Rating: 
Summary: disappointed
Review: I have been a fan for years of Simmons' work but was sorely disappointed in this latest book. The Hyperion series did a excellent job of subtlely blending literary references with science fiction. I could wholely accept the Hyperion universe.In contrast, I find little about Illium even somewhat plausible. As you may discovered in other reviews this book ends very abruptly with many loose ends. As unlikely as it might seem, maybe Simmons in the sequel will somehow tie all these loose ends in the sequel and render this whole story into something that makes sense. But at this point the bottom line is: after having waded through the morass, I don't care enough to read that sequel. Maybe I'm supposed to be impressed with the research Simmons did to capture details from the Illiad; but, having only a passing High School acquaintance with Homer, most of this is lost on me (and probably most other readers). I care more about how this scenario fits into a plausible universe and tells a convincing story. Simmons definitely has not done this for me here. In contrast, the references to John Keats in Hyperion blended seamlessly into that Hyperion universe. And, although I wasn't previously familar with Keats, that didn't in any way detract from reading Hyperion. Moreover, I was actually intrigued enough about Keats afterwards to search out some of his work. I could go on. If you find the idea of some evolved Humans re-enacting the Illiad hard to swallow, there are also the activities of the old-time Humans back on Earth. Among other things they meet up with the 'Wandering Jew' and start on an odyssey of their own. At one point, in the dried out bed of Mediteranean Sea they happen to come across a set of chairs, each with a button. Like something out of a zany Flash Gordon serial, when they press the buttons they are blasted off into the outer space to a space station where equally ridiculous adventures await them.. Maybe, Simmons should have just written a historical fiction about the events of the Illiad (he does make frequent forays into other gendres)and not bothered with this ill-fitting attempt to weave the story into a science fiction universe. Who knows? -- maybe that was his original intent but his publisher insisted on SF? I give this two star only out of respect for Dan Simmons' abilities. Also, despite the utterly implausible story, I will have to concede that the book is technically written quite well.
Rating: 
Summary: More Sci Fi fun from Simmons
Review: First, you don't need to know the Illiad well to enjoy this book. Sure, you would get another level of enjoyment from the book if you did. But you can do just fine by relying on the summary of characters at the end of the book. Don't let a lack of knowledge of the Illiad keep you from reading this book. It does take time to really figure out what is going on, but that's the fun of this book (and of Simmons generally). How do Greek gods on Mars, the battle for Troy, literature-loving robots from Jupiter, a 21st century professor and Illiad scholar, simple-minded humans who have lost even the ability to read, and Little Green Men (LGM) all fit together? Not easily, but Simmons weaves the story together over the nearly 600 pages, while at the same time keeping you engrossed by the fast-moving story and engaging characters. This is not hard sci fi. And the explanation for some of the events (i.e. how did Greek gods end up on Mars) appear like they're going to be a little weak/far-fetched. But Simmons does provide an explanation (tentative at this point--just a hypothesis of one of the characters--perhaps not validated until the sequel), and this is sci fi, so you expect there to be some stretches or improbable events in the story (particularly when you're dealing with Greek gods). This may bother some people, and perhaps is one area where this book should be marked down a little. But in my opinion, this really doesn't get in the way of the enjoyment of the book. For Hyperion fans, I would probably rate this book a little lower than Hyperion or Fall of Hyperion but higher than Endymion or Rise of Endymion. Hyperion was simply a masterpiece of sci fi story telling, and Illium does not rise to this level. When I first read the summary for this book, I was put off by the apparently crazy storyline, so I wasn't sure I was going to read it. I thought Simmons really had gone of the deep end this time. And maybe he has. But it's huge fun trying to guess what's going on and seeing how Simmons weaves everything together. I'm glad I came back and gave it a try. It's great to have Simmons writing sci fi again. I highly recommend the book. My rating: 4.5 stars
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: I'm not usually a big fan of Sci-Fi, but the juxtaposition of futuristic sci-fi and the Trojan War intrigued me. The book is a bit daunting at first; Simmons plunges right into this world, and it takes a few hundred pages to completely get your bearing. Initially, I was far more interested in the plots involving the Trojan War and the Olympian gods than in the other two plot lines; I was tempted to skip past these other story lines, but sticking to it really paid off once the story lines converged. Although the book is dense with plot, characters and unfamiliar terminology, it's not hard to follow once you get a few chapters in. The story moves and a brisk pace, and Simmons is a vivid storyteller. I am now anxiously awaiting the follow-up novel, "Olympos."
