Wow! The sheer depth of Simmons's imagination is enough to keep you whirling through the pages. What will he think up next! He develops a pretty good character in Hockenberry, and also - surprisingly enough - in his Moravecs (partially sentient robots who have an affinity for Shakespeare and Proust!) The human race that he creates that is left on Earth is fascinating to read about (faxing everywhere with strange functions available to them).
This book is monumental in its ambition and a wild ride.
I really didn't like this book. I had a very hard time with the willing suspension of disbelief, and the characters were mostly so arbitrary they made no sense at all. Full review available here if desired: http://jrpbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/title-illium-and-olympos-author-dan.html
Absolutely excellent. Any Sci-Fi fan with a decent knowledge of the Iliad will LOVE this book!!!!!!
A deceased 21st century classical scholar has been resurrected by the gods as to record events of the Trojan War. Will history as we know it change? Follow this story to see. The author has constructed a tale using classical history and literature based on Homer's The Iliad and William Shakespeare's The Tempest as a starting point. The slave, Dr.Thomas Hockenberry, finds himself on a terraformed Mars viewing the war.
Heroes include Achilles, Hector, Paris, Odysseus, Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite and other gods and heroes. So why are the gods reenacting The Iliad? Perhaps it's because they enjoy playing with humans. But remember this is sci-fi at its best with a master controlling events.
The plot is complex and the world building "out-of-this-world". Explaining how and why the Iliad occurs where it is, why Prospero and Caliban exist in a world including robo-organic AIs, post-humans and frail humans is just one task.
This is a wonderfully complex and fascinating read. If one has read other works by the author he/she knows why.
There is simply no one better than Dan Simmons, though Gene Wolfe is his equal.
The first book of a two-part epic concluded in "Olympos". Ilium is a breathtaking adventure, enormous in scope and imagination, sweeping across time and space to connect three seemingly disparate stories in fresh, thrilling, and totally unexpected ways.
