A solid three, if not 3.5 stars. The beginning of a new tale.

I suspected after starting this book three of the four book set, that this "series" by Dan Simmons is in fact, two, two book sets. That is, books one and two comprise the first of a series with excellent closure in book two, if you want to stop there. It helps to have read books one and two before reading three and four, but it is not necessary. All four books happen in the same universe/worlds, so one could call them a series. Books three and four are a separate tale. Not unlike historical fiction writer, Ken Follett, who can continue a series centuries after a first book.

Endymion takes our new characters down the lazy river. Have you ever been to a water park where all sorts of thrilling slides and things are for your amusement? There is always a lazy river, where you can bob your way around the park on a slow moving stream of water supported by an inflated tube or some such thing. Such it is for our characters running away from a threat, except as they raft the river, they are tossed into different worlds and different situations, always running. Running from what becomes the question.

Simmons once again explores religion as his side muse.

This beginning tale is a tad slow in the middle, but if you make it that far you'll be reading book four. Off to #4, n  n The Rise of Endymion go I.

I think I might have enjoyed this one even more than Hyperion. The structure here is simpler, being essentially a quest story in which the protagonist is tasked with a cluster of seemingly impossible assignments, and has to make a journey with companions who have their own sets of core competencies. (as contrasted with Hyperion which was structured like The Canterbury Tales.) In the hands of a mediocre writer this book could have been a dull and derivative affair, but I found myself swept along by the currents of imagination as Raul, Aenea, and A. Bettik traversed the river that crosses worlds, struggling with constant dangerous while being pursued relentlessly by agents of the church. All three characters became increasingly complex as the story progressed, and Simmons addressed numerous issues such as bigotry and faith with subtlety and nuance, without dragging down the adventurous aspect.

About halfway through the book I have a note that I hate Frederico De Soya, as he declares that he will kill every Lamp Mouth and anything else in in his way as he attempts to capture Aenea in order to protect his precious church, and this attitude disgusts me. But then by the end of the book after the events with Rhadamanth Nemes my view had softened. I still think that kind of destructive drive is horrible, but the character himself became more understandable if not relatable. And the fact that he would subject himself and his team to the rigors of repeated death and resurrection via the parasites was at least impressive.

I found it curious that at the beginning of the book the narrator, Raul, starts by saying "You are reading this for the wrong reason.", but Simmons actually uses this as a framing device at the end of the novel. I won't give away what he says, but I liked it.

There are numerous quotable bits but I'll close with one of my favorites:

n  If there is a God, I thought, it's a painkillern

Hyperion was a truly innovative book fleshing out the genre of science fiction. While it did not radically change it, as Asimov’s Foundation and Robots, Herbert’s Dune or Gibson’s Neuromancer, it adopted amazing ideas from many other great books, evolved them and created an amazing story.

The Fall of Hyperion continued just where Hyperion ended, continuing the story but changing a lot of things - tone and structure, alongside fleshing out the established world. Both books introduced very well-constructed lifelike characters, perhaps some of the best science fiction has to offer.

The duology had a proper ending in a sort of way. Endymion picks up from the intentionally (I hope) placed loose ends and foreshadowing to weave the next stage of the story. When reading the next installment to two of the most epic science fictions books ever written, one cannot hope feeling elated but cautious as well.

Unlike the first two books, which have globally received a massive amount of positive reviews, the fanbase is a bit divided on Endymion. The majority still accept it as a great book, while some resort to calling it a fan-fiction. While Endymion has nothing on the original duology, I would not go as far as to call it bad. My initial reaction on reading was disappointment. That is not to say Endymion is a bad book. On the contrary, it’s a pretty good book, but one cannot help feeling a little of that when the sequel to a mighty story falls a farther from “merely good.”

On the story: spoiler alert from the previous two books.
Taking place centuries after the events of The Fall of Hyperion, the human universe once again ruled by an intergalactic government. In place of the capitalist Hegemony, the power has shifted to a futuristic version of the Church, ruling from the Vatican on the planet Pacem. In the years after The Fall, they have discovered the secret to immortality  using the cruciform  and have established a stranglehold over the human populations.

