Ilium

This book lacks coherence and is a dificult read

This book lacks coherence and many parts were often unintelligible. Simmons has the bad habit of making up his own words and terminology - this would not be such a problem if he defined them and explained the words when using them. However, he often does not explain the terms until hundreds of pages later, if at all!!(scholic,moravecs, voynix, faxing humans?- i still dont know what these are after reading the novel). He seems to be trying to tell more than one story at a time, and therefore the novel lacks any semblance of a normal progression. I often found myslf mumbling, 'what the heck is going on?' and would look again and again at the story summary on the dust jacket vainly seeking an explanation. I understand that Simmons is considered a top Sci-fi writer- but he would sell lot more copies if he made an effort not to write in such an obtuse style. and many parts were often unintelligible. Simmons has the bad habit of making up his own words and terminology - this would not be such a problem if he defined them and explained the words when using them. However, he often does not explain the terms until hundreds of pages later, if at all!!(scholic,moravecs, voynix, faxing humans?- i still dont know what these are after reading the novel). He seems to be trying to tell more than one story at a time, and therefore the novel lacks any semblance of a normal progression. I often found myslf mumbling, 'what the heck is going on?' and would look again and again at the story summary on the dust jacket vainly seeking an explanation. I understand that Simmons is considered a top Sci-fi writer- but he would sell lot more copies if he made an effort not to write in such an obtuse style.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Epic escapism!

Homer meets War of the Worlds in this futuristic thriller. Not to be missed.

Highly recommended

The characters are all well developed with a highly original and imaginative storyline. Anyone interested in scifi views of humanities far future, nanotechnology, the Iliad, or dystopian societies should love this book.

WoW!

I'm completely blown away by Dan Simmon's books. This one was great!

Master Work by a Master Writer

Ilium is quite a wild ride through the classic Trojan war epic with a sci fi twist that is the hallmark of Simmons' craft. I found the plots engrossing and the gods facinating. This book has as many twists and turns as the roads and dusty byways in the ancient city of Troy. I read it twice this year along with its sequel Oympos and enjoyed the second trip though Simmons' prose as well as the first!

MASTER WRITER

Dan Simmons has done it again with an awesome novel. This was extremely engrossing and has to rank among the best ever. To the person that thought there was too much bad language and didn't like the adolescent nudity. GO BACK TO CHURCH AND READ THE BIBLE!! It may help to keep you "pure" and wash off this awful nastiness. People like you make me sick.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic book! The Trojan war played out on several planets, in various time zones, and with a wide panoply of great and varied characters. I loved it and its sequel Olympos!.

One of Dan Simmons best!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Dan Simmons, simply the best novelist alive!

There are few authors whose books I automatically purchase without even looking to see what the subject matter is but Simmons is one of them. When I got home from Barnes & Noble with this (& its' sequel Olympos) I have to admit I thought that maybe this time Simmons had "gone around the bend". Boy, was I wrong!! Weaving together robots, Greek gods & a space/time continuum theme Simmons once again grabs you by the throat & doesn't let go. This story was yet another well deserved Hugo award nomination for the author & I am continually surprised that he is not as well known as some of his less talented contemporaries. Great, epic action, well developed characters (by the dozen),& extremely vivid (yet surreal) scenescapes draw the reader in until you find yourself racing to the end at 2 a.m. to find out what happens. These books as well as anything else by Simmons deserve your time & attention. You will be rewarded & enriched by this author's limitless gifts. Long live Dan Simmons!!!

Amazing

This is another incredible read by Dan Simmons. I found this to be even better then Hyperion! Though the first couple of chapters, and maybe about 90 or so pages are a bit boring, but once you get past that you can't put it down. Excellent.

Down with Zeus, up with Moravecs

As usual, Simmons expertly weaves multiple story lines into one grand story. This story has it all: little green men, gods, Odysseus, robots,...I could go on and on. I was reading 50-60 pages at a time near the end. I am very interested to see where Olympos takes this story.

great if you love the greek and roman gods

it was pretty good, but i found myself skipping ahead to other, faster moving parts. Don't get me wrong I'm excited to read Olympos.

Expertly crafted Scifi

As much as I loved Dan Simmons's Hyperion series, I must confess that Illium has succeeded in raising the bar. Everything that I loved about Hyperion is elevated to new heights in this epic tale that weaves the distant future and distant past into a colorful tapestry that kept me rapt from cover to cover.

