Blood Music

By: Greg Bear

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Vergil's innovative experiment restructuring the cells of a common virus becomes a nightmare when, in order to save his research, Vergil injects the entire culture into his bloodstream.

©1985 Greg Bear (P)1991 RECORDED BOOKS

Careful with that blood transfusion!

Where does Blood Music rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Certainly in the top 3rd. A very unusual book, that takes some fascinating turns and twists that are unexpected, to say the least. A good combination of Greg Bear and George Guidall.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Mostt...the communication between the nanocells, and humans, without a doubt. A highly original concept.

Least...nothing immediately comes to mind, to be honest. Few flaws.

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

Goodness, where do I start? George G gives a brilliant performance. The Neocytes, the female characters, the accents. Classic GG. He is an artist, and truly brings this very nuanced novel to life in an approachable, genuine way.
Other reviewers note some timing/editing issues, but this appears to be have been done intentionally.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

They' re here!

Any additional comments?

The other reviews of this fascinating Bear offering don't give it justice, IMHO. Granted, the book moves forward with scientific concepts, and suspensions of disbelief, that otherwise would require a great deal of committment.
I tend to disagree. This book blends nano-end of times concepts, with real characters and concepts that are at once a stretch, and believable.
I am very impressed by this effort, and highly recommend it to all.

Half full/Half empty

The first half of this book was very engrossing and captivating. The second half - not so much. The story works well when its about the main character: Vergil. You're interested in his plight and his fate. Once that is determined, the story meanders about to various other characters that I just couldn't really care about.

The narrator also does not speak clearly into the microphone at a few points in the book making you have to turn up the audio very high just to hear him. In his defense, this was recorded many, many years ago when audiobook recording was not at the best. The narrator does not have a vast range of voices either: alternating from gruff, gravely to a high-pitched attempt at female voices which just doesn't work.

An interesting premise and great first half of the book, but not one that I could recommend.

Start is great, ending is confusing

So I started this book not knowing what it was about. I have to say, the beginning was great. I listened intently and I give the author props for not letting the reader/ listener feel like they were dumb. Then came the middle and end, and you lost me. I kept thinking I would catch on or understand, like the beginning, but it was hopeless. Maybe if I read, instead of listened to the end it may have been different. However if you like sci-fi books, this will definitely not disappoint.

Genetically engineered intelligence

Greg Bear's Blood Music is a tale from the early days of genetic engineering. A scientist manipulates lymphocytes by adding DNA that allows natural selection for intelligence. He injects himself with his modified lymphocytes to smuggle them out of the lab and is slowly transformed as they continue to evolve. Eventually the entire North American biosphere is transformed, except for a few isolated individuals. Meanwhile, one victim has managed to escape to Europe and is studied as the rest of world panics over this unstoppable plague.

The main theme is of the potential for unintended consequences from genetic engineering. In addition, the general public and government panic and fear is on display. At the time, Bear explores the notion that reality and perceptions of reality are shaped by the physical basis of thought itself. The story meanders back and forth between biology and philosophy.

The narration is well done with excellent character distinction and reasonable pacing.

nothing is lost, its in the blood...

i cant believe ive never heard of this book or this author. i think ive read every major scfi work and author from tolkien and lovecraft to belcher and abercrombie--and yet ive never heard of greg bear. this book--and the myriad scientific ideas therein--has got to be the most interesting scifi (or if you wanna subcategorize it even further, "postapocalyptic scifi") ive ever read or read in many years. unlike most post-apocalyptic fiction, bear describes the actual process of it happening--from patient zero to the eventual... i dont wanna say anymore. this is early guidall and he is very good. not quite the caricature of himself he would later go on to become. absolute must read for any real scifi fan.

Interesting, Unique Story

Blood Music is a book about the terrifying possibilities of genetically modifying bacteria. It's a really unique story. Super interesting premise. But the whole thing felt a little flat for me. I wasn't particularly interested in any of the characters. The narrator did a good job, except the voice he used for the microbes drove me absolutely insane. I almost stopped listening because the weird whispering was like nails on a chalkboard for me. Overall, my feeling is if you like horror based science fiction, you'll probably like this book.

Push through the crumby audio.

I am not a religious person at all but the concepts in this book are as close to anything I could ever accept as religion. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if we could all assimilate together to a higher plain of existence. I love science fiction. It’s about all I read/listen to. This is one of the best books I’ve ever listened to. The audio got much better in the second half and the concepts really start to blossom there as well. Very glad I decided to give it a chance.

A lab experiment gone wild!

I enjoyed this exploration of a biological experiment gone wild in the most extreme way. There was a lot of technical jargon thrown around demonstrating that this author had done some pretty good research. Near the end the author chooses to take the story in a "2001 a space odyssey" kind of direction. I would have liked a more "war of the worlds" direction, however, I still liked it very much. Clever ideas intelligently written, characters well developed, settings well described, and people behave in a way, mostly, like you would expect.

Audio is very muffled

The sound isn’t good. I’ve only listen for 2hrs and I’m annoyed the I have to turn the volume to max to understand.

Future newscast

Great story, plausible horror. Great narration at 1.3x speed. Totally worth it … yes words needed ok.