The story is built around the prophecy of the One Who Teaches, a messiah of sorts,  the daughter of Brawne Lamia and the second Keats cybrid,  who is set to return on the planet Hyperion. The current power considers her a threat and decides that she must be eliminated, for the salvation of the human race and the prevalence of the spirit of the Church.

Like I mentioned already, the book is quite good. Simmons’ prose is, once again, remarkable - a gift to the literary world. He manages to call every little - or at least the important - snippets from the lore and does an amazing job at making the story move forward.

The character building is amazing, but the problem - at least, in my opinion - was the cast itself. Compared to the six pilgrims from Hyperion and Joseph Severn and Maena Gladstone (debatably one of the best characters I have ever seen) from The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion’s main characters fall a little short.  Martin Silenus and A. Bettik return.

The narrator, the eponymous Raul (rhymes with tall) Endymion, was a bit boring for me. Once again, character development was fantastic. Unfortunately, his traits and background, when contrasted against the Consul and Severn, are just unremarkable.

Aenea, the One Who Teaches, is thankfully much more interesting. Simmons’ does a great job of creating her personality, mixing the childishness of an eleven-year-old (which is her age) with the wisdom of a to-be-messiah. Herbert’s Dune series shares a similar character, Alia Atreides (another masterfully rendered character), both burdened with staggering knowledge even before their birth.

The environment is also very different from the previous books. For the most part, it feels like an adventure book - a group of daredevils heading out to see the world, facing the constant danger of persecution from hostile elements. The characters are driven more by need than adrenaline. And while the scenes are well-written - and on a side-note, this book would receive 10/10 on planetary romance - altogether, it feels like a prequel.

I wrote a similar review for Gibson’s Count Zero; admittedly, that was much more acrid - perhaps unjustly. Count Zero is the sequel to the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, that redefined science fiction and it’s tropes. Unfortunately, Count Zero was also relatively poorly written and feels a bit like a prequel for the third and last book, or a bit of an inconvenient stepping stone between them. My thoughts are similar for Endymion, but it must be mentioned that this book’s execution is far better than the one I compared it to.

To sum it up, a good book with pitfalls which feels like a bridge between the Hyperion-The Fall of Hyperion duology and The Rise of Endymion (sequel), but well-written regardless of that.

This quest story set 300 years after the events of the much stronger “Hyperion” novels, was a bit of a let down. A trio of archetypical heroes flee from pursuing elements of the tyrannical empire regime across several planets which are the familiar settings from the earlier novels. While it is interesting to read the developments on those locations in the centuries of aftermath, I was reminded of the similar quest in Asimov’s “Foundation and Earth”, where the protagonist visits several worlds which were the nostalgic settings of some of Asimov’s stories set centuries earlier. Here, however, it is far less compelling as most of the spots have gone to wilderness. Also, the hero characters are a bit two-dimensional, fitting very familiar character patterns: Aenea, "The Holy One” child, who is somehow mystically important, and a threat to the authorities; Raul Endymion, “The Woodsman” guide, who uses his street smarts and survivor skills to protect her; and A. Bettik, “The Man Friday” who loyally and capably serves both.

While the first two novels of Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos made excellent use of multi-protagonist narrative threads to tell the story from multiple perspectives, This novel instead primarily sticks to just two- Raul Endymion and his chief pursuant, Father-Captain Federico de Soya, who is an extremely sympathetic ‘villain’, earnestly carrying out his duty to his shadier superiors. I had a feeling that we’d see some redemption and rehabilitation of this character after the first few examples of his flawless moral behavior, despite his unsavory mission. Most of the evocative tech and philosophical questions lay in his portions of the novel, giving it a much stronger grounding in Space Opera, while Raul’s narrative felt more rustic and terrestrial.

In the end, Endymion is a victim of the earlier novels success and ambition. Outside of their shadow, it might have stood as a great story, but as it happens it is merely a good one. It feels flatter by comparison with it’s fewer character narratives, it’s more linear structure, and smaller-stake drama.

Many fans of Dan Simmons's Hyperion series were not enamored of this more separate entity within the saga. It does not detract, however, from what a fun thrill-ride this book truly is. You need not have read the first two books to enjoy this one, and in fact, it might be better if you haven't. Simmons incorporated the more fun elements of the previous books, weaving them into this grand and tremendously entertaining adventure of science fiction. The Worldweb and the mysterious Shrike creature add excitement to an already great story.

