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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Like Hyperion, this book is BIG. Not just thick, not just part of a series, but big: Mars is big, Troy is big. The space time continuum is big. Gods and Goddess are also big, and the plot is big. My enjoyment and satisfaction is equally big. I salivate big slobbery drool in anticipation of...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A clash between high-tech future, the Greek mythology and "The Storm" of Shakespeare. Taking into account the complex weaving, it is not a surprise that the action is slow. However I was surprised by the outcome - a really good, original and hard to forget book. A little apocalyptic, but showing huge imagination and wide canvass, not to forget the referrals we make to classic books, it is a highly recommendable read.”
Vesso Zah wrote this review Friday, November 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“An amazing book. Just pick it up.”
Lingchih wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Absolutely Brilliant! I cant recommend this enough, great writing style and he seems to cram a mad amount of sci-fi stuff in here and make it all work, great stuff. I bought the sequel Olympos straight after finishing this”
Peter Spencer Cowan wrote this review Wednesday, September 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Resurrected Greek scholars are employed to watch a re-enactment of the Trojan wars with nano-enhanced heroes and gods who use science without seeming to realize it.
Russ_gaidin wrote this review Thursday, June 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Fabulous.”“The novel centers on three main character groups; that of Hockenberry (a resurrected twentieth-century Homeric scholar whose duty is to compare the events of the Iliad to the events that he observes), Helen and Greek and Trojan warriors from the Iliad; Daeman, Harman, Ada and the other humans of Earth; and the "moravec" robots (named for scientist and futurist Hans Moravec), specifically Mahnmut the Europan and Orphu of Io. The novel is written in first-person, present-tense when centered on Hockenberry's character, but features third-person, past-tense narrative in all other instances. Much like Simmons' Hyperion where the actual events serve as a frame, the three groups of characters' stories are told over the course of the novel and their stories do not begin to converge until the end.
Wendy B wrote this review Wednesday, April 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“Vast, complex, intelligent: it took me three reads before I understood what I was reading. Even still, some of the ideas seem to go nowhere. Simmons does a wonderful job of weaving together the complex plot about 95% of the time, and the other 5% is easy to overlook. He clearly uses a different tone for each character and brings emotion to an epic. ”
Amber wrote this review Tuesday, March 31 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Impressively epic in scope and length. Ilium combines many different themes into its hard science fiction narrative, most notably literature, nanotechnology, quantum teleporting. The story is effectively split into three threads: one with a post literate post post human society, in which a couple of its members begin to question the realities of their existence. Another thread follows a pair of small semiorganic robots from Io of Jupiter on a special mission to Mars to investigate some bizarre quantum fluctuations. The last, and most interesting thread follows a contemporary era Homeric scholar, revived in the future to observe a recreation of the events of the Iliad. Predictably threads begin to overlap, but the resulting interactions between the characters keeps things satisfying. Just be prepared to commit to the sequal, as this is part one of two.”
Eric S wrote this review Wednesday, March 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Maybe if I'd read the Iliad I would have enjoyed this book a whole lot more. As it is, I liked it a lot, but felt like I was missing a lot of references that I might have understood better if I'd read Homer's poem. Still, it's a good book, apart from a few passages where it gets too busy listing heroes, their accomplishments and relations. I could do without those passages. They're boring and just plain unnecessary (maybe a reference to the Iliad that I just don't get). Overall, not going on my all-time favourite book list, but I might still re-read it in a year or two.”
Comrade Charlie wrote this review Tuesday, February 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
