Endymion

Rating:
Summary: Not up to Hyperion Standards
Review: I believe the first two books in this series to be among the best works of scifi ever written. In Hyperion, not only does the author createpaint a facinating vision of a new world, but also gives us characters whom we feel for deeply, all in a story filled with intrigue and excitiment. Lastly, the first two books are written in beautiful prose.

Saddly, this work is not up to snuff. While it ties up many of the loose ends left at the end of the first books, it never grabs the reader in the same way. Nor does it create the same type of compeling world. If you loved Hyperion and had questions at the end that you wanted answered, than I suggest you read this. Just don't expect to spend weeks thinking about it like you did after reading Hyperion.

Rating:
Summary: A serious letdown
Review: Simmons is a very good writer and the writing in this book is fairly good, but it definitely seems a step down from the Hyperion books. It could have used some more editing. It just seemed sloppy.

The writing style, however, is the best part of the book. The characters seem rather flat and the plot is contrived. I would almost guess the Mr.Simmons was making it up as he went along. There's a lot of Deus-ex-Machina save-us-in-the-nick-of-time stuff, without a lot of explanation. This is the stuff of bad action movies. There is even a 'super-shrike' now that the shrike is apparently a good guy(kind of like the Terminator movies). I loved Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion is one of my favorite s-f books, but this was so bad I didn't even read the next one. Sorry.

Rating:
Summary: A long awaited follow-up... wtih less wind than Hyperion
Review: I have read Hyperion with the greatest delight and was expecting to be blown away by Endymion. Good sci-fi. Good book. Will not keep you up long.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the original books
Review: I enjoyed Endymion even more than the first 2 Hyperion books.

Written as narrative (near-omniscience of the narrative is explained in the 4th book!), the book takes a great look at life several decades after the prior characters 'ride off into the sunset'. What type of future did the Hyperion pilgrims help bring into effect? Pretty damned creepy, I'll say!

If anyone enjoyed the first 2 books, the next 2 are a must.

Rating:
Summary: We're not in Kansas anymore
Review: Endymion focuses on the relationship of Raul Endymion with that of the girl Aenea, the One Who Teaches, and the android A. Bettik. The story is told by Raul many years later while in an orbiting prison cell. He's writing his memoirs and telling the story from his perspective but with a twist, because he can see things other than what has happened to him...for reasons as not yet clear. Raul is assigned to make good the escape of Aenea as she steps through one of the Time Tombs on Hyperion, and whisk her away to safety before the evil Pax/Church can capture her. He is employed by Martin Silenus, the old poet from the original Hyperion novel who is still alive thanks to cryo-sleep. Before Raul leaves the presence of Martin, A. Bettik, the android, chooses to come along and help. Raul is happy to have someone, anyone, along since the job seems like a suicide mission. But through miraculous circumstances he is able to secure Aenea away from the evil Pax/Church, thanks to the sudden reappearance of the Shrike. Now that Raul has secured Aenea he, the android and Aenea go on a wonderful jaunt/escape through the portals (which have been deactivated since the Fall). Aenea seems to be able to activate the Portals and they quickly make daring escapes before being caught or destroyed many times. Most notably in this book are the comparisons between its storyline with 'The Wizard of Oz.' There are Lions and Tigers and Bears (within the TechnoCore---which was thought to be destroyed during the Fall), the melting of the wicked witch, Nemes, who was sent to kill Aenea (I could hear her screaming, "Help me, I'm melting!" as the incident occurred). But behind all of this is the never-ending story of good vs. evil, stagnation vs. evolution, and man vs. machine.

Now its on to The Rise of Endymion. Read on Sci-Fi fans!

Rating:
Summary: Continuation of interesting Hyperion saga, but little action
Review: ENDYMION is the third book of the Dan Simmons' Hyperion saga and the first book of a two-part story, which concludes in THE RISE OF ENDYMION. Although it provides more of the interesting universe first developed in HYPERION, it is nonetheless a novel riddled with flaws.

The most annoying thing is the incredibly formulaic plot. Simmons' tale of chosen people on the run from an evil organization is done here with the same unrealistic and stereotypical feel of an 80s TV action show. The characters are two-dimensional, Raul is your standard reluctant, but able, hero. The Catholic Church is portrayed as a bunch of diabolically laughing Crusaders.