Almost 300 years have passed since The Fall, and Earth apparently, but not conclusively, no longer exists. The Worldweb and the Shrike creature are around, yet the only thing standing between complete control of everything by the military arm of the Catholic Church, PAX, is an 11 year old girl named Aenea, and Raul Endymion. Aenea is the future leader of all, and Raul Endymion has been chosen to keep her from harm. Using Farcaster portals as gateways to other worlds, in order to elude their somewhat reluctant pursuer, Father DeSoya, they find an ally in A. Bettik, a blue android.

The chase is exciting, moving at breakneck speed. The mysterious and deadly Shrike creature adds an unknown element for the three. The questions pondered and ruminated on are thought-provoking, engaging the mind of the reader as their heart enjoys the adventure, the outcome of which is constantly in doubt. As the connection between Raul and Aenea grows stronger, so does the reader's need to know that outcome. Doom for all mankind looms like a dark storm over everything in this grand adventure tale. It is a book easy to get lost in, a breathtaking tale of a fantastical future that can only be found in books.

You read something like this slowly, savoring it, because you know it is part of a series and, therefor, probably without a conclusive ending. Whether a science fiction reader or not, if you enjoy getting lost in another world, this is a good book for you. Sort of a stand-alone book within the series, it is just flat fun to read, and highly recommended.

Endymion: A New Phase of the Hyperion Story
Endymion takes place roughly three centuries after the events of Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion. It features a largely new cast of characters, and the climatic events of the previous book are so far-reaching in their impact (the closing of the far-casters, end of the hegemony, disappearance of the Shrike, rise of the Pax thanks to the cruciform, etc) that Simmons has created a very new and different galactic milieu in which to frame his equally complex and elaborate space opera epic.

While Endymion may lack some of the mythic overtones of the first duology, it makes up for that with a fully-developed narrative that carefully extrapolates the repercussions of the previous books and continues the underlying struggle/mystery of the Core and AIs and the humans and Ousters caught between it all. Dan Simmons is not afraid to reshape his own elaborate universe and yet treat it as a natural extension of the earlier story. Just like the first two books, Endymion is only one half of the story, so you must be prepared to commit to reading both books to get the full vision as Dan Simmons intended.

This is the third volume of Hyperion Cantos, which actually can be seen as a two-part story, each taking two volumes. So this is the beginning of the second arc. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for June 2024 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. It is interesting to note that this volume is the only one that got no nominations for SFF Awards except for Locus Award (2nd place) – while the first won Hugo, and Locus plus nominated for BSFA, the second was nominated for Hugo and Nebula and won Locus and BSFA and the final volume was nominated for Hugo and won Locus.

The book starts almost three centuries after the events of the second volume, there are new characters in a new world, dominated by Pax, a version of the Catholic Church that can almost guarantee resurrection to its members using a parasite from Hyperion. This book is narrated as a memoir of one Raul Endymion, a hunting guide from Hyperion as he awaits his execution in a version of a Schrodinger’s box orbiting some planet.

He starts with his death sentence, but not the one he is currently under. He helped rich tourists to hunt, but when one of them killed his dog because hasn’t followed the rules and warnings, it hit Raul hard and escalated from then on, until he killed the jerk in self-defense. He was quickly found guilty and sentenced, but instead of dying, he got smuggled to the Poet from the first duology. There he receives a partner, a blue-skinned android A. Bettik, a ship, and a mission – to protect Aenea, a twelve years old from the past, a daughter of detective Brawne Lamia and John Keats cybrid, a new messiah, if she is allowed to mature.

Most of the book is a journey of Raul, Aenea and A. Bettik by the River Tethys (as can be guessed from the cover, at least in some editions) as they are hunted down by Father Captain Federico de Soya with his team, which follows orders of the Holy See to capture the girl, and if not possible, kill her.

Once again a great story, with a lot of veiled homages (I guess) to Foundation, Dune and Riverworld: To Your Scattered Bodies Go/The Fabulous Riverboat among others.

