In the distant future wonderful products like antibacterial dish soap have created Mycora, super superbugs that can survive, just about anything including the vacuum of space.

Ok, not really antibacterial dish soap, but the Mycora are here. By the late 21st century man has succeeded in breeding bacteria which is so resistant that anything short of nuclear holocaust doesn’t hurt it. The Mycora have taken over Earth and driven man off his home planet, forcing him to live in the Immunity (the moons of Jupiter.) The majority of humankind believes Mycora to be a scourge, mindlessly intent on wiping it out. Some of humankind believes it to be godlike. A starship is built that is designed to repel the Mycora so that a few can venture back to Earth too look at the old homestead and see what the Mycora is up to. Humans will anthropomorphize anything.

I picked up this book as a reader’s copy some time before September 1998 and it has haunted me ever since. I remember at the time I also listened to Bone Dance on audio and I was terribly disappointed because it didn’t live up to Bloom. The story is fast paced and engaging. There is hardly a pause between the moment John Strasheim, our hero, is chosen and agrees to go on the mission and the time he is on his way. Without seeming to describe the hard scrabble existence of mankind on the sort of hospitable moons of Jupiter, Wil McCarthy weaves an existence of airlocks, cramped space and the constant threat of invading Mycora blooms which spell a death sentence for anyone who happens to be too close. No wonder these people have a low birth rate. We worry now about what kind of living conditions we’re leaving our kids. Imagine if the living conditions you were leaving were in Io. I found myself swept through this book.

And wouldn’t you know that was part of the problem?

I was swept along by the plot wondering what was going to happen next when we got to The Point. In Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow there was a Point. An important, philosophical idea that she was trying to get across. McCarthy too had a Point, but he didn’t handle it with the grace of Russell. With The Sparrow you had a really good story that you closed thoughtfully saying "ohhh. Oh wow." With Bloom you have a really good story that you close thinking "huh?" McCarthy swept through the Point so fast that I didn’t quite catch it. It’s sad too because the last time I came across the same idea it took my breath away and it wasn’t as broad in scope as this is. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is. That would be cheating.

I really did like this book. I liked the story. I liked the characters. It was well paced and the science was good. But. When McCarthy got to The Point I think he overreached himself and fell short. He might be better of sticking to smaller ideas or simpler adventures. If you’re looking for a really intellectually, stimulating, Sci Fi novel pick up Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow. If you’re looking for a fun read that’ll stick with you a little longer and make you ponder a bit when trapped in traffic, pick up Bloom. It won’t be a waste of time or money.


Recommended: Yes