Rise of Endymion

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Summary: Thanks, M.Simmons
Review: Thanks again M.Simmons for let us enter in Hyperion universe again. That`s the way the new SF must walk, not only battles and future and more future; when I read a book I like the receive new ideas, new messages... and if they are given by Hyperion's characters, much more better! Thanks again for this marvellous, complex and not happy end book, M.Simmons. I am excited to read Far Horizonts and Simmons'"Orphans of the Helix"...last Hyperion's text????

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Summary: Simmons blunders to Hyperion conclusion
Review: Dan Simmons must have forgotten what made the first two Hyperion books so good. Nice action and interesting characters. Instead, The Rise of Endymion features wooden characters, lots of plot padding and then some incoherent action. You know you're in trouble when the heros are boring and you can't wait to get back to the villains. Aenea and Raul are preachy, boring and please spare me the rapturous descriptions of love-making marathons. While you're at, forget the faux Buddhism plot. It's too bad Simmons decided he had big things to say instead of concentrating on writing a good story.

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Summary: troublant épilogue
Review: Il va de soi que l'on ne peut dénier aux deux premiers ouvrages de cette quadrilogies une prééminence naturelle sur leurs suivants mais il serait absurde de se priver de la veine romantique de ces derniers... Si de nombreux lecteurs soulignent à juste titre la relative tiédeur d'Endymion et de l'éveil d'Endymion (the rise of Endymion)face à la monstruosité des perpectives que nous donne à partager Simmons dans les précédents opus, bien peu en revanche semblent goûter à l'insondable beauté de cet idylle par delà le temps et l'espace. Raul Endymion est beaucoup plus profond que certains voudraient le laisser croire, de même qu'Enée exerce une fascination que sa douce simplicité exacerbe, il s'en trouve créee une osmose troublante et palpable entre deux êtres aux destins tragiques et formidables... Dire que j'ai aimé serait faire insulte à l'aveuglement de mes sens devant pareille vision.

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Summary: An epic read
Review: To those familiar with the other 3 books, Rise reads much more like Fall of Hyperion than the other two in that the scope of the novel is simply epic. This book is one you should read at least the Hyperion's to ramp up to as the plot is intertwined almost completely.

I honestly found that there was very little that went on in the book action wise as was the focus in Endymion (i.e. the physical flight to old earth by the old farcaster portals). Instead, the book is a rather comprehensive space opera that tries to describe the galaxy spanning events leading up to the final days of the story.

For those that relished the action sequences of the first and third books, I fear this is not the 700 page gorilla you want to find in your closet. For those that enjoyed the larger plot as described in Fall of Hyperion, you should have a ball reading this as I did.

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Summary: yadda, yadda, yack
Review: This book is in desperate need of an editor; at least 250 pages should be cut. Simmons introduces many new two dimentional characters. There is not too many characters, but rather, few too many interesting ones. I have about 100 pages to go and am seriously hitting the marathon runners wall on this book.

For those who are interested... Gene Wolfe's "Book of the new sun" is a very good SF series.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not on par with previous work
Review: Where to begin? Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion moved me in ways that I hadn't really experienced before, or at least not in a good long while. For most of my life, I read books that were heavy on SF concept and rather weak on character. Then I happened upon works of wonder like Greg Bear's Forge of God and Simmon's Hyperion Cantos. Those books are something special. If you don't *feel* something by the time you close the last page of the book, there's something wrong with you. For Dan Simmon's gift to the world with his first two books in the Hyperion Cantos, I am eternally greatful.

However, I think Endymion and Rise of Endymion were a let down. Endymion was a slow ramping up that never really got anywhere even at the end. I remember feeling at the time that, with all that building up, Rise of Endymion was going to be one hell of a book even if Endymion was aggravating. What I found, though, was that most of the things I loved the most about the first two books were destroyed or made irrelevant. The Technocore bears not even the slightest resemblence to Ummon anymore. Granted, Ummon was a single character, but the Technocore AI's now are just evil humans in machine bodies with access to cool toys. Ummon was distinctly alien. He was not human, and that was as it should be, for he wasn't. I've *met* a few people like Albedo. Moreover, the Volitiles, Stables, and Ultimates were apparently a huge hoax concocted for who-knows-what reasons. That structure of the Technocore, of a distinctly non-human society, was one of the things that fascinated me most about the first two books. I was extremely annoyed at the way in RoE that Simmon's just casually mentioned, "Oh, that was all a lie." To what end? That's just one example.

I really appreciated the subtle details that were put into H and FoH, and it was rather annoying to see so many of them torn apart and replaced by, frankly, sloppy substitutes for what was there before. The whole part of the story about the future conflict bewteen the human and machine UI's was all but completely ignored. The time tombs, the Shrike... their origins may be "explained" now, but I think that if this is the explanation, it would have been better to leave it a mystery. The Shrike is a reincarnation of Kassad? If that were the case, why on Earth would it be rampaging about killing everyone when it gets a chance to in the first two books. I guess that leads to my other annoyance. In the first two books, the Shrike was scary. It literally made my skin crawl, and that is no small feat. The Shrike now has been turned into a "good-guy" for crying out loud! It isn't frightening at all. And there is still the question of why the Keat's cybrids were being created in the first place. If everything Ummon said about the Ultimates, Stables, and Volitiles was untrue, then we know approximately nothing about why Keats was created over and over again. Or by who, for that matter, if Ummon was such a liar. Perhaps he was made that Aenea might be born, but why on Earth would elements of the Technocore do THAT to themselves? This plot vacuum is annoying, particularly since it was at the heart of the first two books.

