Olympos

When you finish a good book ... like say, Fall of Hyperion, an *amazing* work by the same author ... it stays with you for days. In idle moments you find yourself thinking about the book and it's plot, and often discovering new details hidden under details when you do.When you finish Olympos, you have the opposite: the book stays with you, but only because of all the things that make no sense, are never addressed, etc. Here's just a handful of major flaws, which I'll try to keep as spoiler-free as possible:* a character has to rape another sleeping character ... for no damn reason, and it's never explained why; clearly Simmons just wanted to write a rape fantasy* a major, major character (arguably "the main character") kills himself FOR NO DAMN REASON. Repeatedly, as he's killing himself, the author writes things like "there was no reason for him to do this, but he had to anyways" ... but he never gives any motivation whatsoever.* another major character has the worst story arc ever: in the first book he grows and becomes a better person, towards the start of the second his mother (who he's very close to) get's killed, and then ... well, he too does some stuff that makes no sense, and then he's just written out of the book. Simmons spends two books building up this character, and then he just disappears with no meaningful story at all!* the absolute worst part is the ending: after two books of setting up a large array of antagonists (a variety of gods and monsters) one character (not even a protagonist, just an "NPC") tells another character (who we just met at the end of Olympos) to tell a third character that "the big bad guy is coming" (a big bad guy who also has been barely even mentioned in either book) ... and that's it. All the bad guys run away, the story ends, and none of the actual "main characters" in the book had anything to do with it. Even the NPC *barely* had anything to do with it.Ultimately, Simmons is a genius author, and the Hyperion Cantos cements that. But not every work of a genius is a work of genius, and Ilium writes about a million checks that Olympus can't cash. There's nothing more frustrating to me than reading nearly two thousand pages, and having the finish be "there was no point to anything" ... but that's what you get at the end of Illium/Olympus.It just will *feel* like an amazing/genius Dan Simmons book as you read it; it won't be until you finish the saga that you realize the author had no idea where he was going, or how to properly finish the story he started.

After really enjoying Illium and looking forward to book 2, I was very let down by Olympos. The focus shifted away from the Trojan war and the more interesting question of "what are the Gods" to the Old Styles Struggles against Caliban's god, Setebos. New characters are introduced without much backstory (Seriously? the Sycorax/Odysseus story made no sense). While some questions are sort of answered (vaguely and almost always in an exposition dump by the Moravecs), I didn't find the story nearly as interesting. It feels like Simmons (who I generally enjoy) mashed two separate novels together, which just didn't lead to a coherent experience. There was little closure to the story (no showdown with Setebos or Caliban, the main villains of the piece) and it feels like Simmons was setting up a sequel, which never actually got written. In conclusion, if you were hoping for a continuation of the (excellent) first story, with more Trojan war shenanigans and fun with the pseudo Greek gods, you won't really get that in this volume. I was very disappointed.

This second text does improve on the earlier Ilium text or maybe one becomes more used to the absurd premise. It provides a very good introduction into Homer's Iliad for the many who have heard of this classic but have not read it. Like much of Simmons work, you do get an education in a classic. This time Homer. This text closes the story pretty well an is exhaustive in its detail. With that it does move the complex array of plots along at good pace avoiding some one the slowness of this first text. In terms of imagination this really is a force which blends Sci Fi with fantasy/myth and even includes a strong reference to Shakespeare notably The Tempest. It is a five star text well worth the effort of reading and I found it satisfying.

This is a 2/5 in terms of a recommendation, but I would personally rate 3/5 because I enjoy reading Dan Simmons' books. At the pace the duology was keeping there needed to be a third book to properly flesh out some of the storylines. I still think it's worth reading if you made it through the first book, but you'll have to use your imagination if you want a proper and complete ending.There are a number of storylines that are finished satisfactorily. The following characters and stories feel solid: Achilles (by far and away the most complete), Harman, Ada, and Daemon (despite the lack of a proper finale with Caliban).The moravecs just seem to save the day everywhere they go. Truely a missed opportunity to not have had some showdown along with some select humans and moravecs fighting Setebos to the finish. Perhaps they could have thrown in some post-humans, brought back Nightenhelser and Patroclus to the mix... but no, they just kind of fade away.The Setebos, Prospero, Cycorax, and Odysseus storylines either end abruptly or not at all. This is a shame because the first two are the underlying main antagonist and protaganist of the plot. There is no major finale, no final battle, no incredible confrontation. Cycorax feels haphazardly introduced and then simply vanishes, fulfilling nothing more than a minor obstacle. The Odysseus ending feels like it came out of nowhere and then he just vanishes as well. Sorry Helen. Likewise, Helen in this book feels like nothing more than a forgotten sidekick with no character development whatsoever.Hockenberry, while playing a significant role in the book, comes across more like a "Random Adventures" story whose only real contribution was to QT a few people here and there. The post-human Gods just end up fading away in the story, fighting the Titans for the forseeable future. I guess it didn't matter in the end anyway how much they were QTing everywhere, despite the fact that the was the entire impetus for the moravecs to enter the fray. This book just ends so many plotlines abruptly or not at all it's disgusting.There is no finale with Daemon and Caliban despite a good hundred pages of the book building it up. Ariel just kind of came and went not doing much more than simply being a taxi for the plotline. Moira likewise was there not doing much more than something of a narrative dump. There was a ton of potential for these two characters to offer something deeper than a plot contrivance. Oh well.What this series needed was one more book. There was so much potential in situations that all come to an abrupt halt. The weak plotlines pale in comparison to the better ones. Those plotlines that are finished are incredible to read and espouse the imaginative prowess of the author. Those plotlines that are not finished are disappointing or just plain absent. Overall, perhaps the biggest mix bag of a book I've ever read.

I'm fairly new to Dan Simmons books. I read the Hyperion and Endymion novels last year and then started on Illeum and Olympos this year. (Illeum is the book before Olympos). I really like this book. It weaves different perspectives of a future earth, and in one thread, a full scale reconstruction of the siege of Troy is being played out. Although its mostly a story of human nature and evolution, I love the ideas and concepts he presents here. Definitely worth a read.

The first half of this was definitely a step down from "ilium". It was very jarring how Simmons abandoned the multiple writing styles for different storylines and left me with the impression that he rushed this one out. Some of the scenarios in this one were a lot more farcical eg the eifelbahns. On the otherhand it did pick up in the last third and had some very interesting developments and a lot of sense was finally made out of Setebos, prospero and the post-humans. The ending came a little out of nowhwere but the epilogue section was nice in setting up the new status quo. I think it could have been a lot better but it was almost like the author had lost interest at this point. If you enjoyed "Ilium" it is still worth reading just to see how it ends.

I am in awe of the depth and scope of Dan Simmon’s sci-fi writing. As with the Hyperion cantos, the themes, characters & intricacy with which the story is told is stunning. Can’t wait for his next sci-fi opus.

If I said he is the American "Peter F. Hamilton" with a Literary twist, would it help you to enjoy his SF work as much as I have?You couldn't possibly!

Nicely written book, a bit long winded but thats Dan Simmons for you. Not his finest work, but not poor either, i'd recommend reading it.