Bloom

This one was stunning, I stayed up late to finish it last night. In the not so distant future tiny nano machines have reduced the inner solar system planets to gooey soup. Humanity sits cowering in the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter. Saved by their own nano-immune response machines. The powers that be want a mission to Earth, but why, and who stands to benefit (or lose) the most? Great sci-fi, a speedy action-packed plot, and fantastic characterisations made this a gripping read.

I'll make this short and sweet. IMHO - well fleshed characters for a book of it's type, which is to say HARD-SF. If you are looking for Melville or Fitzgerald, ya might wanna try English Lit 101 again. Everything here is in service of the plot - a manmade nanite has destroyed the underpinnings of human civilization and is threatening to destroy what is left of it. There's alot of suspense here, terror of the unknown, discovery on a landmark journey, treachery, chases, and above all else, a warning on just how far we've come a little too quickly. This one will stay on my shelf for good. McCarthy is a credit to the genre, and while I wasn't too thrilled with his latest book "Collapsium", I'm hoping that he'll next revisit the universe he created in "Bloom" and take it to the next step, kick it up a notch or two, and let it soar.

A classic novel of science fiction needs ideas or environments we have never seen before, believable and intriguing technical details, a STORY, many surprises and pleasures along the way, interesting characters the reader can relate to, and a conclusion to set the whole work back into a broader context. This book delivers on all counts. I wish I had read it sooner.

This is the first new speculative-science novel that I have read in five years. It was worth the wait. I recommend this book to anyone who used to read science fiction, but stopped when there was nothing left worth looking at.

Absolutely magnificent book combining the some of the best of traditional science fiction themes with the author's unique voice and vision. I was thoroughly engaged and entertained, and even surprised at the end when the true nature of the mysterious mycosystem was revealed. Highly recommended.