Helpful Score: 5
The first book in Dan Simmons Mars series. Every speculative fiction writer should have one (a Mars series)and there are few who do it better than Simmons.
Helpful Score: 4
If you like Scifi, Homer, gods and mortals, this will satisfy you.
Helpful Score: 3
This story will twist your brain in knots, blending ancient Earth history with futuristic interplanetary drama.
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!!!!!!
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.
This book is monumental in its ambition and a wild ride.
This one sucked me right in. I don't think I could do the plot justice. Suffice to say that he holds together diverse plots excellently. There's both a lot of action and a lot of thought. The only problem I have is that it almost feels like women are added as afterthoughts. This isn't as obvious as it is in many other books, and you might not notice it if you're not looking for it.
I enjoyed Ilium so much that I wasn't able to wait for Olympos (the sequel) to become available and bought it yesterday for full price at Barnes & Noble. I'm 176 pages into that one as I write this review...
I enjoyed Ilium so much that I wasn't able to wait for Olympos (the sequel) to become available and bought it yesterday for full price at Barnes & Noble. I'm 176 pages into that one as I write this review...
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.
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.
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.
quite a thick book, enjoyable
