Blood Music

Features

• Cover Type: Mass Market Paperback with 320 pages
• Published by: I Books; Reprint edition May 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0743444965
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0743444965
• Book Dimensions: 6.9 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 5.6 ounces

Midwest Book Review
An unusual 'invasion' by intelligent smaller beings who are changing the structure and definition of 'humanity' are at the heart of Bear's classic story which has been newly reprinted in paper for new audiences. Blood Music is one of his finest works and its appearance in this new edition assures that new audiences will relish his talents. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description
Vergil Ulams breakthrough in genetic engineering is considered too dangerous for further research. Rather than destroy his work, he injects himself with his creation and walks out of his lab, unaware of just quite how his actions will change the world.

Bears treatment of the traditional tale of scientific hubris is suspenseful and a compelling portrait of a new intelligence emerging amongst us and changing our world irrevocably. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
With an apocalyptic vision at its heart, Blood Music is escapist reading with high drama, though its excitement has been somewhat muted by time and the magnitude of the real events which have transpired since its publication in 1985. Here a genetic experiment goes awry, and the whole world is endangered. When Vergil Ulam, a cross between Dennis-the-Menace and a stereotyped nerd, is fired from his job, he takes his private research with him--by injecting himself with intellectual lymphocytes, cellular computers, which he has developed. Not unexpectedly with Vergil, things go wrong, and these cells take over his body and eventually spread wildly, endangering the whole world. Though only seventeen years have passed since its publication, the book feels old-eerily so. Gene therapy is now a reality. The Soviet Union, which here rattles its nuclear sabers in an effort to dominate the world, seems like a very old enemy. Strangely, a number of particularly vivid scenes here take place in a ravaged World Trade Center, images so similar to the present reality that I found them painful to stumble upon in a piece of light fiction. Suzy McKenzie, a lonely survivor in New York, sets up home in the World Trade Center lobby, and Bear's descriptions of her explorations through the desolate upper floors and of the collapse of one of the towers conjured up nightmarish images for me which Bear could never have foretold and which some readers may wish to avoid. Bear's narrative is fast-paced and suspenseful. With an acute sensibility and eye for detail, Bear creates stark images. His characterizations of Vergil and Suzy are often touching, however, and the dialogue between Vergil and his mother will bring smiles to the faces of many parents. Structurally, the novel is very loose, with characters who come and go, and ultimately the novel feels almost as chaotic as Bear's vision of devastation. Bear's immense potential, obvious here, finds its true fulfillment in his later, more carefully controlled, novels. Mary Whipple Comment | | (Report this)