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redruedun 's review for:
The Rise of Endymion
by Dan Simmons
It almost lost me for a while in the middle, but I was well and truly won over again by the end.
- Spoiler Free Review -
I'll start by saying: I adored Hyperion. It's honestly one of the best books I've ever read and I can't praise it highly enough. I loved Fall of Hyperion, not quite as much as Hyperion, but it was still an easy five star read for me. Endymion fell off a little for me, but I still enjoyed it a lot and chose to reserve final judgement until I'd seen how some of the loose ends were resolved in the final book.
Well, I've now read the final book and it's time to pass judgement...
There were a lot of things about Rise of Endymion that I really loved, but there were also quite a few things that missed for me. The end result is a book I overall enjoyed a lot, but did have some issues with.
Let's start with things I loved:
Simmons' prose is truly beautiful. There are segments of this book (for example, describing the construction of a building, or an extended landscape description) which I feel like *should* be boring. But they're not. Something about the way that Simmons writes just sucks me into the pages and I feel like I could keep on reading for ever.
His worldbuilding is also remarkable. I love visiting all the strange, alien worlds alongside his characters. I love seeing all the bizarre creatures and outlandish cultures, the weird technology and the exotic landscapes. It almost feels like playing a really well thought through RPG - you're happy to ignore the main quest just so you can wander off and explore.
I also think Simmons does a good job at tying up the loose ends and completing the story in a satisfactory manner. Yes, I have one or two little gripes (both the time-travel elements and the appearances of the Shrike do start to have a whiff of the deux ex machina by the end), but, broadly, I think the book sticks the landing and I was happy with the way it ended.
The best thing about this book, and the whole Cantos is general, however, is the sheer scope of what Simmons has attempted. The themes that he explores and the symbolism he uses is incredibly profound - and I say that as someone who is pretty sure that a good number of things probably went straight over my head.
He tackles religion, philosophy, mortality, love and what it is that makes us human and makes life worth living. He explores corruption and salvation, selfishness and sacrifice, freedom and submission, empathy, trust and obedience. In most of these instances, he avoids stating the obvious and frames the issues around novel situations, or character choices. A particularly good example of this, for me, is Father Captain De Soya: a man who is, at heart, a faithful Catholic priest, but who is struggling with his conscience in the face of the corruption that he begins to perceive has taken root in the church he has devoted his life to.
Rise of Endymion, and the whole Hyperion Cantos, are books that have a huge amount of depth to them. They're books that stay in your head long after you've finished reading and I frequently find myself mulling over scenes or ideas that I found within their pages.
So, what didn't I love?
I'll start with the obvious one: the romance. Look, by the time it actually turns into a romance, thanks to a bit of sci-fi age manipulation, it wasn't anything like as bad as I was dreading. But it's still hard to get over the fact that these characters met when one was twelve and the other in his thirties... the relationship goes from something that seems very paternal, to something that... obviously isn't... and I just struggled to not feel a bit icky about the whole thing. Did it have some good moments? Absolutely it did! But there was always a small voice in the back of my head going 'you raised this kid, your nickname for her is still 'kiddo', doesn't that make this a bit weird?'
There was also a chunk, somewhere around half way through the book, where the pacing slowed down significantly - I'll identify it as 'the mountain section'. A huge list of new characters are introduced here, but we never really get chance to get to know any of them- they pretty much just remain a list of names. Simmons' prose is good enough that I wouldn't say I was bored, exactly, but I was starting to question the direction the book was going in and getting restless to move on.
I also think, in contrast to the earlier books in the Cantos, Simmons' worldbuilding can get a little info-dumpy here. There are pages and pages of Aenea's 'discussion groups' - which, in reality, are mostly just Aenea explaining some element of the worldbuilding in an extended monologue. Is it unpleasant to read? No. I would just say it's a much clumsier form of worldbuilding/exposition than what I've previously seen from Simmons.
Another minor gripe: Simmons contradicts some of the events/lore that he established in the first two books. Now, he always has an in-world (and technically plausible) explanation for this (e.g. someone lied here, or Martin Silenus made a mistake recording this part) but I really liked the first two books, so the retconning felt a bit annoying.
And one final negative: using some sci-fi magic (which I won't spoil) certain characters from the first two Hyperion books make brief cameo appearances in this book. The thing is, with one exception, I don't really see what the point was? I love the original characters and was initially very excited to see them again, but by the end of the book I was wishing they'd just been left alone. They don't really do much, or influence the plot in any way, and their presence ends up being more of a distraction and disappointment than an enhancement.
Now, I realise this sounds like rather a lot of complaints and would like to stress that each of these things was a pretty minor annoyance by itself. It's just that, added up, they made for a book that, while still enjoyable, was definitely my least favourite of the Cantos.
Overall, I'd say that I still had a good time reading this, I'm still glad I picked it up. I don't think the Endymion section of the Cantos is anything like as strong as the Hyperion section, however. Whether I'd recommend it is a bit hard to say... if you really loved the Hyperion books I think it's worth trying the Endymion ones as there is still a lot to like about them. If you were neutral, or liked but didn't love the Hyperion books? I think it's unlikely the Endymion books are going to blow your mind, although you'll probably still have a good time reading them - I certainly did!