Simmons proves himself a master sci-fi writer once again

As a Classics major (Greek and Roman culture studies, for those of you who don't know) I found this story to be incredibly entertaining. It is great to finally find an adaptation of the Iliad that does the epic some justice. (Unlike Troy, the movie, ::shudder::) The first page alone was enough to earn my respect and attention for the hundreds of pages that follow. You can tell Simmons has done his homework, and probably read and reread the Iliad hundreds of times. His forays into Shakespeare and Proust also are facinating and authentic. He isn't making up these interpretations, you can tell he's researched them all thoroughly. The same goes for the scientific aspects of the tale. Believability is the mark of a good writer, and although settings for this book take place thousands of years in the future, as well as on Mars, around Jupiter, and back in time to the Trojan War, he succeeds admirably. The concepts can get a little complicated in the thick of the story, but instead of being turned off by that, I was intrigued, and challenged to do my best to comprehend it. It was fantastic to finally find fiction that is incredibly intelligent, while also achieving a level of suspense and adventure rarely found in any genre. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

A highly enjoyable read

This is my first Simmons novel and it certainly won't be my last. As a previous reviewer said, the first 50 pages are a bit tedious, but if you can get through that, you are about to enjoy a very well crafted story that incorporates sci-fi, ancient Greek history, mythology along with some memoriable characters and dark humor. Don't let the index of characters in the back frighten you, Simmons does a great job of incorporating a ton of interesting characters, but it's never too many to keep up with. Looking forward to reading Olympos.

Sci-Fi Meets Homer

An excellent sci-fi tale based on a recreation of the events in Homer's The Iliad. The tale is told in three distinct story lines that eventual meet towards the end of the novel as you would expect. After reading the novel I have begun searching for the follow up, Olympos. I would recommend flipping to the end of the book and reading the dramatis personae/definitions before beginning the novel.

Zeus and His Co-Gods as Post-Human Users of Advanced Quantum Technology

With clever ambiguity and twists of time and space, Simmons imagines Zeus and his retinue of gods and goddesses, living on Mars' Mount Olympos, as post-humans who have developed an advanced quantum physical technology that allows them to teleport by thought; morph into living humans the templates of whom reside in limbo; command the air in chariots pseudo-driven by holographic horses; restore completely mangled gods; construct and use invisibility cloaks; and more. They have mastered quantum reality. They appear to have no idea of the environmental impact of their profligate use of quantum technology, however. The quantum fluctuations emanating from Mars threatens the integrity of the solar system. Adding insult to injury, Zeus's dysfunctional family, like mischievous wizard-imps, cannot resist messing with the lives of the combatants in the Trojan War, in Homeric progress somewheretime. Those unacceptable behaviors require response. How do you defeat the masters of quantum reality? Simmons has a plan.

Give it a chance

I really didn't like this book at first because it jumps around and it's kind of confusing how it all ties together but stick with it and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. What an imaginative, creative, unusual story!! I especially enjoyed all the TROY references.

Wonderful Book

What I really liked about this book is that it has a Science Fiction tie, but it also has a History tie. I absolutely loved that it had the entire iliad all over again, except on Mars, its just a great plot. Anyway, I highly suggest you pick this up.

Simmons is Excellent

Ilium was such an enjoyable read that I am going to sleep now. Wake me up when Olympos is released!

Confusing, challenging, rewarding speculative fiction

I think it would first be a mistake to label Simmons's novel 'Ilium' as science-fiction; it is, more accurately, speculative fiction. Simmons amazingly navigates Homer's epic poetry, integrating fascinating parallel subplots into the events and characters of Greek mythology. While this is a literary tour-de-force reminiscient of the monumental achievements of Neal Stephenson in his ongoing Baroque Cycle, 'Ilium' is sometimes so obtuse as to be impenetrable. Good speculative- and science-fiction often refuses to give the reader an easy way into the universe they describe (read: Frank Herbert's 'Dune' sestet), but Simmons is either too erudite for his readers' goods, or tries to hard to discombobulate them. Stick with this, however - despite hiccups, it's grand, baudy, gory, epic storytelling, and leaves the reader breathless for 'Olympos.'