It isn't that simple, though. During Aenea's torture, I nearly threw the book at a wall; not something I'm generally prone to do. I was furious beyond anything rational. It *is* just a book, right? Well, though I can't speak for anyone else, it takes some pretty effective writing to elicit that strong a reaction out of me. I didn't even like Aenea very much, but being forced to watch everything they did to her and to see her die *that* way, it just pushed me over the edge. I nearly threw the book at a wall.

THAT is where the book redeems itself. Simmon's ability to make the reader *feel* something is still as present as it was in the first two books. I can't say I care for the direction he took his plot, and I know that many others agree with me on that note. However, he hasn't lost his knack for ripping your heart out and serving it to you on a golden platter. Whether or not you like his characters or not, whether or not you appreciate the pages upon pages of landscape and architechture descriptions, whether or not you roll your eyes at the "cop-out" directions some of the plot took, you will *feel* something by the time the book is over. Whether it was worth treading through everything else in between is a personal judgement call.

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Summary: Damn good book
Review: I just read the last of the Hyperion books, in one night, (Thanks alot simmons) and I thought it was a very good book despite one flaw...simmons spends some sections over-describing some things. Any way, After reading some of the reviews here, I am somewhat confused. How can some of you people give this book one and two stars? Few writers attempt the vast scope that Simmons tackled in this last book and even fewer manage it as succesfully as he has. I think many of you were put off by simmons views towards religion. I guess a lot of it, if your very religious, bordered on blasphemy. But I'm not and the conversation between the Dalai lama and Mustafa was one of my favorite parts of the book. Anyway, I reccomend this book to anyone with an open mind and who isn't afraid to go there.

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Summary: Dan delivers
Review: Dan, I am not worthy. Reading the Hyperion series has jaded me so horribly, that all other books I read just seem to pale in comparison to this four book masterpiece. Upon conclusion of reading this intricately woven epic, I was left stairing at a wall, cursing, knowing I have read the best, and would be hard pressed to find any books that even come close to blowing me away like these. Stop what you are doing right now, and start on Hyperion. By the conclusion of The Rise of Endymion (the greatest of the four books), I guarantee that you too will be singing the praises of Simmons.

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Summary: A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever
Review: For some reason, all great science fiction writers can't stop themselves from adding more and more to their greatest creation. Since I believe most of the people here have read some of these, here goes: Asimov's Foundation Triology still holds as the very best of science fiction ever written, in my not so humble opinion. However, All the sequels, with the possible exception of Prologue to Foundation, were ****.

Frank Herbert's Dune - I tried to read a sequel, but couldn't.

Dauglas Adams's Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy , as great as it was, added multiple of unnecessary books too tire even Ford Prefect enthusiasts.

and perhaps the most relevant, ORson Scott Card created Ender's Game, and a reasonable sequel, Speaker for the Dead, only to ruin them by two more barely readable books.

Given the repartoir, Simmons's work was the best of the bunch. Hion and Fohion are amoung the greatest books ever written, sci-fi or no sci-fi. And the Endymion books?

Well, Endymion was alright. It was two hundred pages too long, but still had lots od cool scenes, even if it was kinde'standard.

RoEion was much more ambitious, and for the most part, better. RoEion had enough good characters, smart moments great lines, and action, to make up for it and retain it's ground a relatively worthy part of the Hyperion Cantos. Had it not been for the great two Hion books, Eion and RoEion would have been considered very good science fiction. The only problem is how they pale in comparison to the first too.

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Summary: A wonderful, emotional, satisfying end to the saga.
Review: Rise of Endymion, along with Endymion, are a pair of books I will have a difficult time forgetting - or reading again. I say this not because the story or narrative is poor - I would say instead that Simpson unfalteringly realizes a vision he has spent years perfecting. The story is powerful enough that, as the conclusion draws to an end, you feel much of the pain and exhilaration that the characters experience, even though the memories and experiences are all in your head. If you've ever read Tolkien or Asimov (okay, who hasn't) they are among the finest authors that have the unique ability to plant images in your consciousness. You can envision every tree, every breathtaking overlook as if it is right in front of you.

Simpson deserves to be listed among these authors.

Rise of Endymion takes us from the midpoint in Aenea's and Raul's journey to its bittersweet end on Pacem and beyond. Along the way, we find true love (don't we all wish we could find that?), burning hatred, incredible beauty and vision, and one man's view of how it all fits together.

Simpson, amazingly, ties all of the threads of his previous books together in a way that I could not have imagined - ultimately satisfying in every detail. As others have warned, though, do not read this book looking for happy endings and clean resolutions. Keep a handkerchief or large napkin nearby for the last 30 pages of the book. Be prepared, if you can embrace this book on more than a surface level, for a profound inward look and a re-evaluation of your personal beliefs.

Ultimately, though, read this book if you want an engrossing yarn with all-too-human flaws and emotion, told by one of the finest fiction authors of today.