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Greg Bear

Blood Music Paperback – January 1, 2002

by Greg Bear (Author)

4.1 1,254 ratings

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In order to save his biochip experiments from his nervous employers, eccentric genius Vergil Ulam of Genetron Labs injects himself with his cell cultures, thereby beginning a startling physical transformation that rapidly spreads across the continent. Reprint.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ibooks
Publication date

January 1, 2002
Dimensions

4.25 x 1.25 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

0743444965
ISBN-13

978-0743444965
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ibooks (January 1, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743444965
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743444965
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 1.25 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,986,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #115,994 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #309,571 in Science Fiction & Fantasy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 1,254 ratings

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Greg Bear

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Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books, spanning thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy, including Blood Music, Eon, The Forge of God, Darwin's Radio, City at the End of Time, and Hull Zero Three. His books have won numerous international prizes, have been translated into more than twenty-two languages, and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Over the last twenty-eight years, he has also served as a consultant for NASA, the U.S. Army, the State Department, the International Food Protection Association, and Homeland Security on matters ranging from privatizing space to food safety, the frontiers of microbiology and genetics, and biological security.

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David

A journey of mind

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 22, 2023

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I spent today reading this because I found it hard to put down. This is a cerebral story and quite imaginative. The characters go through much introspection, and it touches on existentialism. It begins with an interesting laboratory science experiment, and goes through the changes and effects it has on people. It's a bit melancholy, and it's not thrilling, but it's a well written story about people coping with change.

2 people found this helpful

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Mboggie143

A very intricate story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 17, 2023

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Well worth the read. Timely and intricate. I enjoyed the character development and the science. I plan to read more of his work.

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EEE

So, Yeah, I'm basically an Idiot.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 13, 2020

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Or maybe just a damfool. Like that, all one word.

Back in 1984 or so, either in Analog, or more likely the Anthology, The World's Best SF, edited by Groff Conklin, I read a short story. And it was amazingly good. Strong chilling story, numerous implications to sort out, scary as Hell. A fiction story that really hinged on the science. Reasonably believable science, with ethical issues abounding that were really being discussed at that time. And so, 35 years ago as I write this, a novel length expansion of that beloved story was published. I bought it without question, and then hesitated. I have a very poor record with novel length expansions of beloved short stories, or in this case, novelettes. And so I did not read this book until a few days ago.

The first wave of the Corona Virus Pandemic Panic is winding down, and we're looking at a resurgence of cases. And here I am reading was is, at it's base, a sort of pandemic novel. Which, before I natter on further, I must say is a remarkably fine book. Excellent, even. It pushes past the boundaries of the original story, and becomes something grander and bigger. So read it, please.

And don't fear that the years have not been kind to this book. I've really only hit three things that push the story back into it's original timeline.

1. There are two Germanies.
2. Russia is still Soviet and a Union
3. Some action takes place in a place that isn't there any more.

19 people found this helpful

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Steve I.

A variation of the old apocalypse theme

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 30, 2023

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As I said , a variation of the old apocalyptic theme ,where some very smart people do some very stupid things to get us in this situation . Some survivors which I am sure in the end will contain the solution to humanities survival . Fortunately I will never know the ending as I have up reading half way through . A waste of my time I am afraid.

One person found this helpful

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MHHC

Trippy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2023

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Engaging. Beyond speculative. Big ideas. Good characters. Not too long. A tad dated but easily overlooked. The best G Bear novel I’ve read except for the incredible collaboration that is the Mongoliad series.

3 people found this helpful

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Hopeful, but Cynic

Good, but Best taken Metaphorically

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 3, 2017

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I have meant to read this for a while, it's been one of those books that people talk about as a classic. When I read it, I wasn't disappointed, but it was a bit different than what I expected. I've read elsewhere this started off as a short story, and was later developed as novel and I think I could have known that from just reading it.

The first half of the book focuses on Virgil, a brilliant but perhaps short-sighted scientist who, in classic Sci-fi fashion, experiments on himself. The way he's written, it makes sense (to him) why he would do this. It could have been bad, but Bear makes it realistic, so my suspension of disbelief isn't taxed much at all.

The second half of the book switches between different characters, and gets into some meta-physical stuff that I think works better as a metaphor for politics than as hard science fiction. For example: at one point, Virgil is talking to the cells in his body, and he discovers that, to them, he's the universe, they're surprised there is an outside of him, but he isn't sure what they're up to, since he's only talking to the researchers, not the cells in charge.

