18-09-2003 08:10									#1
	Dan Simmons' new novel, Ilium Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

The title says it all - more than 5 years since his last science fiction book, Dan Simmons has recently released a new 2-part novel, which is just a joy to us Space Opera buffs. Here's the Amazon review:

quote: Genre-hopping Dan Simmons returns to science fiction with the vast and intricate masterpiece Ilium. Within, Simmons weaves three astounding story lines into one Earth-, Mars-, and Jupiter-shattering cliffhanger that will leave readers aching for the sequel. On Earth, a post-technological group of humans, pampered by servant machines and easy travel via "faxing," begins to question its beginnings. Meanwhile, a team of sentient and Shakespeare-quoting robots from Jupiter's lunar system embark on a mission to Mars to investigate an increase in dangerous quantum fluctuations. On the Red Planet, they'll find a race of metahumans living out existence as the pantheon of classic Greek gods. These "gods" have recreated the Trojan War with reconstituted Greeks and Trojans and staffed it with scholars from throughout Earth's history who observe the events and report on the accuracy of Homer's Iliad. One of these scholars, Thomas Hockenberry, finds himself tangled in the midst of interplay between the gods and their playthings and sends the war reeling in a direction the blind poet could have never imagined. Simmons creates an exciting and thrilling tale set in the thick of the Trojan War as seen through Hockenberry's 20th-century eyes. At the same time, Simmons's robots study Shakespeare and Proust and the origin-seeking Earthlings find themselves caught in a murderous retelling of The Tempest. Reading this highly literate novel does take more than a passing familiarity with at least The Iliad but readers who can dive into these heady waters and swim with the current will be amply rewarded.

Just bought it tonight and can't wait to dive in.

	18-09-2003 08:26									#2
	Inflate your Upload Space

I am working on a little something about the Greek Gods myself, so I'd rather not touch it for a while. Cthulhu, I have Endymion sitting unread on my shelf. Should read that.

	18-09-2003 18:16									#4
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Anybody else read/have this book?

	18-09-2003 18:18									#5
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Rah has read it... and has given me the book to read. I'm in the middle of another series at the moment, so I should be starting it next week. He said it was good once you got past the firs 60 or so pages.

	18-09-2003 18:24									#6
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A number of people on Amazon commented on the number of typos in the book, including incorrect punctuation and doubled words (i.e. "... when he looked behind him him, he saw... " ).

Also, like Hyperion they say he just throws you in the story and gives the reader background material only when and if it applies to the situation at hand - no long expository passages explaining how society evolved this way, it just did and the reader has to accept it.

	18-09-2003 18:55									#7
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Yes, the reader has to take a lot for granted.
The first 60 pages had me spinning and took me about 3 days to get through. (due to no desire to read a lot at one time since it was so tedious and hard to identify with the main characters.) But once you get by that, It's quite an entertaining read. You begin to real feel for the charaters. Lot's of action and some good plot twists. (which I won't spoil for anyone)

My only complaint is that toward the end, you become all too aware that it's going to be continued. (I didn't know that when I started reading)

And while knowledge of the stories he's retelling are usefull, they are not critical due to the way he tells it.

RAH
Four and 1/2 stars out of 5.
I really enjoyed it.

	18-09-2003 22:24									#8
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quote: I didn't know that when I started reading

Hate to break it to you, but it's only mentioned twice on the dust jacket - once on the back, the other time on the inward flap at the back of the book.

	18-09-2003 23:25									#9
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Volume 1 of the Treekilling, Neverending Crapiad.

	18-09-2003 23:25									#10
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Huh? Don't like Simmons, eh?

	18-09-2003 23:30									#11
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quote: Originally posted by JohnT Hate to break it to you, but it's only mentioned twice on the dust jacket - once on the back, the other time on the inward flap at the back of the book.

Like myself... rah doesn't read the dust jacket on a hard back, or the back of a paperback. Too many times they give WAY TOO MUCH information about the book and actually ruin some of the surprises.

