Bloom - Hardcover

McCarthy, Wil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345408578 ISBN 13: 9780345408570

Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc., 1998

Synopsis

A plague of self-replicating organisms, the product of twenty-first-century bioengineering, spreads across the globe and forces humanity to flee to the asteroid belt, where a crew of desperadoes is chosen for a suicidal mission. Tour.

About this title

Review:

One day, late in the 2090s, a new form of life--a galloping fungal growth--blooms in New Guinea and, within days, devours Earth and most of its inhabitants. Within years, it has permeated the inner solar system and gobbled four planets--the few survivors of the Evacuation sit in bases in the asteroids and the moons of Jupiter waiting for the Bloom to mutate again, to cope with the cold of the outer system, or for the enthusiasts who worship it to let it loose among them. And reporter John Strasheim is asked to go with an expedition back to Earth, supposedly to plant monitors, and to test new defences. Much of the power and suspense of this high-grade SF thriller comes from claustrophobia--a crew of six in a cramped space and one of them at least a traitor. Strasheim is an engaging narrator, a cynic with a heart of gold, who cares more passionately than he thinks for the future of humanity. Two colonies--uptight Ganymede and relaxed cyber-hedonist Port Helier--are nicely contrasted. And, because this is the sort of book it excellently is, we know that, in all sorts of ways, things are not what they seem. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"[A] rousing yet thoughtful adventure story."
--The New York Times Book Review

"[A] VIEW OF MANKIND'S FUTURE AND THE UNIVERSE REMINISCENT OF ARTHUR C. CLARKE."
--The Denver Post

"BLOOM is one of the most fast-paced and powerfully dark visions of nanotechnology gone awry since Greg Bear's Blood Music. McCarthy succeeds on many levels, combining a unique literary style with complex scientific speculation and political intrigue."
--Locus

"What clever and compelling science fiction! The Bloom future is all too believable."
--JAMES GLEICK
Author of Chaos: Making a New Science

"Wil McCarthy makes ideas jump. Bloom grabs you from the very first scene and doesn't let go till the last page. It's irresistible."
--WALTER JON WILLIAMS
Author of City on Fire

"Swiftly paced, consistently inventive and tightly written."
--The Washington Post Book World

"McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer, with Heinlein's knack for breakneck plotting and, at the same time, Clarke's thoughtfulness."
--Booklist (starred review)

"Bloom is tense, dynamic, intelligent, offering a terrifyingly vivid view of how technology can rocket out of our control."
--DAVID BRIN
Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Startide Rising

From the Paperback edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0345408578
• ISBN 13: 9780345408570
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 310