Greg Bear

[Ubik]

So, in the last year or so, I've discovered a new favourite author. Have any of you guys read much Greg Bear? I started with Blood Music, which was a terrifying and brilliant hard sci-fi novel, and then moved on to Eon and Eternity, and then Forge of God and Anvil of Stars, and man, every one of those books was incredible. He does so many different subgenres of sci-fi, and yet he seems to be absolute master of all of them.

I just finished reading Darwin's Radio, which was intensely interesting if a little dramatically light (compared to the dramatic intensity of the other books I mentioned).

Are any of his other books as brilliant as Blood Music, Eon, Eternity, Forge of God, and Anvil of Stars? Is Darwin's Children worth reading? How is Moving Mars, a Nebula-winner, I believe, is it good?

Opinions, please!

 

[FluffyUnbound]

I thought the concept of The Forge of God was awesome, but that it moved at a glacial pace pretty much until 10 pages or so before the climax.

Anvil of Stars, however, moved more briskly and I found it much more enjoyable.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

*Looks around, notices this is a Trek Board*

Try his Star Trek novel, Corona.
Kil'n People was good as well, sort of what I hoped Surrogates would be.

 

[Mistral]

*Looks around, notices this is a Trek Board*

Try his Star Trek novel, Corona.
Kil'n People was good as well, sort of what I hoped Surrogates would be.

I thought Kiln People was David Brin?

Found Bear writes at too slow a pace. Eon was good but it took sooooo long to get to the good stuff, IMO. Leery of his other novels because of that.

 

[Goliath]

I've read a few novels by Greg Bear: Blood Music, Moving Mars, Darwin's Radio, and Dead Lines. They were all about equally good in my opinion.

I own a copy of Vitals, but I haven't got around to reading it yet.

Like other people, I find Bear's pacing is often on the slow side, though he makes up for this with his interesting ideas.

None of his novels is quite as bad as Stephen Baxter's Voyage, which in my mind is the gold standard for glacially-paced, exposition-choked, but still-interesting hard SF.

 

[Scout101]

I like most of his stuff, definitely Eon and Anvil of Stars. Read the Darwin books, and thought they were alright, but not a huge fan of that bit...

 

[Greg Cox]

You may be interested to know that Bear is writing a trilogy of HALO novels for Tor . . . .

 

[Silent_Bob]

You may be interested to know that Bear is writing a trilogy of HALO novels for Tor . . . .

I've only read Eon but just going off that if there is any sci-fi author suited to delving into the mysteries of an ancient, dead civilisation it's Greg Bear, i'm rather looking forward to his Forerunner trilogy.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

*Looks around, notices this is a Trek Board*

Try his Star Trek novel, Corona.
Kil'n People was good as well, sort of what I hoped Surrogates would be.

I thought Kiln People was David Brin?

Found Bear writes at too slow a pace. Eon was good but it took sooooo long to get to the good stuff, IMO. Leery of his other novels because of that.

Brin Bear, Bear Brin... I keep getting them mixed up. It's their fault for collaborating on that Foundation trilogy. Give me a minute and I'll recommend a Benford next...

But yeah, Corona.

 

[Skellington]

Aside from most of the ones that have been mentioned, I'vre read The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage, Bear's dip into modern-day swords and sorcery. A heady mix, if I remember correctly, but well worth a look.

 

[Forbin]

Yep, he's one of my favorites. I just finished the prequel to Eon.
I have to list what I have of his so I can know what else to buy.

 

[Trent Roman]

I read Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children, and enjoyed both. I then tried reading The Forge of God, and found it so abysmally dull that I gave up a hundred pages in; one of the few books I've started but not finished. I also read his Star Wars novel, Rogue Planet, which was basically forgetable.

Fictitiously yours, Trnet Roman

 

[Skellington]

Haven't read Forge Of God, but thought that the sequrel Anvil Of Stars was brilliant. (Didn't realise that it was a sequel until after I'd bought it.)

 

[Ubik]

I read Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children, and enjoyed both. I then tried reading The Forge of God, and found it so abysmally dull that I gave up a hundred pages in; one of the few books I've started but not finished. I also read his Star Wars novel, Rogue Planet, which was basically forgetable.

Fictitiously yours, Trnet Roman

That's too bad - because the end of Forge of God is one of the most awe-inspiring (and terrifying) endings to a novel I've ever experienced.

Well, for those who haven't actually read the right Greg Bear stuff (of the stuff I know so far), please allow me to draw your attention to Blood Music and Anvil of Stars - both unquestionably brilliant.

 

[Canadave]

Moving Mars was pretty fantastic, I have to say, but none of his other stuff has really grabbed me in the same way. It's readable, but I don't really remember much of it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Moving Mars was wonderful, but it seems to be the only Bear novel I've read, as far as I can remember.

Brin Bear, Bear Brin... I keep getting them mixed up. It's their fault for collaborating on that Foundation trilogy. Give me a minute and I'll recommend a Benford next...

The Killer Bs. Don't remind me.

 

[Owain Taggart]

My first of his was Eon. Found it really fascinating. Didn't read anything of his again for many years later when I got Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children as gifts, and I loved Darwin's Radio. Very good story, and though I liked the sequel, I didn't really feel it was as good as the first, as the first is a good standalone story. Also read Moving Mars, although I felt that was one of the most boring stories about Mars, where politics seemed to really distract the story, and took forever for the plot to get going. So, not a fan of that one. Found it to be more about politics that happened to be set on mars rather than be about Mars itself.

 

[Gepard]

Haven't read Forge Of God, but thought that the sequrel Anvil Of Stars was brilliant. (Didn't realise that it was a sequel until after I'd bought it.)

I wouldn't personally recommend getting your hopes up for "Forge of God." Like you, I read "Anvil of Stars" first, loved it, then tracked down the first book. Alas, I felt FoG was often slow, pointless and frankly illogical through much of it's length. For example: those bishop-lizards seen in the sequel arrive on Earth near the beginning of FoG to warn of an an impending attack by killer space probes, claiming to be survivors of another civilization that got wiped out by the probes. The story spends a lot of time dicking with the audience about if they can be trusted or not, and by the end,

Spoiler: padding the novel

it turns out they were manufactured by those probes and sent to us to...well, it's never entirely clear why they were sent because all they do is allow the novel's length to get padded and warn some people about the attacks so they can escape, and hunt down and destroy the probe civilization in the sequel. The whole Von Neumann Machine shtick would have made a lot more sense if the probes had just arrived and eaten everything without warning. Why they would see fit to pretend to be former victims and then screw with the next planet on the list is never explained or even hinted at.

And since this element is the bulk of the novel's story, it didn't sit well with me.