reader, as at this early stage of the book, none of the characters have been developed enough to allow the reader to see that the behavior of both people on the sub is slowly becoming aberrant and psychotic. I was very close to closing up the book at this point and putting it on the shelf as not worth reading. Given what followed, this impulse should have been followed.

From the initial reasonable scientific premise that Bear starts with, the plot continues to thicken with impossible conspiracies, improbable connections to biological research done in 1930's Russia, paranoid and schizophrenic characters, and sudden jumps in the later stages of the book to new characters who are there apparently only to help further confuse the plot, rather than any rational development of the original idea. True character development is almost nil and the actions of the fairly large cast often seem to have no logical basis. Some characters are introduced and then almost immediately dropped, leading to just another stubbed off plot thread.

This book either needed a lot more pages to fully develop all the plot threads and characters, or the entire focus of the book needed to be narrowed down to a single set of ideas that were consistently developed. As it is, we have a mish-mash of partially developed plot lines and thematic ideas, none of which are fully satisfying or resolved, which Bear effectively admits with his closing round-up of questions that the book has not answered. This one is far from Bear's best.

I have to say that I am a bit surprised about the level of negative reviews for this book. The future directions of bacteriology that went into the theory at the foundation of this novel were, in my opinion, an enjoyable, albeit far fetched, extension of current biological theory. I spend my days working in a related field known as biomaterials engineering and from this extensive knowledge base I can honestly say that the material covered in Vitals is as accurate, or at least follows in the realm of what is accurate, as any other so-called hard science sci-fi novel. Other novels that claim to be "hard science"-fiction novels, such as Cities in Flight (Blish) or Ringworld (Niven), throw science and engineering "facts" around as if they actually KNOW what they are talking about, which is FAR from the truth. In reality Blish and Niven (while fine authors!) are no closer to the cuting edge of science and engineering, than Bear is in Vitals. But they all make for a truly entertaining read. Vitals does, aggreably so, throw in an overabundance of cliches from past classic techno-suspense thrillers, but this allows the writing to move the reader along and keep him/her interested. It relies a bit too much on this though....but does not in the least mean it follows the same old mass-produced Crichton-style. Readers looking for a relaxed and enjoyable read, with a bit of science fact, coupled with a whole LOT of brainstorming and cliffhangers will love this one. I thoroughly got my money's worth!

Normally, I would call myself a fan of Greg Bear; but this book is hard to recommend.

I picked up "Vitals" because I had just finished (the much better) "Darwin's Children" and thought another Bear book would be fun to read. For me, the book starts on a sour note in that it's set in the Juan de Fucha trench, and I recently read (and would highly recommend) Peter Watts' "Starfish" which is set there as well. Watts described it better, I believe.

The middle third of the book gets the technological explanations out of the way and devolves into typical thriller mode. That's where I began to worry. I wondered if Greg Bear is deliberately dumbing down his writing style in order to acquire more of the techno-thriller audience. (Apparently "Darwin's Radio" sold very well to the larger, non-SF audience, and "Vitals" is blatantly aimed at that same non-SF audience.)

But I stuck with the book, hoping that things would get wrapped up in the end. This was a mistake.

Simply put, the ending stinks. Instead of offering resolution to the reader, the protagonist actually revisits the festering plot holes to point them out and not explain them, making for one of the least satisfying book endings in recent memory.

If you're looking for a good Greg Bear book avoid this and instead read "Darwin's Radio", "Darwin's Children", or "Slant".

If you're looking for a good bio-catastrophe novel instead try "Starfish" by Peter Watts.

On the cover of this book it says, "living forever is to die for". Whether or not the statement rings true for anyone, it is, if nothing else, an extremely tired, and trite phrase that is more fitting for the tenth sequel of a slasher film. Greg Bear is a better author than this book, "Vitals". If an author is going to take one of the oldest and well-worn themes, in this case immortality, he or she best have a startlingly new approach. This story does not offer a new perspective and its primary premise is made all the more tiresome by tying it to villains that are among the top two 20th century historical groups that are used when a grand conspiracy is to be invoked.

The evil source for this book's villains has been used a multitude of times, and even the harm that is spread, is, at best a variation on a theme. The author casts the crime over so many victims it is impossible to suspend disbelief, and far too many people that would normally be of some importance, like The US President or the heads of a variety of agencies that are rather important to this country's well being, are dealt with in a sentence or two as if they were afterthoughts.

The author did provide some novel ideas that could have spawned several books. Instead they are all crammed into this one work that does a poor job of educating the reader to complex biological topics, while expecting the same reader to follow a plot of dozens and dozens of characters, with a more leisurely pace set for the description of what the female characters are wearing.

There are also some comments that seem to have just dropped randomly on a page with very little context. What could have been a searing comment about a recent election falls flat, when it should have been quite clever. Even when whatever action pauses and there is dialogue that discusses the morality of the issues at hand, the topic never gets above the most basic of worn concepts. I also think there should be a new law that does not allow writers to place all billionaires in thinly disguised versions of Bill Gates' home. Finally, I do not need to be told a dozen times the brand of cellular phone our hero uses, or the brand of coffee he drinks. Tell me once endorse products somewhere else.

