Greg Bear

[Pax]

OMG! How embarrassed am I to have neglected Mr. Bear? Darwin's Radio and Slant awesome stuff!

[AsimovsZeroth]

What would you say are the best five of his to start with? I've been hearing about him for a while, but never actually knew where to start. I'm going into my local used book store this week, so I'd love a few ideas.

[Aloha]

I heard a lot about Blood Music. I will start with that once I start reading him.

[J.P.]

My Greg Bear fave five:
Blood Music
The Forge of God
Eon
Anvil of Stars
Darwin's Radio

[AsimovsZeroth]

I've put them all on my to read shelf. Hopefully I'll be able to find one of them at my used book store. I don't imagine it would be too much of a problem. From all I've heard he was quite popular. I look forward to discussing them!

[Banner]

J.P. wrote: "My Greg Bear fave five:
Blood Music
The Forge of God
Eon
Anvil of Stars
Darwin's Radio"


Just finished Forge of God a short while back and I'm thinking about getting Eon. I really liked Bear's style. I thought Forge was a little depressing but very well written. How does it compare to Eon?

[Christopher]

I liked Darwin's Radio and Eon. Bear has a scientific side and a fantasy side, and he blends them well in Eon, whereas Darwin is almost pure science.

He and my grandmother were friends and colleagues.

http://www.elizabethchater.com

[J.P.]

Banner wrote:
Just finished Forg..."
Both are hard science fiction. The big difference with Eon is it's sort of based in an alternate universe. More upbeat than Forge of God, it leans somewhat less on science than most of his books.

[Beezlebug (Rob)]

Eon was a favorite of mine some years back. Good story with some interesting twists and turns throughout. Definitely less depressing than Forge of God although it does have a similar 'end of the world' theme running in the background. I wouldn't recommend picking up the sequel. Its been years since I read it but I don't recall it being as good.

[Banner]

Well I just voted for Eon in the January's Masterwork's Poll. I'll still read it if it doesn't win :)

[mark, personal space invader]

i feel like rereading that one too. loved it.


J.P. i'm not sure i would say that it is necessarily based in an alternate universe (view spoiler)[except for the third book (hide spoiler)]. i may be wrong here (it's been a few years) but isn't the novel actually set in our universe... (view spoiler)[and we just come into contact with alternate universes? (hide spoiler)]

[J.P.]

With me Eon goes under the heading of Read Too Long Ago to Remember Exact Details. I have no doubt I could have misdescribed it. One vague rejoinder inserted into my previous post.

[Mark]

Bear is one of my "must-read" guys. Just finished Hull Zero-Three a few weeks ago.
Bear is a "big idea" guy.
Forge Of God and Anvil Of Stars are terrific; some idea of what actual space warfare conducted by high-tech civilizations would be like.

Queen of Angels was another one, among other things a really disturbing glimpse into the mind of a serial killer.

[Zac]

I'm relatively new to Bear - decided to pick up a handful of his books from library sales etc based solely on the strength of his piece "Hardfought" when I read it in one of the TOR Doubles books. (PS - It's AWESOME!)

So far I've REALLY enjoyed both The Forge of God and Darwin's Radio - both are very very different from one another, but not are Bear's 'big ideas' (BDOs perhaps often more appropriate) just a ton of fun to fathom - the guy is just downright READABLE!

[[deleted user]]

I'm thinking of getting Eon eventually because the premise sounds good AND the cover caught my eye. And Greg Bear is mentionned on the back cover of Peter Watts's Maelstrom. Anybody would be sokind as to tell me what kind of sci-fi Greg Bear writes? Does he write good character? Is it slow-paced or fast-paced?

[Zac]

People call him hard sci fi, but despite the complex science I find his stories flow well, are relatively fast paced and the characters easily relatable.

[[deleted user]]

From what I can tell his concepts sound hard sci-fi but I like when it doesn't get in the way of having interesting characters and a good pacing.

[Barry]

Mathieu wrote: "I'm thinking of getting Eon eventually because the premise sounds good AND the cover caught my eye. And Greg Bear is mentionned on the back cover of Peter Watts's Maelstrom. Anybody would be sokind..."

Eon is a fantastic read, complex but compelling, reminds me of Ringworld by Larry Niven. Not so character-based, but the landscape and concept are awesome, and he portrays the Russians very well!

[[deleted user]]

when ender's story was first released, it got read in
one sitting, and i lived in the bookstore waiting for the next release.