I mostly buy books simply because I trust and know the author... or because a friend recommended it.

I will check the publishing history inside the book to make sure it's not a rerelease under a new title... or that it isn't a bunch of short stories from publications I probably have already read... and to see if it's the third book in a series where I haven't read book one or two of... But I avoid reading anything else.

	18-09-2003 23:32									#12
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I don't really care about plot spoilers all that much... to me it's the journey, not the destination.

	18-09-2003 23:48									#13
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Don't like the Neverending Multiverse. Hate modern series. Die, die!

	18-09-2003 23:50									#14
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Live! Live!

Sorry for my troglodytian traits, but I love long hoary space operas.

	18-09-2003 23:54									#15
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I like Needle.

	19-09-2003 00:18									#16
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I've got Ilium on hold at the local bookstore ... I'd planned on checking Amazon.com out for reviews and whatnot before plunking down cash for it. I'm not sure if I'll get it ... I just discovered that my reading list stands at *14* books or so through January, three of which will be hardcovers. (And I still have two books to plough through from earlier this summer.)

Gatekeeper

P.S. There isn't much for exposition? Dang. I like books that are balanced in the sense that they have exposition along with character "talk" (i.e. ideally, a book has "strategic" and "tactical" levels).

	19-09-2003 17:40									#17
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Yeah, like ming said. I usually don't read jacket covers unless I'm unfamiliar with the author. And checking the dates is key since I've been burned a few times.

GK, what other books are on your waiting list. The odds are I've probably read a few of them and can tell you how this one ranks against them.

	19-09-2003 17:58									#18
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

Well, yeah, I can maybe understand that...

But on the back cover of Ilium there is nothing other than author blurbs ("Dan Simmons is the greatest writer since...") and the following line:

quote: This is part one of a two part series that will conclude in the upcoming Olympus

No plot synopsis, nothing.

And how do you determine if you're going to like a book if you don't read the blurb?

	19-09-2003 18:11									#19
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quote: Originally posted by JohnT And how do you determine if you're going to like a book if you don't read the blurb?

Because they are judging the books by their covers.

	19-09-2003 18:33									#20
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Ilium is the city where much of the plot of "Player Piano" by Kurt Vonnegut takes place. Wonder if there's some kind of hint in that title. The sentence "a post-technological group of humans, pampered by servant machines and easy travel via "faxing," begins to question its beginnings." do impy that. The rest of it seems to far out to me. Unless it's a parody of cource.

	19-09-2003 18:37									#21
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A lot of the story has to do with the replaying of the siege of Troy. Simmons bases his books upon epic poems and this is his attempt to pay hommage to the Illiad and the Odyssey. His prior science fiction novels were hommages to Keats Hyperion and Endymion.

The man loves his poetry and he is likely the only author even capable of conceiving two 40th century robots constantly engaged in a heated debate about the relative merits of Proust and Shakespeare, much less capable of pulling it off.

	19-09-2003 19:18									#22
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Buying any book is a crap shoot. You can't believe any "praise quotes" on the cover. So if I like an author, the probability of liking a book is probably twice as good as an unknown. (I will scan a jacket if I'm unfamiliar with an author) I read a lot of books so an occasional bad book isn't that big a deal.

And JT. At first I was somewhat aghast that two 40th century robots where having that heated debate, but I think he pulled it off quite well.

	20-09-2003 06:23									#23
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quote: Originally posted by rah GK, what other books are on your waiting list. The odds are I've probably read a few of them and can tell you how this one ranks against them.

Well, it's mostly "light-weight" reading material — the final two novels of the New Jedi Order series, a DS9 hardcover ("Unity"), possibly Ilium, and so on. If you've read any of these unreleased books, feel free to give me your thoughts on them.

Gatekeeper

P.S. I keep hoping they'll make Steven Pressfield's "Last of the Amazons" into a big-screen movie eventually. Supposedly the screen rights have been bought, but that's all I know.