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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The main character is very bland, the narration from his perspective reads like a constant afterthought. Also the relationship between Raul and Aenea continues to make me uncomfortable, as it did in the first Endymion book.
I did not start reading it as a Christmas book; the Church is one of the villains in this fictional universe. However after some contemplation, I would recommend it as a Christmas book. It touches upon the meaning and spiritual journey of Christ in a very unusual way.
This is Dan Simmons's War and Peace: four volumes of over 2,300 pages. Contrary to popular myth, this fourth volume is actually one of the stronger ones. Similar to previous volumes, in this volume Simmons did a good job imagining shockingly memorable worlds: from one with frozen atmosphere, to Jovian gas giants and interstellar forestry. Yet unlike previous volumes, this one more fully laid out Simmons's theology: one that loosely follows Teillard de Chardin, just with a much more ambiguous attitude towards the divine. Although these theological musings are not for everyone, I largely enjoyed these cosmological speculations.
Although Simmons took a respectful position towards true faith, be it Christianity or Buddhism, he largely evaded the ontology of God. Even Buddhism in his world was stripped of idolatry and became more of a technique than a religion. While his work is deeper than an average science fiction, unfortunately the philosophical underpinning still remains weak. His understanding of theology still stayed on the surface level.
Nonetheless, Simmons creatively constructed a world largely based on Vladimir Vernadsky's concepts of biosphere and noosphere. For Simmons, the telos of all lives is to reach the omega point, a concept defined by Teillard de Chardin as the convergence of human and divine. Noosphere functions as the mediation of this path. Personally, I am somewhat skeptical of philosophies that view the world as progressive (maybe this view started with Hegal's dialectics). Despite my skepticism, I respect the construction of a theological background to a science fiction version of War and Peace. It adds depth to the story.
Notably, Simmons potently describes the experience of a fictional Messiah. It is an incredible burden having to face the destination of oneself. Also, what does it mean to one's experience when the sequence of events is altered? Do the events have the same weight and phenomenon? The book left me with a lot of thoughts.
Don't get me wrong, the story can be tedious. Especially this fourth volume, it would have been much stronger had it been cut down to maybe 500 pages. The entire section on the Buddhist world needs much aggressive edits, and this comes from me as a person who enjoys reading good Buddhist work. That said, despite the tediousness, the story telling did not fail. I was very much surprised at and saddened about the ending.
The love story borders pedophilia at first. Besides Simmons's admiration towards John Keats which I do not share, the love story is what I hated most when I waded through the book. But to my surprise it got much stronger towards the last 25% of this fourth volume. It is not perfect, but very creative.
I finished Volume I of Hyperion about three years ago. After three years and much hesitation, I finally finished all four volumes. The series have many flaws, but only after finishing this fourth volume I came to the conclusion that it is a worthwhile read. If you have read the any of the previous volumes, I highly recommend you finish the series. It will not be a waste of time.
This is Dan Simmons's War and Peace: four volumes of over 2,300 pages. Contrary to popular myth, this fourth volume is actually one of the stronger ones. Similar to previous volumes, in this volume Simmons did a good job imagining shockingly memorable worlds: from one with frozen atmosphere, to Jovian gas giants and interstellar forestry. Yet unlike previous volumes, this one more fully laid out Simmons's theology: one that loosely follows Teillard de Chardin, just with a much more ambiguous attitude towards the divine. Although these theological musings are not for everyone, I largely enjoyed these cosmological speculations.
Although Simmons took a respectful position towards true faith, be it Christianity or Buddhism, he largely evaded the ontology of God. Even Buddhism in his world was stripped of idolatry and became more of a technique than a religion. While his work is deeper than an average science fiction, unfortunately the philosophical underpinning still remains weak. His understanding of theology still stayed on the surface level.
Nonetheless, Simmons creatively constructed a world largely based on Vladimir Vernadsky's concepts of biosphere and noosphere. For Simmons, the telos of all lives is to reach the omega point, a concept defined by Teillard de Chardin as the convergence of human and divine. Noosphere functions as the mediation of this path. Personally, I am somewhat skeptical of philosophies that view the world as progressive (maybe this view started with Hegal's dialectics). Despite my skepticism, I respect the construction of a theological background to a science fiction version of War and Peace. It adds depth to the story.
Notably, Simmons potently describes the experience of a fictional Messiah. It is an incredible burden having to face the destination of oneself. Also, what does it mean to one's experience when the sequence of events is altered? Do the events have the same weight and phenomenon? The book left me with a lot of thoughts.
Don't get me wrong, the story can be tedious. Especially this fourth volume, it would have been much stronger had it been cut down to maybe 500 pages. The entire section on the Buddhist world needs much aggressive edits, and this comes from me as a person who enjoys reading good Buddhist work. That said, despite the tediousness, the story telling did not fail. I was very much surprised at and saddened about the ending.
The love story borders pedophilia at first. Besides Simmons's admiration towards John Keats which I do not share, the love story is what I hated most when I waded through the book. But to my surprise it got much stronger towards the last 25% of this fourth volume. It is not perfect, but very creative.
I finished Volume I of Hyperion about three years ago. After three years and much hesitation, I finally finished all four volumes. The series have many flaws, but only after finishing this fourth volume I came to the conclusion that it is a worthwhile read. If you have read the any of the previous volumes, I highly recommend you finish the series. It will not be a waste of time.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Answered all of my questions, thought it was wandering too much in the middle but it turned out to be important. A great ending to the series.
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated