Ilium

Rating:
Summary: And now for something completely different
Review: Every once in a while a book can catch me off-guard... and in this case, Ilium did exactly that.

I've read several of Simmons' books, and I've found them to be good and memorable, but those didn't grab me and hold me the way that Ilium did. Simmons brings together some great science fiction & fantasy elements... eloi-like humans, literary characters such as Caliban & Odysseus, modern day humans, Greek gods and robotic societies. It's an odd mish-mash, but it comes together in a fascinating way. All of my expectations based on other sci-fi, fantasy and literature all fell apart about one third of the way through this book. It reaches a point in the story when ANYTHING is possible and you have NO idea where he'll go next.

Rarely does a modern day science fiction catch me so off-guard. I highly reccomend Ilium and I greatly anticipate the coming sequel.

Rating:
Summary: How will he pull the stories together?
Review: OK, I'll admit it...I love Dan Simmons. But there are a few areas of this book that prevent me from giving it a five-star rating ... Without giving away anything in the plot, there are at least two plot developments involving the main character, Thomas Hockenberry, which are not fully realized in the book. In one of his earliest scenes, Hockenberry comes to a monumental realization and says to himself, "I will do this thing." Do what? Simmons never says, and Hockenberry's part in the story is changed by forces not of his control immediately thereafter (maybe that's the point). And there are several points in the court intrigues of the Olympians which don't flow together logically, such as the mission Hockenberry is given by one of the Goddesses, why she wants him to do it, and why, exactly, he's forced to go into hiding at some point. They just aren't fully explained, and while I love an occasional unaswered question, I was at least hoping for a better flow.

But overall, it's a good work (you should read the short novel "The Ninth of Av" in Simmons' book "Worlds Enough and Time" first before reading "Ilium"). The human characters are well-crafted, distinctive, and likeable. And the non-human characters are courageous and admirable in the way that they keep going, despite having lost any real hope of success. The REAL saving grace of this book is Simmons' creativity in imagining the technology of the 42nd century, and in warning us of what happens when we rely too much on technology (a familiar theme in his "Hyperion" saga). Overall, I'm going to love seeing how he pulls all the plot threads together in the sequal, ... Stay tuned...

Rating:
Summary: Recycled Hyperion, but still Simmons...
Review: Let's see:

i) Universe-changing war between humans and non-humans. Check.

ii) Dehumanizing means of instant quantum transport. Check.

iii) Lots of pretentious literary criticism. Check.

iv) Mostly nebbish and clueless male protagonists. Check.

For some reason, Simmons annoyed me quite a bit in this book. He has several characters in the book who know a lot about the mysteries of the universe the book is set in but don't reveal the secrets for no reasons except narrative convenience. There were also a lot of obvious plot holes: why is Hockenberry allowed to QT into Olympus by Zeus repeatedly, why did the Jupiter moravecs go to Mars non-stealthily when their apparent master plan depended on their secrecy?

Still, it is Simmons, who can do entertaining and clever space opera like no other, and I'm looking forward to the second one. However, the Hyperion books should be your first stop if you are just starting to read him.

Rating:
Summary: Well, we are definitely not in the Iliad any more, Toto
Review: I reached the point long ago where I became rather fiercely committed to the idea of reading a novel without knowing too much about the story. Book covers are immediately discarded upon purchase (sometimes not to be found for months later when they surface again all crumpled and wrinkled), and I passionately avoid reading the back covers of paperbacks until after the book is read, at which point I am usually grossly offended. Consequently, I picked up Dan Simmons' "Ilium" simply because I heard it was a retelling of the Trojan War in general and Homer's "Iliad" in particular. Since I teach that epic poem in my Classical Mythology class and have always considered myself to be an "Iliad" person rather than an "Odyssey" person, that was enough to get me to pack this book away for a recent trip when I could commit myself to some serious continuous reading. So I was rather surprised to learn that a retelling of the "Iliad," after a fashion, is but one of three story threads that start to come together over the course of this 576 page novel, which is itself but the first half of a the saga envisioned by Simmons.

The Trojan War is being reenacted on Mars by a race of metahumans who have assumed the roles of the Greek gods of classical mythology. Our vantage point to this exercise is Thomas Hockenberry, a scholar who is pretty sure he is dead and remembers little of his life on earth, but knows Homer's epic poem chapter and verse, and along with the rest of his colleagues is cataloguing where the action diverges from the "Iliad." It seems that Homer played around with the chronology when he wrote his epic thousands of years ago, which begs the question of why Hockenberry is now watching it played out and getting involved in a way that goes well beyond academic interest, beginning with a night in the bed of Helen of Troy herself. Meanwhile, a couple of robots with a propensity for quoting Shakespeare and Proust are leaving Jupiter to head to Mars to check out the strange readings they are picking up and back on Earth a group of humans living in a post-technological world where mechanical servants take care of their every needs are starting to rethink the way things are. When the latter meets up with Odysseus, we have another substantial clue that (surprise, surprise) these three plot threads are all parts of the same puzzle.

I have to admit that my interest for the non-"Iliad" parts of "Ilium" took a while to be kindled, mainly because my fascination with how the Trojan War was playing out was so great. Hockenberry has been studying the Trojan War for nine years and as the novel begins he and his colleagues are excited because they have finally reached the start of the "Iliad," when Agamemnon, King of the Acheans, arrogantly insults the great warrior Achilles over Briseis of the lovely arms. However, this becomes almost a minor consideration for Hockenberry the Muse he serves brings him to the goddess Aphrodite, who wants the scholar to kill the Athene herself.

