Olympos (Ilium series Book 2)

Many diverse plotlines and I bet Dan Simmons had to work hard to bring them to some denouement. Some are still out there.

Even now, decades after you'd think that such ideas have passed, some people still have a prejudice against science fiction as some sort of unsophisticated kiddie fare. If there was ever an author to show just how wrong that belief is, it would be Dan Simmons, who is able to write novels that are not only great science fiction, but great literature as well. The two are not mutually exclusive, as his novel Olympos demonstrates.Olympos is the second part of Simmons's grand 1600+ page epic that began with Ilium (so if you haven't read that book first, you need to before either reading this one or even continuing with this review (which will have spoilers about the first book)). Ilium had three separate but related storylines dealing with (1) a futuristic Earth where the remnants of humanity lead an Edenic existence with robots attending to their every need; (2) a group of intelligent robots called moravecs on a mission from Jupiter to Mars to investigate strange phenomena; and (3) the replaying of the Iliad with all the gods and heroes on an area of the terraformed Mars, with resurrected 20th century professor Thomas Hockenberry reporting on events.As Ilium concluded, Hockenberry had derailed the Iliad's plot, creating an alliance between Trojans and Achaeans in a war against the gods. This is not a one-sided battle, thanks to the high-tech weaponry that the moravecs are providing plus the fighting skills of the unkillable super-hero, Achilles, who not even the gods can bring down. On Earth, the once benevolent mechanical beings known as the voynix have turned against the humans in a war that IS one-sided; the voynix are too tough and plentiful to not eventually win.As Olympos begins - eight months after the events of Ilium - the war against the gods is continuing, but the Trojan-Achaean alliance is shaky, and various conspiracies among both gods and mortals threaten to start the Trojan War all over again. While characters from Greek mythology play a big part on Mars (or is it really an alternate Earth?), it is Shakespeare's The Tempest that is influential on Earth, with versions of Prospero, Caliban and Ariel affecting things. While Hockenberry and Odysseus are recruited on a moravec mission to Earth, the last humans, including an older version of Odysseus continue their losing war against the voynix, while another, more sinister and alien creature called Sebetos waits to take over the world as well.If this all sounds complicated, it is, but Simmons keeps everything straight, and my brief summary can hardly do justice to all that's going on in the novel. While there are most of the trappings of science fiction - robots, space travel, super-weapons, etc. - Simmons puts it in a framework filled with literary references (it certainly helps to have at least a familiarity with Shakespeare and Homer) that elevate it above a mere genre work. But don't be intimidated: this is a real page-turner filled with plenty of suspense, romance and humor, and despite its size (even when combined with Ilium), a relatively fast read. Simmons is one of the best writers around today, and Ilium/Olympos may very well be his magnum opus.

"We're not in the Iliad anymore, Toto."Paris is dead and Achilles lives? Hector is growing old? The Argives and Trojans are forming an alliance against the gods (small "g")? No, we're definitely NOT in the Iliad anymore.When the DNA reconstructed Thomas Hockenberry, Ph.D. from 20th century America is revived in Dan Simmons' first book in this series, "Ilium", the Homeric scholar could never have imagined that he'd be the cause of a revolution to overthrow the Greek gods of old.Quantum probabilities clash as science, nature, philosophy, literature, theology, and mythology collide in this nearly improbable story that weaves us in and out of multiple storylines and concludes in a typical Simmons fashion.The first storyline is that of the aforementioned scholic Thomas Hockenberry, revived scholar to the illiterate gods of Olympos. But Hockenberry decides to lay his bets with humanity, and dumps the gods, thus causing more quantum-flux problems. Ilium doesn't fall (at least not in any way you could dream it would). Hockenberry becomes Helen of Troy's lover. And the gods are desperately trying to find him so that they can rein him in (i.e., kill him).The second storyline is that of the moravecs, machine/human creatures who are sympathetic to humans but are unsure as to what is happening on Earth. They're advanced creatures with a sharp wit and literary bents that range from Shakespeare to Virgil and Proust.The third storyline follows humanity on Earth. But these are humans of the future, not old-style. These people have nanotechnology embedded in their cells, giving them unique powers (unfortunately they just don't know about them, though, because they're illiterate too).******************************************************************************The prose of Mr. Simmons is what'll keep you reading this ...mostly. He also gets you into certain characters' lives so well that you just HAVE to finish the book so that you know what happened to them. Undoubtedly, different readers will have different favorites. My personal ones were Manhmut and Orphu, two moravecs who get involved in all the storylines in mostly hilarious situations thanks to the literature of Shakespeare and Proust.Although Dan Simmons can write EXTREMELY well, at times I felt as if a teacher were lecturing me on ancient literature and poetry. And he also became a bit repetitive, as if he were worried that we might get lost (I mean, I already knew that Thomas Hockenberry was a Homeric scholar from old Indiana, so he didn't have to repeat this ad nauseum. That's just one example of some of the repetitiveness I found.)The ending was a bit of a let-down, but not overly so. Mr. Simmons has never been strong with his endings, so that's not the reason I read him. I read his work because he's engaging, chews up old theories and spits out excellent new material, and can write dramatic and comedic and horrifying themes, all at the same time.And that's why you should read both "Ilium" and "Olympos".

After the great Illium I was left wondering whether Simmons was going to be able to finish the history as wonderfully as he started it. And not only did he do it, but he surpassed it!

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.

A very creative piece with almost baffling integrations of the Iliad and Shakespeare… very hard to guess what was going on at the outset

Didn't find it intrigued me enuf to get past first few pages....unlike the Hyperion books which were most enjoyable...can't like everything unfortunately OOR WULLIE

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.