Product Description

Above our planet hangs a hollow Stone, vast as the imagination of Man. The inner dimensions are at odds with the outer: there are different chambers to be breached, some even containing deserted cities. The furthest chamber contains the greatest mystery ever to confront the Stone's scientists. But tombstone or milestone, the Stone is not an alien structure: it comes from the future of our humanity. And the war that breaks out on Earth seems to bear witness to the Stone's prowess as oracle . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38298 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

About the Author
* #40 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written. * Blood Music won the Nebula and Hugo Awards in its original shorter form. * 'One of the few SF writers capable of following where Olaf Stapledon led, beyond the limits of human ambition and geological time' Locus * 'Arthur C. Clarke has his most formidable rival yet' The Times

Customer Reviews

Big Science: Great Characters. Works on all levels
Although 'Blood Music' received more attention from the SF community , this is probably the book in which Bear set the standard for his subsequent work.
It's Hard SF/Big Science at its hardest, and in one sense can be seen as a 'Rendezvous with Rama' for the Nineteen Eighties.
Bear should also be applauded for his portrayal of female characters as in this and subsequent novels he places strong female characters centre-stage, in this case, Patricia Luis Vasquez, a young gifted physics student who is drafted in to solve the mysteries of the Stone and becomes important to the plans of all the factions involved.
The plot involves some complex physics and the concept of parallel universes.
It is always interesting to look at authors' views of the future once that future is past and gone. Written in 1985, Bear's future world has become a kind of 'alternate future' since perhaps no-one could have predicted that the abrupt fall of the USSR and the smashing down of the Berlin wall. Here, the USSR is still a superpower, and the Cold War very much alive.
Bear cleverly sets up the East/West ideological divides while Nuclear War destroys the Earth in the background, before bringing in the people of Earth's future. They live in Axis City, a vast mobile habitat which roams 'The Way' (the corridor which stretches along the infinity of parallel Universes) and which is itself divided along ideological lines between radical Geshels and orthodox Naderites.
It's a compelling and scientifically convincing novel, and one of Bear's best.

Complex but striking
When I read a little about "Eon" I was intrigued... a hollowed-out asteroid, infinitely large on the inside, it sounded fascinating, and the size promised an epic scope.

And by and large, this is what you get. The book is full of interesting and largely sympathetic characters, with a supporting cast probably in the hundreds. The story is fascinating and I plan to read the two sequels soon.

However, sometimes Bear's descriptive passages become so technical that I actually found it hard to visualise what he was describing (eg: the first visit to the singularity). Also, some of the scientific theory is very complex, but thrown at you and then left for you to try and decipher. I admire authors who use serious science, but I am not ashamed to admit that sometimes I need a helping hand understanding it!

But - this (and the somewhat rushed ending) did not stop me enjoying the breathtaking scope of the mysterious Stone and the adventures of those exploring it. Good fun, but be ready to work at it.

Best Sci-Fi work of the 90s
Currently into my third reading of the book, it is one of my favourites.

Epic both in proportion and detail, Bear uses science fiction to create a world (not possible!) but easily imaginable.

Taken from a Cold War stance between the US and Russians, the Asteroid triggers war adn tension between the two. The 7 hollowed out chambers hold secrets to the past and future of the human race, with serious implications for the researchers aboard the 'stone' ...

Well worth trying to understand the technical depth Bear gives to the story, and especially the near perfect first half of the book.