Overall, it's a good book, and it's made me think about things since I've read it. Not saying it's perfect, but I'd recommend it.

21 people found this helpful

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Kat

an experiment gone wrong

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 16, 2022

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Originally written in 1985, I came across this book as a scientist takes matters
into his own hands and endangers others on Earth. Some of the places are dated
(since it was written in the 1980's), but it is eerie how one man's decision affected
everyone he came in contact with. Must read.

2 people found this helpful

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Larry Gott

The Rise and Fall of Blood Music

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 9, 2007

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Thanks to the ability in Amazon to read the first few pages of many books, I bought "Blood Music" since I had to find out "the rest of the story". It read like a 5-star early on, in much the same genre as Michael Crichton (scary biotech/nanotech), and somewhat like Stephen King (think "The Stand") (spooky things that go bump inside you).

In my 344 page version, it took a downturn around page 150, when it started to get...well,...less like good Crichton, and more like bad King.

I downgraded it to a 4-star, with a feeling of foreboding that maybe a 3-star was coming on.

By the time page 250 rolled around, I had it figured out that the book was turning out to be a biotech/biohazard version of "We are the world", and that maybe at the end, the earth and any humans left would hold hands and sing "Kum Ba Ya" and "I'd like to teach the world to sing"

And that is how it ended. Or nearly so. So if you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy this book. (But don't say I didn't warn you)

The beginning had shown so much promise...

16 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Peter Eerden

Transcribe it so it cannot be lost

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on September 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

This author’s mind needs transcribing so it will not be forever lost. What a read and what an extraordinary concept. I was hooked from page one and sad as I finished it. I needed more clarity but know I am already confused by the brilliance of the narrative. More would lead to less certainty and that is somewhere I do not want to go. The world of the noocyte is a rare place indeed. Thank you Greg for a great read.

Bruce A. Johnson

Mind expanding experience

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

When I pulled this book out of my Dad's library as a teenager, I did not know what a mind expanding experience reading it would be. It was the first time I had encountered the concept of a massive distributed intelligence. I just re-read it now, and it was as entertaining as the first time, even though my own fantasies on the concept have expanded over the decades.

One person found this helpful

DadTheTooth

Wonderful!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 16, 2023

Verified Purchase

It seems like a long time since I last read Greg Bear, I’d forgotten just how good his tales are. This is an excellent book, wonderful in the real sense of that word. Shows just how scared we all are and what we miss by being scared. I wonder if someone is capable of making the ‘mistake’ that will help us ……

Kanulf Kindred

One of the personally most influential books I've read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

I have loved this novel since its appearance on the SF market. I find the concepts both exhilarating and challenging and Bear hits the target with his usual elegance and pace. Since I have no in-depth scientific background worthy of placing on my CV I find reading the hard science passages akin to a soaring poetic experience where the language seduces and convinces without my having to fully comprehend. The sci-facts are pure language-at-play and wash over the neurones with assuring authority. I couldn't challenge his premise about intelligent viruses nor do I care to. This is excruciatingly riveting stuff and I strap in and enjoy the roller coaster.

I trust someone working at Bear's level of competence to have done his homework and if he is describing laboratory procedures and research parameters I go along for the trip knowing he has his reasons. His job is to engage me in the world he is creating. Engage and immerse. And challenge. Engage, immerse, challenge and THRILL.

Well, he has done that with Blood Music. His descriptions of the gradually transforming world post-Ulam are incredibly evocative and have astonishing power. Why BM hasn't been silver screened yet is a mystery. I must have read this work about forty times and am glad to finally own it on Kindle. A rare, visionary, thrilling and paradigm-expanding work, superbly told and a real keeper. Thanks Greg.

7 people found this helpful

F. M. Havicon

One of his best, before sequels and commerciality got the better of him.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

An expanded version of an original short story, leading one to wonder if some authors have a surfeit of writing talent but actually have few ideas of their own. Greg Bear does have a propensity to write sequels to most of his novels so the both are probably true. He was careful to wait until his writing skills enabled him to write with effortless formulaic ease before turning this small idea into a novel, so we have the best of everything -- a good idea, good writing, and an engaging novel. Arguably his best, before the lure of lucre turned him into a cross-genre novelist of the hack variety. He joined that elite of American science fiction writers who all seemed to be the same person after a while. But this novel remains as one of his finest, and although it never really touches upon literature, it's skillfullty laid down and a joy to read.

4 people found this helpful

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Blood Music Paperback – January 1, 2002

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