Blood Music

Anachronistic but mostly a good read. You need to tolerate a couple disconects and evaluate it as if you were reading it in 1985 or so. First, it is set somewhere in our future but the World Trade Center is still in tact. Second, post 1985 understanding of microbiology and genetic manipulation is absent. I.e. although it is stylistically modern (21st century) there is much about it today that makes it very "vintage" SF. If you can those glitches aside it is very readable.

However, for my taste but maybe not for yours, the story goes to hell about 2/3 of the way in. From what felt like pretty classic hard "SF" the story transmogrifies to become way too metaphisical, new age, "force be with you" BS. Maybe it's just my age but I get along better with Day of the Triffid or even On the Beach resolutions to an end of the world story. I know some will not share my sensibilities but that's just the way I respond.

A single book without a prequel or a sequel. I read the very nice trade paperback that was originally published in 1985. Somebody in rec.arts.sf.written recommended the book to me so, thanks !

An unscrupulous scientist converts his lymphocytes to have native intelligence. The inhabitants of Earth are eventually totally affected by this fast spreading change. I did not totally understand the ending and I wonder if the author did. That said, I enjoyed the book.

This is a largely classical sci-fi book, in three parts. The first third of the book is like a modern version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Then it changes suddenly, and becomes a post-apocalypse story. The third aspect of the book is different again, and relies on quantum notions. The book is an enjoyable read, and it is full of interesting, original ideas. I thought the first third was brilliant, and I certainly enjoyed the middle third. However, as the story progresses, it stretches credulity beyond one’s ability to suspend disbelief. In particular, the quantum stuff seems contrived, and the book’s conclusion gives the impression that the author just got carried away.

Superior sci fi. I'm re-reading it after many years

Mind bender.

One of the greatest, if not the greatest, "What If" stories ever told, still cited by many as the best example of this kind of imaginative and spooky yet lyrical kind of storytelling, Blood Music will grab you by the short hairs and not let go. Greg Bear has created a believable and highly disturbing work of fiction that will get under your skin (literally if you're a character in the book). A quietly suspenseful beginning gives way to a skin-pricklingly unnerving premise with the development of intelligence at the cellular level that builds and builds into something that inevitably changes the landscape of humanity itself and finally tears the world itself apart. There's never been a novel like Blood Music, and nothing quite equals it for sheer terror and wonder mixed in equal parts. I've read it over and over again - there's still a haunting fairytale like quality about it and it has a subtle power about it that you will not forget or ever shake off. Also highly recommended, The Forge of God by the same author. Two books that not only rival but greatly surpass anything else ever written in the science fiction realm.

Haven't ever enjoyed the science fiction genre as much as I have in this book.

one of the better science fiction writers

This began as a Nebula-winning novella, became Greg Bear's first Hugo; not a lot else to say. I've given it as a gift to people I didn't know who liked SF, and they really liked it. It's an excellent book.