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.
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