Take a photo of a barcode or cover
carduelia_carduelis 's review for:
The Rise of Endymion
by Dan Simmons
This was such a let down after the first three books. The story started off a little slow, which isn't dissimilar to the others, and we join Raul and Anaea at the end of their tutelage with Frank Lloyd Wright in the desert.
Can we talk about that choice before I go on? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the decision that the messiah (denials aside, that's what she is) needed a marketable skill like that. Is it a crude, modern-day analogue to Jesus-the-carpenter: Anaea-the-architect? Because in the third book I was sure that the person she was seeking wasn't a literal architect and was more like a motivational speaker or creator of the universe or something. But no, instead we're traipsing through the desert digging shelters and making houses. And why Frank Lloyd Wright? Because Falling Water is cool? Because Simmons liked his backstory?
At this early point in the book I could already tell things were a little different than previous installments. Raul, who before was insecure and a bit of an everyman (with some bush skills) started getting whiny. Anaea became more and more aloof and hard to sympathise with. I pretty much agreed with Raul that it was hard to stomach the zen mysticisms and parables that came out of the mouth of one so young. Particularly when she cast everyone away - why exactly would it have been so dangerous for her to tell Raul that she could see the future in this way? To explain the plan that having so many farcasters be activated in such a small amount of time would make it hard to track which one her and her party had entered? Thinking about it in hindsight, Simmons probably wanted the reader to figure this out for themselves but for Raul it makes no sense. Nothing would be lost by him knowing this.
The second odyssey of Raul is just as entertaining as the first from book 3, and it's also here that the adventures of De Soya et. al. start to pick up a bit more. Unfortunately I found the colorful world very dull after Raul gets injured and his escape quite drawn out. Little did I know what was to come. For the worst portion of the book is the last 70% of it, i.e. the majority.
In this last part of the quartet Simmons lays out his story, finally putting into play the epic conclusion to the story he's set up over the last 1.5k pages. Except... nothing feels new. Anaea's preaching her gospel of buddism to the Dalai Lama, Raul's frustrated with the lack of direction (as am I) and I'm really still left with a lot of fundamental questions, such as:
Can we also talk about how Raul is generally being a bit of a douche in this book too? Like he sometimes finds himself physically shaking Anaea and shoving her because she won't tell him the future (although, to be fair, it is a bit odd since she keeps telling everyone else). He's also dating someone he helped raise. This is foreshadowed in book 3 of course but I was hoping Simmons would make it less creepy, not more: why is he always calling her kiddo? ugh.
I did love the way that the core and the church came together, but really we've known about that since early in book 3, possibly even book 2.
So, in general, a very disappointing end to a what has been a fantastic series. Simmons lost the plot in the last book but I'll still be recommending the first 3!
Can we talk about that choice before I go on? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the decision that the messiah (denials aside, that's what she is) needed a marketable skill like that. Is it a crude, modern-day analogue to Jesus-the-carpenter: Anaea-the-architect? Because in the third book I was sure that the person she was seeking wasn't a literal architect and was more like a motivational speaker or creator of the universe or something. But no, instead we're traipsing through the desert digging shelters and making houses. And why Frank Lloyd Wright? Because Falling Water is cool? Because Simmons liked his backstory?
At this early point in the book I could already tell things were a little different than previous installments. Raul, who before was insecure and a bit of an everyman (with some bush skills) started getting whiny. Anaea became more and more aloof and hard to sympathise with. I pretty much agreed with Raul that it was hard to stomach the zen mysticisms and parables that came out of the mouth of one so young. Particularly when she cast everyone away - why exactly would it have been so dangerous for her to tell Raul that she could see the future in this way? To explain the plan that having so many farcasters be activated in such a small amount of time would make it hard to track which one her and her party had entered? Thinking about it in hindsight, Simmons probably wanted the reader to figure this out for themselves but for Raul it makes no sense. Nothing would be lost by him knowing this.
The second odyssey of Raul is just as entertaining as the first from book 3, and it's also here that the adventures of De Soya et. al. start to pick up a bit more. Unfortunately I found the colorful world very dull after Raul gets injured and his escape quite drawn out. Little did I know what was to come. For the worst portion of the book is the last 70% of it, i.e. the majority.
In this last part of the quartet Simmons lays out his story, finally putting into play the epic conclusion to the story he's set up over the last 1.5k pages. Except... nothing feels new. Anaea's preaching her gospel of buddism to the Dalai Lama, Raul's frustrated with the lack of direction (as am I) and I'm really still left with a lot of fundamental questions, such as:
Spoiler
Do I understand any better now what the void is? Who the lions and tigers and bears are? Are you telling me that human consciousness is a beacon that allows us to manipulate time and space? Why is the nanotech to do this necessary if the answer is love? Who made it? Why is the shrike alive? Why are the time tombs just that, tombs? Why is the shrike so crazy in the first 2 books if it is a glorified bodyguard near the end?Can we also talk about how Raul is generally being a bit of a douche in this book too? Like he sometimes finds himself physically shaking Anaea and shoving her because she won't tell him the future (although, to be fair, it is a bit odd since she keeps telling everyone else). He's also dating someone he helped raise. This is foreshadowed in book 3 of course but I was hoping Simmons would make it less creepy, not more: why is he always calling her kiddo? ugh.
I did love the way that the core and the church came together, but really we've known about that since early in book 3, possibly even book 2.
So, in general, a very disappointing end to a what has been a fantastic series. Simmons lost the plot in the last book but I'll still be recommending the first 3!