Definitely the weakest of the four, although it might not be strictly fair to lump the tetralogy together that way -- Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are basically one book stretched over two, even though the writing style changes. Endymion is in some ways a sequel, if one is looking strictly for chronological continuance of the Universe these characters inhabit. It's less so when one considers how brilliant and creative the first two books were, chocked with plot and heavy on characterization, while Endymion reads more like the action-adventure prequel to a much cooler, satisfying Rise of Endymion. I *like* Aenea and Raul, and I even appreciate how Simmons crafts their personalities, but everything else is just sort of ...blah. The explanations for a lot of "wait a minute...what?" moments in this novel don't come until the end of Rise, and even though that was also the case with the two Hyperion books, this wait seems much more protracted.

I consider it the Hump Book of the series, in a lot of ways. (No, not in that way. They don't get jiggy until Rise!) Once you get over it, it's relatively smooth sailing to the end.

Although it takes place centuries after The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion seems to pick up right after the end of the last book. This is the third book in Dan Simmons's "Hyperion Cantos." Since it's the first book of a second duology, you could start reading with this book, since the entire universe is pretty much introduced anew, but there are so many references to events that took place in the first two books, now history in this one, that you will probably feel like you're missing a lot.

At the end of The Fall of Hyperion, the Hegemony of Man was falling, due to the attack of the Ousters who weren't really Ousters but constructs of the TechnoCore. As Endymion begins, the Hegemony is history, and now human space is ruled by the Pax; a resurgent Holy Roman Catholic Church empowered by the cruciform parasites we encountered in Hyperion, which allow anyone to recover from any injury and be resurrected from nearly any fatality. The Pax has figured out how to control them so that people who receive the cruciform are not turned into mindless idiots, which means that the Church now literally offers eternal life.

The child of Brawne Lamia and the cybrid Johnny Keats emerges from the Time Tombs, and the Pax views her as a threat to all of mankind, for reasons that are not clear until the end. So they send starship captain Father-Captain de Soya to "fetch" her. Meanwhile, that irascible dirty old man Martin Silenus is still kicking around, and he recruits Raul Endymion, a native of the planet Hyperion who fell into a little trouble with the Pax, to go save her. As he tells Raul, he doesn't just want Raul to save his god-daughter from the Pax. He also wants Raul to destroy the Pax, find out what the superhuman artificial intelligences known as the TechnoCore have been up to these past few centuries, oh, and take down that enigmatic, unstoppable alien killing machine known as the Shrike. No problem.

Endymion alternates between the POV of Raul Endymion and Father-Captain de Soya, adversaries but both of them ultimately good guys if not always serving good ends. There's plenty of interplanetary space opera drama and action, but for me it didn't really get good until the final few chapters when conspiracies begin to be unveiled, and of course, we finally got the kick-ass battle with the Shrike we've been waiting for.

Like Hyperion, Endymion ends very much on a "To be continued" note. Either of the two duologies can be read independently, but definitely read the first book of each first (and if you like it you will certainly have to read the second).

I recommend reading the first two books first because frankly, they are better. Endymion isn't bad, but it's a solid 3.5 stars - great epic space opera if you like epic space operas, but whereas Simmons dropped a whole lot of finely-crafted worldbuilding with star-spanning conspiracies and multiple existential alien threats in Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, in this third book, there's not so much new as building on what he introduced before. If you are a dedicated consumer of space opera, this is above average for the genre, but falls short of greatness, and really I think the series could have ended with Fall of Hyperion. But I will go on to read the fourth and final volume.

Відгук після другого прочитання в 2021 році
Це не найкращий роман Сіммонса. Але він не є він і найгіршим. Та й поганим його не назвеш. Він інший, причому цю іншість задають Гіперіон та Падіння Гіперіона. Так, без цих двох романів й "Ендіміон" не мав би сенсу. Але сам він написаний в настільки іншому стилі, що це збиває з пантелику.

По-перше, це не роман заради сюжету. Це роман заради персонажів. Якщо в "Гіперіоні" вони є доволі статичними (хоча треба перечитати), то тут вони розвиваються. Не просто розкриваються перед читачами чи читачками, а саме розвиваються. Перш за все, маю на увазі отця-капітана де Сойю.

