Rise of Endymion

Rating:
Summary: The most beautiful story I've ever read?
Review: Dan Simmons is a wonderfully devious writer. His characters are real (complete with jealousies, inadequacies and personable quirks), his plots both amazing and believable, and the prose itself just simply beautiful. He does have moments of pandering (not unlike Stephen King) but instead of detracting, they usually reinforce that he is present in each of his characters (a trait I've always felt should be necessary to good writing).
Read the Hyperion series if you want to consider yourself a well-read sci-fi geek (like me!) I make all my friends read it!!

Rating:
Summary: Wow... this is bad...
Review: This book was a major disappointment. Throughout the entire book Simmons basically re-writes the first three books of this series and when he's not re-writing, he's rambling on to excess attempting to give vivid descriptions that last pages and pages and about plot items that really have nothing to do with the story at hand. It seems Simmons had discovered eastern religions (i.e. buddhism etc.) and had to tell us about in this book. It was unbearibly frustrating to read about how characters die, but maybe not depending on whatever plot device Simmons chooses to introduce completely arbitrarily. The book reminds me of some of the really bad episodes of the "X-Files" where the whole episode revolves around one line "what is the truth Mulder?" "I don't know. What is the truth Scully?". This series started off with so much promise and it just ends as a complete dud. Especially Raul and Aenea's relationship, ridiculous it was, the dialog between them. My recommendation is to stop reading after "Endymion", but I understand that you'll have to finish the series as I did, but it really disappointed me. I do understand the major themes of the book, but I only need to understand them once, you know like maybe in the first one hundred pages. I didn't need to be retold what they were over and over again in the next 600 pages.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Conclusion
Review: I have always been a huge fan of fantasy/sci-fi novels as well as novels that make you think. The Hyperion series is one of the best out there, right along with Dune. But the Hyperion series goes even farther into such thought provoking questions about immortality, intelligence, what makes something "human", evolution,religion, and, most thoroughly, time. Although the entire quintet is fascinating, The Rise of Endymion greatly surpasses all previous installments with a tremendous blend of action, philosophy, and a very well-done and tasteful love story. I highly recommend this book to any and all looking for a good read but aren't afraid to use their brain a little, or a lot. I warn you though, read the first three otherwise this will be one of the most confusing experiences of your life.