Greg Bear has attempted to combine an action thriller about the search for eternal life and its scientific and philosophical implications with a murder mystery and the ultimate conspiracy plot to control humankind. It is a valiant attempt but less would have been more; there are too many story lines and no real conclusion. Perhaps a sequel could sort some of this out, but I would guess most readers will not want to take a chance on repeating the ultimately unsatisfying experience of trying to follow this plot line any further.

The beginning is immensely promising and very fast paced, with Hal Cousins pursuing his search for a scientific basis for eternal life among the mysteries of the ocean depths.A suicide and murder follow, and it soon becomes clear that some unknown organization is able to engage in mind control. Hal's twin brother Rob, competitively and independently engaged in the same quest, is murdered soon after a cryptic conversation with Hal. Hal's life is soon in imminent danger as well.Since Rob is dead, we are cleverly introduced to a second narrator,Ben Bridges, to tell Rob's story until Ben and Hal join forces.After this, the science and the many story threads become very difficult to follow as they uncover a decades old global conspiracy to control the world begun by the Communists Beria and Stalin utilizing bacteria in our cellular structure for both life extension and mind control. (It has even succesfully infiltrated the US government at the highest levels.)Vitals is further confusing because the biology is esoteric enough so it is not at all clear what is science fact, what is science fiction, and what is science speculation.

There is enough material here so that a writer as talented as Bear could have writen several excellent stories, but less would have been much more enjoyable. Either a sci fi murder conspiracy mystery or a story about the search for eternal life and its philosophical implications would have been both more interesting and more comprehensible.Just like life, this book certainly leaves you with more questions than answers and perhaps it is the final comment on the subject matter that there is really no conclusion, just an ending.

It's hard to say what's good about this book without writing a spoiler. Suffice it to say there is a loner-type scientist, who happens to be working on a cure for aging, and happens to have a twin brother that happens to be working on the same thing. The twin brother dies, and Dr. Hal Cousins spends the rest of the story trying to uncover the global conspiracy that is trying to stop him and murdered his brother.

This isn't anything that many bestseller authors like John Le Carre, Tom Clancy, and others have served up for years. Greg Bear makes it into a technothriller, with an interesting theory about bacteria and how they "communicate" with each other.

Although the characters seem a little underdeveloped, they depth they attain is not out of line for this type of novel. Even though you learn a fair amount of his history, there is not a lot for the reader to hang onto with regard to Hal. Then again, there isn't supposed to be. Nobody gets close to him and his quest is for one man only, aside from an interlude with his brother's widow. You are supposed to hang on to the mystery and the action, and for the most part Vitals is vital that way.

Side note: I used to live a few blocks in Berkeley where some of the action in this story takes place. That made it sort of fun for me, but not for the average reader.

Greg Bear has become an important enough author to make it worthwhile to read this book, even if it doen't become one of your favorites.

I'm afraid that I must direct readers away from this work. It has some things going for it: good author, interesting plot (if you can stand far enough back and appreciate it in its entirity), and some creepy notions at how science and nature could actually spawn the "undead" (my word for it, not Bear's). I leave it to the other reviews and editorials to summarize the story for you.

But... really, Greg Bear is MUCH better at characterization than he demonstrated in this book. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe he was just in a hurry to finish this story and move on to a more interesting project. At any rate, the lead characters- shoot- ALL the characters seemed really shallow. There was no one I liked, no character I could find myself sympathizing with. The Doctors Cousins were not stellar specimens of humanity by *my* reckoning. I'm not sure I'd even consider them decent people, and yet at least one of them was supposedly the protagonist.

There also is little-to-no plot resolution at the end. Bear even does you the favor of ending this ditty with a nearly-full list of unanswered questions in case you'd forgotten one of the things to be annoyed about. It smacks of an attempt to lay the foundations for a sequel, but good grief, I *hope* not.

I'll give this one a 2/5 only because the writing itself was still pretty good compared wo what is out there. Bear's still one of the best writers I've found, but, no question: this is definitely FAR below his usual standards.

Is an author to be bashed for stepping outside his safe zone? Granted, this is not your typical sci-fi tale of aliens, fabulous nanotechnology, time travel or space exploration. It is a mesmerizing, almost hallucinogenic journey through a world that may or may not exist. What starts out as a tale of science into life-extension evolves into a warning on the pitfalls of trying to fool Mother Nature.

The search for immortality is only useful as an introduction into the REAL story. Ancient bacteria have the power to alter the natural breakdown of DNA and tricking the body into acting young. In Stalinist Russia there was a program to bestow eternal life on the leading henchmen using this bacteria. But with success came madness and the ability to exercise a type of mind control. The rest of the story is the frenzied race (from different points of view) to stop the spread of the bacteria and we are plunged into a world of unknown terror and paranoia leaving us satisfied but with more questions than answers. No one is whom they appear, madeness is rampant and everyone is suspect.

Characterization, usually a weak aspect of sci-fi is strong, action is fierce and both historical and scientific research is evident throughout. Yes it was gruesome but then Stalinist Russia was a hell on Earth. Yes there is a conspiracy but it was not gratuitous (a la The Devinci Code). A good read that deserved a better reception.