Rating: 
Summary: Epic in description and scope
Review: Ilium, like previous reviewers have stated, is a sci-fi reimagining of Homer's Illiad in a grand and futuristic scale. Dan Simmons mixes in philosophy with literature and excitement all in one package. That said, there were some things about it that peeved me: 1. Much like the Illiad, Dan Simmons has so incorporated Homer's style that he includes nitty gritty details that I couldn't care less about. He tells you that this person is a minor character and will die in about five minutes, but then goes on to give you his life story! (Inlcuding that he is the son of so-and-so and he will die in this manner.) Like the Illiad, I was desperate to read the Cliff Notes version. 2. Like Hyperion, this novel basically plops you into a wonderful world without giving you much explaination. Perhaps I am just slow, but it took me a couple chapters to realize what a moravec was.(I finally discovered the much needed glossary and explanation of characters at the end of the book.) 3. His science is a bit fishy and I didn't buy most of it. Granted, the story takes place thousands and thousands of years in the future, however, there were places in the book that I just thought to myself, "Nah, that can NEVER" happen. 4. The characters in this book change and grow, however, one of them changes so exteremely that I'm not sure it's believable. I am all for people changing and learning their lesson and whatnot, however, I don't believe that people can have a TOTAL change. I feel that there should be at least some vestige of the former self when someone changes and grows. In this case, a character changes and I feel like he is a totally different person with not a single iota of the former self and I found that really hard to buy. It's like Pippin transforming into Gandalf. Just kinda makes you giggle. All in all, I'm glad to have read it and thought it was cool, however, I'm not sure if I would read the sequel when it comes out.
Rating: 
Summary: Too confusing
Review: This book makes no sense. I was delighted by the summary and the first page - I thought someone who really knew the Illiad had written a modern book. I was kind of disappointed on page 2 when that illusion was shattered. Then things got really confusing. I've got a friend who has studied writing and whenever we discuss books she points out something she learned that people can't read a story with more than 6 active characters without getting confused. This has way more than the maximum number of characters. This is actually three parallel stories, which may or may not be co-temporaneous (who knows? I've read it and I'm still not sure what is going on.) Any one of the three plots would be an interesting story, and the individual plots are very well written, but when you have them in parallel it is absolutely confusing! I'm so confused that I'm not even willing to tackle the sequel that may bring everything together and explain it.
Rating:
Summary: So Hollywood
Review: Let's say that you are a genius. You must be, you've read the
Iliad in the original Greek, plus you've cranked out a bunch
of well-written potboilers that got great reviews. Never mind
that the conclusions of some of your books or series, like the
Hyperion series, are truly dumb. They sold a bunch of copies
and that's what counts, because you are a genius and the rest
of the unwashed masses are, well, unwashed. Given that, you figure you could write a couple of books that
mix the Iliad and Sci-Fi that will sell *millions*. So off you
go. You know the elements of novel writing, like pacing, and
mixing various threads into a coherent whole, and having a
cute robot in the story. You come up with a great plot idea
that sort of works if you stick some nonsense about quantum
stuff into it at appropriate spots - but you're a genius and
you can write mumbo jumbo with the best of them. And it all
goes swimmingly well. You're going to hook the unwashed sci-fi fans good this time and since there's millions of them, you're
going to make a whack o' cash. You pile on all the great sci-fi
themes of the past century for good measure. Some humor, some
pathos, and you're done. But still, there's a problem. It's just not *exciting* enough,
you know? The mundanes out there want, indeed they need, some
excitement in their lives. What to do, what to do? Well, how
about reaching into the bag of tricks of the great purveyor of
action and pacing - Hollywood! That old staple where the hero,
mortally wounded, just barely manages to switch off the atomic
bomb by cutting the red wire (no, the blue wire!) just at the
*very last second* works every single time and makes Hollywood
billions. But let's go one better. How about we do it
repeatedly? And there you have Ilium and, I expect, the eagerly-anticipated
Olympos in a nutshell. Lots of absolutely last second
breathtaking hero-saves-the-universe action. I can't remember
the number of times it happened - 4? 5? 6? Plus, and here's
the great part, you've actually got the unwashed interested in
Homer, the Iliad, and all that stuff, which can't be bad,
right? Google searches for "Iliad" will go through the roof.
I expect it'll continue to get great reviews, win multiple
sci-fi awards and most important, earn a ton of cash. That's
Entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: A great read! I truly enjoyed reading this It's a rarity these days to find an author capable of such good storytelling. The story is well written and very engaging, and despite the fact that it lost some momentum in the middle, I found myself eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen next. All in all, though this is not quite a perfect novel, it comes close.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fantastic!
Review: Ilium is one of the best books I have ever read in my lifetime! One doesn't often read stories combining science fiction, the Classics of Homer, Shakespeare, and Proust, and a pantheon of meddlesome Greek gods, but Dan Simmons not only did it, but he did it well. The story weaves three distinctly different tales of post-humans resembling the "Time Machine's" Eloi: gentle souls with no knowledge of their past, no desire to know their future; a society of sentient robots from Jupiter on a mission of destruction to Mars; and the previously mentioned Greek gods, wreaking havoc from their mount on Olympus. In the center of all this action is an innocent scholar, Thomas Hockenberry, who is drawn into a web of deceit when one of the gods decides to kill one of their own and enlists Hockenberry to do their dirty work. Things quickly begin to unravel when the plan is put into action and the three stories come together on a collision course guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire ride!
Rating:
Summary: A good combination of SF and literature
Review: This is a good read, but more for the interesting literary connections, then for the Science Fiction ideas. However, Dan, has included plenty of interesting Science Fiction. A major part of the plot is based on characters from Homer's Illiad, (and other famous literary characters such as Prospero, Ariel and Calliban from The Tempest.) We have all heard of the Illiad characters (Archilles, Helen of Troy, etc.) but very few of us, (myself included) have read it. You do not have to read it first to enjoy the book because Dan does such a good job of intertwining the story of the battle for Troy (Illum). However, after learning more about these characters, you will probably want to read the Illiad when you are done with Illium. The main character in the book, like Dan, went to college in Indiana. Having gone to the same college as Dan, I enjoyed the references to Indiana and that he mentions a professor, Dr. Fertig, who was my professor as well. There is a famous scene from the Illiad, which he uses as a basis for one of he scenes in the book. Interestingly, I was reading the book in the lobby of a movie theatre, had just read that scene, and then went in to the movie ("The Human Satin") where there were discussing precisely the same scene from the illiad. If I had not just read about it in Illium, I wouldn't have enjoyed the scene from the movie as much. The book provides literary tie-in after literary tie-in, which make it a fun, fun read for SF fans who also enjoy other types of literature. My only disappointment was that after I got the end, I realized that the story was not going to be complete and that I would have to read the second part of the series to see how it ends. (I would have known that if I had read the book cover. However, I never read the book covers since they might give away too much of the plot.)Oh well, I giess I'll just have to wait for the second part. Buy it, read it, and enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, a definite keeper
Review: In the not-too distant future, humanity is extinct. Post-humans have colonized the solar system but even they have changed or vanished. What they have left behind are semi-human Earth-dwellers who have forgotten all knowledge and live only for pleasure; a terraformed Mars where the battle of Troy is being replayed and where the Greek Gods squabble and urge the Greek and Trojan heros to greater killing and death; and an outer system (asteroid belt/Jupiter's moons) inhabited by intelligent self-aware androids. ILIUM weaves three separate story lines--a group of Earth-dwellers who dream of ascending to the sky, a twentieth century scholar brought back to life to chronicle the Trojan war, and a pair of androids who make their way from the Jovian moons to the Mars of Zeus and Hera. Author Dan Simmons writes a powerful and emotionally satisfying adventure. Initially the Trojan war sequences grab the reader and these remain the most action-packed and interesting of the three story lines, but the other two quickly become fascinating as well. Simmons offers a convincing view of a future earth torn by RNA terrorists, inhabited only by a remnant population of lotus-eating human descendents (and by a version of wily Odyseus), and of scientific Gods who share the original Olympian indifference to the fates of men and their joy in destruction. By the time scholar Hockenberry decides to wage a war on the Gods, I was ready to support him. Simmons' view of the future is dark, but tinged with hope--that humanity can prevail even though humans, as we know them, are virtually extinct. His writing is so strong that you truly care. Fans of classical literature (whether Homer, Shakespeare, or Proust) will also delight in the way that Simmons mixes in characters and devices from these authors--in ways that extend rather than distort the meanings of the original works. But then, if you aren't a fan of old-dead-authors, I think you'll still get a lot of enjoyment out of ILIUM. This one is a definite keeper.
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