'Ilium' and 'Olympus' by Dan Simmons

Ilium and Olympus, Dan Simmons (3)

There are many things I liked about these sequential tomes, though I couldn’t push myself to give them a rating over ‘3’. It’s always enjoyable for a Sci-Fi fan to read books with unique concepts.  Simmons did it with his ‘Hyperion’ books and here he couples Sci-Fi with Homer, Virgil and Shakespeare.  The books follow what appear to be 3 very different peoples, galaxies and possibly times.  One land appears to be ancient Greece and Troy with all the characters from the ‘Illiad’, including the gods. One is a far future of Shakespearean loving human/robot types, and the third is a near future of a limited group of humans spoiled by their convenient but little understood technology.  One compelling driver that pushes you through the books is to understand how the 3 worlds connect (which, be warned, does not happen in the first book).  My complaints about the books mostly have to do with the long detail, particularly in the gods and humans of Troy.  I imagine Simmons was trying to parrot the style of Homer – but it just felt annoying and tiresome to me as I attempted to get through two, 1000 page books.  I also felt the convenience of a rejuvenation technology meant major characters could die or be seemingly mortally wounded with no worry. Eventually you are less invested and stop caring.  Overall both books are interesting with new concepts and worth reading for the die-hard Sci-Fi fan.

9-18-12 Update

Hello - sorry for the lack of reviews over the last 2 weeks, I was on vacation with no access to my blog. Luckily I had some time to read on vacation and will have a couple of reviews to post over the next few days! I read Christopher Moore's two books that precede 'Bite Me' and Dan Simmons' 'Ilium', a Sci-Fi book that parallels Homer's Iliad. kc

'Lost in Shangri-La' by Mitchell Zuckoff

Lost in Shangri-La, Mitchell Zuckoff (3)

This is the true story of a plane crash during WWII in a remote area of New Guinea, encounters with the native tribes, and the heroic rescue mission to save the survivors.  It is both a real life adventure story and an anthropological study of an isolated group of humans and their first engagement with modern society.  Neither the survivors nor the tribesmen ever managed to learn ach others’ language, but the author had the advantage of returning to the area and speaking first-hand with tribesmen (through a translator) who were children during WWII and could explain the ways and feelings the natives had exhibited at the time.  I enjoyed this book, though it was more simply told and less emotional than I expected.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but for some reason it did not rank higher in my mind.