Another one of the major flaws is the fact that very little occurs in this book. Aenea and Raul spend 500 pages on the run from the Pax and from Nemes, but not much else happens. It's as if the sole purpose of this book is to provide back story for THE RISE OF ENDYMION.

Oh, and Simmons' writing style is not much more mature that his child-like zeal in the first two Hyperion books. This brings the book dangerously close to formulaic trash.

Yes, I read the book because I just wanted to get through the Hyperion saga, and the book deserves two stars because it is one step closer to the end, but ENDYMION was disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Simply superb
Review: Dan Simmons is a marvel. He is an elegant, powerful writer who embraces the "hard" themes of love, death, religion, politics, et al, and, in embracing them, helps us understand and appreciate the struggles he has with his own mortality, faith, and love/hate.

Hyperion, the Fall of Hyperion, and Endymion. The first three books in a quatrain that leads us on an ever expanding journey into the smallest parts of ourselves. This a a set of books which are related in terms of plot / storyline / characters, but which are also widely disparate in the ways they examine those self same elements.

To suggest that Endymion is weaker or stronger than Hyperion is to confuse the issue. Endymion is as much a part of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion as they are of it. Endymion is not a separate entity. It is a part of a sum which is greater than its parts.

I'm afraid that Mr Simmons is very quickly becoming guilty of committing literature. If we keep it quiet, perhaps more people will read him.

Rating:
Summary: The best yet!
Review: Yes, I know people will disagree with me. They will unfailingly say that the first book (HYPERION) was the best. However, I enjoyed reading this, the third installment in the series, more than the first two books. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it got away from a lot of the poetry that was so heavily emphasized in the earlier installments. Second, there's a lot more action in this book than in the first two. Don't get me wrong...I'm not in it purely for the action. I enjoy strong, vivid characters and interesting worlds as much as the next person. However, the action just adds to the overall enjoyment of the book.

The elements that drive the plot in this book were totally unexpected. I wasn't expecting the jump in time and I never would have predicted what has happened to the human race in that span of time. However, it makes for VERY interesting reading. All the intrigue and mystery left me unable to put the book down. I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next.

As with the first two books, Simmons again has created beautifully intriguing characters. Some new and some old, but all of them are interesting to get to know. I think this is the strongest part of Simmons' writing. All of his characters are three dimensional; they have strengths, weaknesses, desires, and fears. They are HUMAN.

I have enjoyed this series immensely. It's characters, the world building, the tech, and the story all came together to provide me with hours of involved reading. I can't wait to finish the final installment, RISE OF ENDYMION.

Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as Hyperion
Review: Man. I read this and Rise of Endymion, assuming that the pair made a complete work, like the Hyperion pair... but I was wrong. These two books were not very good. These two felt forced, whereas the Hyperion books felt inspired. --You will probably not enjoy these two books as much as you did enjoy the Hyperion books. Sorry. I wanted to like them, too.

Rating:
Summary: The 3rd installment to an awesome series
Review: I am now reading the entire "Hyperion" series for a second time. When I first read the series, I came to this 3rd book (Endymion) and found myself bored and annoyed. Within 100 pages or so, however, I was interested again.

The second time through, the role of this 3rd book seems much more essential than it did when I first encountered it. It begins some 250 years after the end of the 2nd book (The Fall of Hyperion) and introduces a new character, Raul Endymion, who is a thuggish though sensitive young man telling a story about how he met a young girl named Aenea. The importance of Aenea is cloudy at first, and it will make more sense by the 4th book. The important thing about this book is that it introduces the reader to a future where the Catholic Church, through military might and incredible technology, has once again gained power over the masses. One might make analogies to the power of the church during the Crusades and the peak of the Inquisition. The church has gained its power with the help of the cruciform, the parasitic cross-shaped "thing" that Father Paul Dure spoke about in the first and second books. The magic of the cruciform is that it offers its host the gift of immortality, and with the help of church technology, one can endure death and rebirth countless times with little to know long-term side effects.

The reader learns most about the cruciform through the eyes of Father Captain de Soya, a gentle captain in the military fleet (called the Pax) of the Catholic Church. De Soya's mission is to chase and capture Aenea, and Raul is there to be her gaurdian.

One final note. In the first two books, the enemy of humanity was the TechnoCore. In the final two books, it would be innacurate to say that this is no longer the case.