Ilium

August 30, 2005 | 8 Comments

While I was on vacation in Mexico I read quite a few good books. The best of these was Dan Simmons’ epic space opera Ilium. This book has everything. And I mean everything. To try and explain what it’s about would be very difficult, but I think I can give you enough of an idea that it might get you interested.

Ilium begins on Mars, far into the future, and, at the same time, smack dab in the middle of the Trojan war here on earth thousands of years ago. The “greek gods”, through the use of nano, quantum and other technologies are recreating Homer’s Iliad with the help of 20th century Iliad scholar,Thomas Hockenberry, on the terra-formed plains of Mars.

Their vast use of quantum technology has alerted a group of self-aware (and, in one case, Shakespeare loving) robots living on the various moons of Jupiter, who launch an expeditionary force to investigate, and possibly eliminate, the activity on Mars.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, a dwindling number of “old style” humans—people with no past, no future beyond their alloted 100 years, no art and no clue about anything outside of their pampered existence—struggle to find meaning amidst some pretty radical changes as their lives are turned upside-down.

When Hockenberry decides to change the path Homer laid out, everything goes crazy and Gods, Greek heroes, robots, little green men, dinosaurs, alien entities and classic Shakespearean characters collide in a very well written and highly engaging tale that really works…and really hooks.

Simmons blends classic literature, great characters and lots of good, hard science fiction into one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Hockenberry is a great protagonist whose interaction with the old world of Troy and the new, slightly crazy world of the post human “gods” makes for a great read.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Filed under: Books
Keyword Tags: dan+simmons ilium book

Comments

1. Eric Meyer said:

Have you read Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos books, and if so, how did “ilium” compare?

If it matters at all, I found “Hyperion” intriguing and “The Fall of Hyperion” outstanding, but thought “Endymion” and “Rise of Endymion” were barely worth the time to finish. They’ve made me a bit wary about “Ilium”, frankly, but I’d be interesting in giving Simmons another shot if it compares favorably to the Cantos.

Posted on August 30, 2005 08:49 PM | #

2. Keith said:

Eric – I’ve only read the first two and I personally liked Ilium better, even though I really enjoyed those. From what I can recall (it’s been awhile since I read those) there are some similarites, but these seem to have a bit of a faster pace. The premise is pretty out there, yet easy to relate to, much like Hyperion was.

I think you would probably like it, even though I can’t compare it to the last two Hyperion books.

Posted on August 30, 2005 10:06 PM | #

3. Michael Heilemann said:

This is good news, as I bought Ilium a few months back (while in Norway no less).

Posted on August 30, 2005 11:17 PM | #

4. philippe said:

i read the complete serie of endymion and hyperion in a couple of weeks and really enjoyed it. i didn’t read science fiction books anymore since my school time. i will buy ilium the next days and hope there is also several books about it. thanks and cheers,
philippe

Posted on August 30, 2005 11:40 PM | #

5. Steve said:

I agree with Eric’s assessment of Hyperion/Fall of… and Endymion/Rise of …

Ilium is definitely not just more of the same, and that book did draw me in, even though my immersion was disrupted when he made a blatant (noticeable without having to go away and do the arithmetic) set of orders of magnitude errors in his orbital mechanics; but when I picked up the second half, Olympos, recently I just ran into the sand 25% of the way through - the narrative didn’t sustain the momentum across half a dozen separate threads while seeking to cram in plenty of pastiche Homer. I suspect that the Homeric style was half his reason for writing this.

Posted on August 31, 2005 01:22 AM | #

6. Wade Winningham said:

I’ve been a fan of Dan Simmons for a long time having started out with his horror novels, which are very scary. I’ve only read the two Hyperion books, which I found to be good, but have enjoyed his horror novels much more. ‘Summer of Night’ and ‘Carrion Comfort’ being my favorites.

Posted on August 31, 2005 07:45 PM | #

7. Mac said:

Intellectually drafted article. seems to grab attention at once.The writer has a good knowledge of the subject and makes reading interesting.
Mac

Posted on September 1, 2005 04:07 AM | #

8. Jennifer Grucza said:

Hmm, I don’t really enjoy science fiction as much as I do fantasy and historic/pre-historic fiction, but this sounds almost like a blend of all three. I’ll have to check it out.

Posted on September 8, 2005 10:01 AM | #