I look forward to trying more books by Dan Simmons in the future!
- Spoiler Free Review -
I'll start by saying: I adored Hyperion. It's honestly one of the best books I've ever read and I can't praise it highly enough. I loved Fall of Hyperion, not quite as much as Hyperion, but it was still an easy five star read for me. Endymion fell off a little for me, but I still enjoyed it a lot and chose to reserve final judgement until I'd seen how some of the loose ends were resolved in the final book.
Well, I've now read the final book and it's time to pass judgement...
There were a lot of things about Rise of Endymion that I really loved, but there were also quite a few things that missed for me. The end result is a book I overall enjoyed a lot, but did have some issues with.
Let's start with things I loved:
Simmons' prose is truly beautiful. There are segments of this book (for example, describing the construction of a building, or an extended landscape description) which I feel like *should* be boring. But they're not. Something about the way that Simmons writes just sucks me into the pages and I feel like I could keep on reading for ever.
His worldbuilding is also remarkable. I love visiting all the strange, alien worlds alongside his characters. I love seeing all the bizarre creatures and outlandish cultures, the weird technology and the exotic landscapes. It almost feels like playing a really well thought through RPG - you're happy to ignore the main quest just so you can wander off and explore.
I also think Simmons does a good job at tying up the loose ends and completing the story in a satisfactory manner. Yes, I have one or two little gripes (both the time-travel elements and the appearances of the Shrike do start to have a whiff of the deux ex machina by the end), but, broadly, I think the book sticks the landing and I was happy with the way it ended.
The best thing about this book, and the whole Cantos is general, however, is the sheer scope of what Simmons has attempted. The themes that he explores and the symbolism he uses is incredibly profound - and I say that as someone who is pretty sure that a good number of things probably went straight over my head.
He tackles religion, philosophy, mortality, love and what it is that makes us human and makes life worth living. He explores corruption and salvation, selfishness and sacrifice, freedom and submission, empathy, trust and obedience. In most of these instances, he avoids stating the obvious and frames the issues around novel situations, or character choices. A particularly good example of this, for me, is Father Captain De Soya: a man who is, at heart, a faithful Catholic priest, but who is struggling with his conscience in the face of the corruption that he begins to perceive has taken root in the church he has devoted his life to.
Rise of Endymion, and the whole Hyperion Cantos, are books that have a huge amount of depth to them. They're books that stay in your head long after you've finished reading and I frequently find myself mulling over scenes or ideas that I found within their pages.
So, what didn't I love?
I'll start with the obvious one: the romance. Look, by the time it actually turns into a romance, thanks to a bit of sci-fi age manipulation, it wasn't anything like as bad as I was dreading. But it's still hard to get over the fact that these characters met when one was twelve and the other in his thirties... the relationship goes from something that seems very paternal, to something that... obviously isn't... and I just struggled to not feel a bit icky about the whole thing. Did it have some good moments? Absolutely it did! But there was always a small voice in the back of my head going 'you raised this kid, your nickname for her is still 'kiddo', doesn't that make this a bit weird?'
There was also a chunk, somewhere around half way through the book, where the pacing slowed down significantly - I'll identify it as 'the mountain section'. A huge list of new characters are introduced here, but we never really get chance to get to know any of them- they pretty much just remain a list of names. Simmons' prose is good enough that I wouldn't say I was bored, exactly, but I was starting to question the direction the book was going in and getting restless to move on.
I also think, in contrast to the earlier books in the Cantos, Simmons' worldbuilding can get a little info-dumpy here. There are pages and pages of Aenea's 'discussion groups' - which, in reality, are mostly just Aenea explaining some element of the worldbuilding in an extended monologue. Is it unpleasant to read? No. I would just say it's a much clumsier form of worldbuilding/exposition than what I've previously seen from Simmons.
Another minor gripe: Simmons contradicts some of the events/lore that he established in the first two books. Now, he always has an in-world (and technically plausible) explanation for this (e.g. someone lied here, or Martin Silenus made a mistake recording this part) but I really liked the first two books, so the retconning felt a bit annoying.
And one final negative: using some sci-fi magic (which I won't spoil) certain characters from the first two Hyperion books make brief cameo appearances in this book. The thing is, with one exception, I don't really see what the point was? I love the original characters and was initially very excited to see them again, but by the end of the book I was wishing they'd just been left alone. They don't really do much, or influence the plot in any way, and their presence ends up being more of a distraction and disappointment than an enhancement.
Now, I realise this sounds like rather a lot of complaints and would like to stress that each of these things was a pretty minor annoyance by itself. It's just that, added up, they made for a book that, while still enjoyable, was definitely my least favourite of the Cantos.
Overall, I'd say that I still had a good time reading this, I'm still glad I picked it up. I don't think the Endymion section of the Cantos is anything like as strong as the Hyperion section, however. Whether I'd recommend it is a bit hard to say... if you really loved the Hyperion books I think it's worth trying the Endymion ones as there is still a lot to like about them. If you were neutral, or liked but didn't love the Hyperion books? I think it's unlikely the Endymion books are going to blow your mind, although you'll probably still have a good time reading them - I certainly did!
I look forward to trying more books by Dan Simmons in the future!