По-друге, це роман з сюжетом, який маскує натяки, алюзії та цитати. Наче суперечить першому. Але це не так. В романі є сюжет - і він або видається простим, ледь не примітивним, або занадто динамічним (протягом останніх двохсот сторінок). Але насправді в ньому сховано багато підказок, які сполучають цей роман з "Падінням Гіперіона", а також - як я підозрюю - натякають на розвиток сюжету в "Сході Ендіміона".
Якщо чесно, то Сіммонс деколи дуже прямолінійний. А деколи - у своєму фірмовому стилі цитує класику американської літератури. Так, я під впливом Сіммонса (та Джозефа Конрада!) вирішив почитати Стівена Крейна Stephen Crane.

До речі, "Падіння Гіперіона" настільки забулося, що суперечностей вже аж так не бачу. А ті, що є, Сіммонс доволі правдоподібно пояснює. Що ж, це має сенс: між двома частинами "Пісень Гіперіона" має пройти часу: як Сіммонс писав їх з перервою, так і читати їх треба з перервою :)

І цього разу я отримав від роману задоволення. Тому сміливо рушаю до Схід Ендіміона!

П.С. От біда! виявив, що перечитував я роман протягом... року. Хоча було два періоди читання: 28.05.2020-15.06.2020 та 21.01.2021-22.05.2021. Місяць читання, 7 місяців перерви, 4 місяці читання. Що ж, не шкоду, що так вийшло. Бо перший місяць читання два 30% тексту, далі я здався, а потім... А потім роман стає жвавішим ;)

Відгук після першого прочитання в 2019 році
Критики казали, що тут дуже заплутаний сюжет. Заплутаним він стає на останніх 150 сторінках. До того все просто: поганці переслідують головних героїв. Головні герої ж мандрують космосом на кораблі, річкою на плоті... Інтриги в цьому жодної, бо щоразу, як їх наздоганяють поганці, вони втікають. І лише наприкінці роману Сіммонс закручує сюжет - в стилі "Падіння Гіперіона". До того ж текст нагадує дуже тонко розмазаний шар подій по кількості тексту. Але й на останок Сіммонс не втримується, щоб не зіпсувати жвавий сюжет - і починає надихатися "Термінатором 2": ті самі твісти, той же ж термінатор, що вміє міняти форму, зокрема - перетворювати руки на ножі. Та Сіммонс навіть відтворює сцену з рукою термінатора, що стирчить з розплавленого металу (в Сіммонса - розжареної лави). Це вже несмак, як на мене: Сіммонс вміє цитувати тонше і стьобніше.
Але найбільше дратує те, що Сіммонс раптом починає заперечувати "Падіння Гіперіона". Мовляв, там було так? А то все Мартін Силен переплутав - і хибно переказав. Гаразд, приймаємо. Але ще ж було і так. Сіммонс: а насправді ні, але я не поясню, чому я так все змінив. Точніше, ми знаємо чому: щоб розгортати сюжет "Ендіміона". І так разів чотири протягом тексту - в ключових речах.
Десь від половини роману я вже почав співпереживати поганцям і вболівати, щоб їхня місія вдалася... Тим більше, що в поганців хоч характери більш прописані.
Підсумовуючи, Сіммонс написав слабкий роман. Особливо порівнюючи з "Падінням Гіперіона". І я не розумію, чому "Падіння" майже не отримало нагород, а "Ендіміон" оцінили на рівні з "Гіперіоном"...

Pretty epic scifi adventure that’s elevated by Simmons’s prose as well as his exploration of themes through characters and world-building that have a bit more depth than many others within the genre

Endymion continua il ciclo di Hyperion, anche come qualità di lettura. Forse un pelo inferiore ai primi due romanzi, ma paga inevitabilmente il fatto che il lettore è ormai dentro la storia. C'è qualche passaggio un pò lento e sotto tono nella parte centrale, ma per il resto è un libro eccellente. Tanti temi interessanti: il ruolo delle IA in tempi non sospetti, una Chiesa pronta a tutto e una storia di amore dal futuro al presente che si incrocia con quanto avvenuto nei primi due volumi. Non resta che leggere il quarto e ultimo libro per avere tutte le risposte!