From the opening paragraph, where Simmons does a pointed take off on the famous beginning of Homer's epic, Simmons dances his story in and around the "Iliad." The question of how a mere mortal such as Diomedes could dare to attack the gods themselves on the battlefield, and actually wound then, is not answered: he is injected with nano-technology by another deity. However, it is when we get to the fateful point where Homer's story is effectively derailed and Hockenberry makes the inevitable declaration to Dorothy's little dog that we are no longer in the "Iliad" and are now charting new ground.

Ultimately Simmons is more like Euripides than Homer. It was the Greek dramatist who set up the ironic foreshadowing of the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles in "Iphigenia at Aulis" and who created an emotional counterpart in "The Trojan Women" to the end of the "Iliad," where Hector's corpse is brought back to the city. Homer's epics were not holy writ for the ancient Greeks, and the tragic poets could use his characters to tell their own stories, which is exactly what Simmons is doing (there is one part that struck me as a deadly serious twist on Aristophanes' "Lysistrata"). I have the feeling that the conclusion will be more like the "Odyssey," especially since the "original" fate of Troy, Achilles, Hector, and the others are well over the rainbow, but now I am curious to see not only what happens next, and who wins the new war that has begun, but also because I want to find out who is behind the curtain.

Rating:
Summary: What Great Sci-Fi Is All About
Review: I'm not a big fan of the science-fiction/fantasy genres. What I am a fan of, actually, is Dan Simmons. He is the only author who can constantly hop genres all the while remaining fresh and appealing to all of his fans.

Following his great epic Hyperion/Endymon, Simmons comes back with another mind blowing science-fiction saga. Ilium is as good if not better than its predecessor, and it is bound to become a classic of the genre, because Ilium is like nothing you've read before. Simmons has done the impossible by creaing something completely fresh, new and highly interesting.

The book is separated in three major stories that are all loosely linked to one another. The first story is set on earth, where the post-humans are about to discover that there is much more to life than their uncomplicated, empty existence. When three of these post-humans go on a trek to investigate their originators, they will uncover a dark sercret that will threaten everything they thought they knew.

The second story concentrates on a group of robot-like Shakespeare-quoting things who are going on a mission to Mars to try and understand why the planet has terraformed itself. But when their mission goes wrong, they will soon be left stranded on this strange planet.

And finally, the final story (and most interesting one) is about a scholi (a professor who goes back in history to observe) who is serving as a witness to the greatest battle of all time, the one depicted in Homer's The Iliad. But the scholi will soon realize that one little shift in events can render the whole future uncertain.

And this is probably the heart of Simmons's incredible novel. Beautifully written, this book is all about the power of transformation in time, in space and on a personal level. Simmons recreates history and invents a future in a way that no other author has dared to do before. He goes back to the literary classics to create a futuristic world that is highly influenced by the literary world of the past.

The whole novel finishes on a climactic level that will hopefully be concluded in the next installment, Olympus. But as it now stands, Ilium is a great read. Although the book is big, I gobbled it up in just a few days. I just couldn't put it down.

I can't begin to express how original this book is. It's refreshing to see that imgination isn't fully lost in today's world of mediocre publishing. Truly original literature is hard to come by, so grab this one up and be ready to partake in an experience you won't soon forget.

Rating:
Summary: is there a sequel???
Review: great book, very similar in style to hyperion, all 3 story lines are gripping. Only disapointment was ending, which never truly ties everything together. It just leaves you to make your own assumptions. I'd definitely buy a sequel!

Rating:
Summary: Not an Easy Read, Often Incoherent
Review: This book lacks coherence and many parts were often unintelligible. Simmons has the bad habit of making up his own words and terminology - this would not be such a problem if he defined them and explained the words when using them. However, he often does not explain the terms until hundreds of pages later, if at all!!(scholic,moravecs, voynix, faxing humans?- i still dont know what these are after reading the novel).

He seems to be trying to tell more than one story at a time, and therefore the novel lacks any semblance of a normal progression. I often found myslf mumbling, "what the heck is going on?" and would look again and again at the story summary on the dust jacket vainly seeking an explanation.

I understand that Simmons is considered a top Sci-fi writer- but he would sell lot more copies if he made an effort not to write in such an obtuse style.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Engrossing
Review: All those who bemoan the fate of the sci-fi genre can stop. It's not that science fiction is dying, it's just that few authors are good enough to write such a rousing, involving tale as Dan Simmons has done with Ilium. I especially liked the mesmerizing scenes with Hockenberry and the resourceful and all-too-human Trojan women. Believe the hype and grab this novel! I eagerly await the sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Now let us praise mighty men
Review: I have been a science fiction fan (fanatic?) for 34 of my 44 years. I am ALWAYS reading, whenever I can. Reading is the enemy of sleep, of boredom. And who have I read? You'd be better off asking what I haven't read.

When I'm lucky, another Cryptonomicon, another Neuromancer will come along and explode in my mind like a little piece of the Sun. And this is one of those books.

It is so much fun, for me, as a fan, to look back at this book, let alone read it. It is a book for fans, better if you know the story of Troy at least a little, a smashing of convention like Hendrix divebombing into a wall of feedback.

I can't wait for the sequel.

Long live the rockvecs!

Rating:
Summary: This book has it all!
Review: As well as being very well-written and well thought out, it has not only great characters and a believability, but takes us into a future where you travel by "faxing" yourself, which is an extremely unique idea, not to mention carrying the story to Mars and Jupiter in such a way as to interweave them all and come up with one hell of a cliffhanger. I've added it to other great sci-fi books as "I,Robot", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Foundation", "Ringworld", "Neuromancer", "Cryptonomicon", "Cyber Hunter", and many more.