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A review by theliteraryhooker
Ilium by Dan Simmons
4.0
Dan Simmons is the master of the literary sci-fi epic. He can somehow make nearly-extinct, lazy humans, half-robot, half-organic Jovian aliens, and Greek gods on Mars all mesh together in a way that is not only fantastically complex and interwoven in the best possible way, but it actually makes sense!
I'll admit I was skeptical when I started reading. I'm pretty picky about my sci-fi (though I've loved all of the other Dan Simmons that I've read) and the first few chapters felt a little slow and bogged down in detail. Once things start moving though, they don't stop. Simmons does a phenomenal job with capturing the different voices and personalities of not only the different characters, but the different races in the book. Each is distinct, but there are similarities between, say, Mahnmut and Orphu, that differentiate them from Hockenberry and the scholics, or the gods. There are tons, and I mean TONS, of literary references, not just to the Greek classics, but to Shakespeare and Proust and H.G. Wells, and each one somehow fits perfectly and makes total sense. Every aspect of this novel is so complex, but so well and completely executed.
The whole wormhole/different time periods aspect confused me a little (I'm told that gets explained a little more in the next book) but not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the novel. Simmons is pretty good for getting complicated element like those into the story in a way that doesn't feel dumbed-down, but is accessible enough that you can grasp the gist of how it impacts the story.
It does end on a pretty major cliffhanger though, so I guess I'll be reading [b:Olympos|3972|Olympos (Ilium, #2)|Dan Simmons|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388216654s/3972.jpg|1537178] sooner than I'd planned!
I'll admit I was skeptical when I started reading. I'm pretty picky about my sci-fi (though I've loved all of the other Dan Simmons that I've read) and the first few chapters felt a little slow and bogged down in detail. Once things start moving though, they don't stop. Simmons does a phenomenal job with capturing the different voices and personalities of not only the different characters, but the different races in the book. Each is distinct, but there are similarities between, say, Mahnmut and Orphu, that differentiate them from Hockenberry and the scholics, or the gods. There are tons, and I mean TONS, of literary references, not just to the Greek classics, but to Shakespeare and Proust and H.G. Wells, and each one somehow fits perfectly and makes total sense. Every aspect of this novel is so complex, but so well and completely executed.
The whole wormhole/different time periods aspect confused me a little (I'm told that gets explained a little more in the next book) but not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the novel. Simmons is pretty good for getting complicated element like those into the story in a way that doesn't feel dumbed-down, but is accessible enough that you can grasp the gist of how it impacts the story.
It does end on a pretty major cliffhanger though, so I guess I'll be reading [b:Olympos|3972|Olympos (Ilium, #2)|Dan Simmons|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388216654s/3972.jpg|1537178] sooner than I'd planned!