It’s still too cold to do anything enjoyable outside, so I spent all of yesterday rereading one of my favorite sci-fi novels, ‘Blood Music’ by Greg Bear. I don’t usually reread books, but this one is an exception. Here are my thoughts on a second look:

First of all, it is a really quick read. This time it went by even faster than first read, and I think I love that about the book. It’s just so dense. There’s not a lot of traditional action scenes, but that doesn’t prevent the book from feeling action packed because so much is going on all the time. I think this book really lends itself to a reread because of that.

Unfortunately, the characters stuck out to me as kinda thin on the second pass. They’re probably the weakest aspect of the book, and maybe Bear’s writing in general. I got the same feeling from ‘The Forge of God.’ The characters aren’t weak or unbelievable, it’s just that they feel more like slaves to the plot than actors themselves. A lot of the characters have their problems resolved unsatisfactorily in my opinion. It may just be because both of the books I’ve read from Bear have been disaster stories though.

The last third of the book I just kinda wanted to be over with. It makes an even bigger departure from the characters I was interested in to focus more on what’s happening around the world. The appeal of this part of the novel is, well, the novelty, but on a second read it’s just something that has to happen.

The sci-fi elements still hold up extremely well on second viewing. Bear clearly did a ton of research into molecular biology. The best class I ever took was a molecular genetics course that taught me all about how DNA gets transcribed into proteins and structures that build the cell and make life what it is. There’s no other sci-fi that goes quite as in depth as ‘Blood Music’ into this topic as far as I’m aware. Bear’s exploration of these concepts is very well-done, and doesn’t get in the way of the plot for exposition’s sake either. Rereading about main character Vergil’s process for creating a computer system within the structure of DNA was the highlight of the book for me. It’s so convincing it feels like it should be doable in real life.

I’m happy to say I still love the book. I’m always afraid to go back and reread or rewatch something and find I’ve grown too much to like it anymore. I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow ‘Blood Music’ though.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley