Ilium

Rating:
Summary: amazingly original
Review: Hyperion is my favorite science fiction novel of all time, in it we saw how simmons can draw on dozens of threads to weave a masterpiece. Ilium isnt as dazzling a literay achievement as that, however it is totally unique and though it starts slow the last half of the book I couldnt stop turning the pages. There the real conflict begins and the characters start to evolve due to their sudden need to fight to survive. This is a cliffhanger and I cant wait for the conclusion. On one level Ilium is a examination on violence, defensive and offensive, the eternal presence of it in human life and its effect on us. For this Homer's Iliad is a perfect springboard. Ilium also considers the virtues of living a ordinary life versus an extraordinary one(Achilles choice). I'm curious to find out how this relates to violence in the authors eyes.

Rating:
Summary: almost very good
Review: Ilium has a fantastic premise. It is a good story and I am a fan of Dan Simmons. However, this book should have been trimmed A LOT. Some authors can conjure subtle feelings of mystery when on the side of the verbose-as in Gene Wolfe- but, Dan does not accomplish this enough. Perhaps, he got lazy. This is the kind of work that could have been truly amazing. Please, Dan, don't settle for mediocre work. The world is already full of it.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful meld of the classics with the modern
Review: You don't have to have read (or remember!) your Homer to enjoy this adventure, which combines the classics (especially the Iliad), with some ingenious new story lines based on science fiction. This book is a wonderful meld of literature that is simultaneously thousands of years old, with references to contemporary events (at one point, an evil entity is referred to as a "September 11th god"), and a plot line that incorporates interplanetary travel and quasi-biological beings (the moravecs--named after a living scientist). Despite these various plot lines, they work together wonderfully well and interweave in a manner that only an author of Simmons's talents could execute (though I suspect Neil Gamain might be able to pull this off, as well). The only drawback to this novel is that it is only 600 pages long and that we have to wait for the second volume to see what happens.

Rating:
Summary: Can he pull it off? Probably!
Review: The Hyperion series established Simmons as a force in SciFi -- the books were outstanding, with lots of depth, convoluted storylines with gratifying resolution, and fantastic characters -- not to mention his setting and tech level. Wonderful stuff. So, of course, when shopping Amazon for my trip, I saw this new novel, I picked it up.

Now this is with the understanding that there is a second book coming out, but I'm not sure he can pull it off. So the premise (SPOILERS!!!) is that people have evolved massively, and perfected technologies like teleportation and wormhole control. So, bored (I think) they have become like gods and shaped mars into Homer's ancient Greece as seen in the Odyssey. And they wage the Iliad and want to see if it has to work out the way it did in the book. There's another storyline involving the last people on earth -- people who didn't become gods I suppose -- and their efforts to figure out where the posthumans are and what they are up to. Then there's the robots we've left in the asteroid belt mining -- intelligent, thinking robots called Moravecs -- nice name choice, I'm sure Hans Moravec approves -- the robots are really great.

But there's SO much going on here and the issues are so big and intertwined that until maybe the last 50 or so pages I was sure he couldn't make this into a good run. Then you hit the last 50 pages and finish breathless. He's really good. I'm still not sure he can pull it off in two books, but hey -- I'm willing to read the second one. I liked it -- we'll just have to see. Definitely worth reading for Hyperion fans, but you have to be patient. It's not quite like the others.

Rating:
Summary: Quite good , but not as good as Hyperion
Review: I enjoyed very much reading Ilium. The story is a bit boring for the first 100 or so pages, but it becomes very interesting later on and makes you keep turning pages. There are many interesting mysteries to be solved and some of those are revealed by the end of the book. The physics ideas are a bit pseudoscientific (such as the quantum wavefront concept which Simmons keeps using in many of his novels. I also wondered how Hockenberry thought that he was on Earth and not on Mars, didn't he realize that gravity was quite less than normal?). The other thing that was a bit dissapointing is that Simmons seems to have lost the amazing literary abilities (Muse) that he demostrated in Hyperion. That book was an amazing orgasm of words, ideas, imagination, proses and extreme detail in description of worlds. Ilium writing style is similar to Endymion, still good but not extraordinary.

Rating:
Summary: How can you?
Review: Explain a Dan Simmons book? Fat chance but...

Ever wonder what it would be like to stand on the battlefields of Troy while the battle was happening? Mr. Simmons puts you there. Ever imagine what the Gods of the ancients did to entertain themselves? Mr. Simmons makes you a "fly on the wall."

Ever wonder what it would be like to make love to Helen? The "face that launched a thousand ships?" Well guess what?

Mr. Simmons has penned a fantastic flight of imagination that is simply astounding.

There is so much going on in a Dan Simmons book i.e., philosophy, history, sociology, fantasy, adventure, and always entertaining sometimes hilarious dialog between characters makes the task of reviewing rather daunting and even professional reviewers can't give a Dan Simmons story justice.

Just enjoy "Illium" and be sad in the knowledge that you have to wait a while for the second volume.

Damn, I hate the waiting. Hurry up Dan!

Rating:
Summary: Waiting for Brave Ulysses
Review: A superb fantasy/alternate future/sf classic. The Trojan Wars are going to be big news in 2004, with Brad Pitt's new movie coming out.
The concept of this book is fascinating. A Mars where the old heirarchy of gods continues to torment humankind for its own amusement. Protectors of mankind attacking the gods despite their awesome powers. What better way to get familiar with the characters, without having to read Cliff notes of the "The Iliad!" I know a sequel is in the works, but how about a prequel? This could keep Dan Simmons busy for the better part of the next decade.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I love SciFi and I love historical fiction. This is the best of either I've read this year.

Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the sequel
Review: Ilium is simply a wonderful book. Simmons' prose immerses the reader fluidly between ancient Troy, deep space, and everything in between. The scope and grandeur of Simmons' other works (most notably the Hyperion series) is present in full-force and one almost finds oneself cheering on the heroes as the story reaches toward fulcrum.

At moments some of the characters actions or dialogue seemed a bit out-of-character, but over the course of the book this serves to make them more real, more human. Characters change their minds for reasons that, at times, even they do not understand. They grow and develop before your eyes as their worlds are radically changed and they forced to action. Not all of them undergo such changes, of course, and the ones who do not seem noticeably flatter. This does not diminish much from the overall enjoyment of the book. In fact, the annoying editorial typos (particularly several instances of the word "that" appearing when clearly "than" should have been printed) detracted more. There were a startingly number, even for a first printing.

Those familiar with Simmons' other work will recognize some carryover ideas such as the quantum wavefronts and the mind. There are others, but I don't want to give too much away. There are also enough new ideas worked into this story to give the imagination plenty chew on.

It will remain unclear whether Ilium-Olympos surpasses Hyperion's breathtaking scale and scope until the second volume is released, but I imagine it will be well worth the wait.

Also worth noting are the Acknowledgements on The Iliad, Shakerspeare, and Proust. I was familiar with about half the works cited and may pick up some of the others.

Rating:
Summary: Great writing, terrible editing
Review: Reading Mr Simmons' Hyperion novels was one of the most satisfying sci-fi reading experiences of my life, better even than reading the Dune series. So when I heard that a new epic tale was coming out, I was extremely eager to read it. Now, having finished Ilium, I can say that it terms of plot, literary erudition, and sheer page-turning enjoyment, I was more than satisfied, and eagerly look forward to how it all pans out in Olympos, the next volume. How many authors could mix hard sci-fi and quantum physics with Shakespeare, Proust, and Homer and make it so entertaining? Still, the only thing keeping me from giving the book 5 stars was the extremely shoddy editing job. I have never experienced so many errors--not just spelling errors, but continuity as well--in one novel. Either it went straight to press from the author's rough draft or the editor was asleep over the manuscript. This really did affect my enjoyment of the novel--I expect to be swept away by the characters, plots, and thoughts, and I found myself jarred back into the mundane by ridiculous mistakes. The goofs kept coming, and at a rate of one every ten pages, and only the brilliance of the story kept me from demanding a refund from the publisher. I bought it the day it came out, so hopefully future editions will correct the mistakes. Amazing story, Mr. Simmons--I want to know what happens to Hockenberry, Mahnmut, Daeman, Harman, the gods and heroes, and everyone else in your remarkable epic. But fire your editor before you publish the sequel.