A fair finish to Ilium, and still a four-star book. The sheer insanity of Simmons's post-modern "parallel universes glimpsed or created by mankind's geniuses" premise is wonderful, although the history of how humanity fell (a war between the Global Caliphate and a new Khanate and the near-extermination of the Jews) jarred. I feel like it would have been better left ambiguous, although I can see the argument that the specificity serves as a link between our time and the new fall of man.

The Sword of Allah felt like a trumped-up obstacle for our robotagonists, which is why the future history jarred.

As with most of what I've read by Dan Simmons, a recommended reading list:

- The Iliad
- The Odyssey
- The Aeneid
- The Tempest
- "Caliban on Setebos"
- The Time Machine

Storyline: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 4/5

The sequel is, I am convinced, difficult to do well. In Olympos, Simmons does it well. I was skeptical at the end of book one. I could not see what Simmons would do for the 891 pages of book two. n  Iliumn seemed so close to completion; I wanted my ending then and there. Simmons makes that ending last for the entirety of book two. He picks up on earlier, minor clues and threads, pushing them to the front of the story, while weaving in the major plot from book one, keeping momentum and giving us more. It was that more that was so good. So much more story. So much more worldbuilding. Simmons showed me that more which I simply could not envision, and it was satisfying to receive it.

While Simmons was adept with the more, he ultimately had to turn to what all authors eventually must deal with: resolution and conclusion. Simmons was better with the more than with the end. We get the answers; the puzzle pieces are all laid out in approximately their correct positions. That artfulness and care with which the mystery was put together in book one does not have a complement in the conclusion, however. When it comes to finally making the reveals and the connections, they are unsatisfyingly blunt and truncated. The pieces, while all there, were never fully put together for an integrated picture. Intellectually I understand the answers. But I lack a clear understanding of some of the reasons and significance, of the why’s and so’s. Simmons had 1,643 pages to prepare for the conclusion, so there is really no excuse for failing to take those answers and revelations and integrate them solidly in the denouement. I say that we readers still fare well from the imbalance. We get a good 1,500 pages of more and just a hundred or two of less.

I’ve got an unwritten list for the top 100 science fiction series. I would put both this series, Ilium, on there as well as Simmons’s n  Hyperion Cantosn. Both are epic science fiction stories – that adjective too often only fitting for fantasy novels – with excellent worldbuilding. There are some similar themes: a love of literature, a curious interest in Judaism, portal technology, among others, but none of it overlaps to the extent that I feel that ideas are being recycled or that I grow weary of them. Hyperion Cantos verges more on the side of horror, having a lot of ghastliness and ugliness. Ilium is much more pornographic, Simmons taking full advantage of the possibilities provided by Greek mythology to write out his sexual fantasies. There are parts of Olympos that I was just downright embarrassed by. I was embarrassed for Simmons, thinking about him sharing this book with friends and family, and having them all know his perverse, prurient fantasies. So both series had some themes that were off-putting. I think the first book of the Ilium duology is the best of the five books, but I find it difficult to say which series was ultimately better.

Ilium was promising, but this book stank. Simmons has been uneven before, but this book finished it for me. Sorry, no more from this author.

Hey, I have a booktube channel (youtube for book reviews, etc.), and I include Olympos in my top 10 fantasy books list here (kinda, it's technically in there). Please subscribe if I've earned it!

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I have tremendous problems with this book, not the least of which is that I wanted to enjoy it so badly. Simmons has a talent for writing good scenes and decent characters, but the overall structure of this book is so sloppy and disappointing that I can't help but feel cheated. I felt this way at the end of Rise of Endymion as well, and I'm starting to think that it's systemic to all of his epic sci-fi narratives. He comes up with a neat idea, creates hint that he's going to explain everything at the end, and after thousands of pages arbitrarily ends things without any sense of resolution.

What was this book about? What was the conflict? You begin thinking that it's about the gods of Olympos and the quantum disturbances they're creating that threaten the very existence of the solar system. Okay. But then it turns out that the Olympian gods are pawns of larger gods or Gods, including Setebos and Prospero. At this point I'm enjoying the direction of the book, thinking that events will hinge on what these larger gods are planning. But then, with a little more than 200 pages left in the combined 1700 pages of Ilium/Olympos, a heretofore unmentioned 2500-year-old Islamic submarine carrying 700 mini black holes becomes the focus. While the submarine is being taken care of, Setebos just... goes away. Zeus' out-of-nowhere desire to become the One God of the Universe is foiled by Achilles and Hephaestus begins his reign on Olympos, clearing up those pesky quantum disturbances from way back in the book as an afterthought.

There were so many unnecessary elements. Where was Simmons' editor in all of this? You could have cut out anything to do with Sycorax and Odysseus, and the narrative wouldn't have changed. You could have deleted almost everything going on with the Trojans and Achaens and the only thing that would have been affected would have been Achilles killing Zeus at the end. But that didn't matter either, because there's no reason for the gods' storyline either. They were post-humans, now they're gods, maybe there are larger forces at play. That's the sum total of the gods in the course of the story.

If I may, a partial list of things that are set up but never resolved:

-Why did Prospero want to elevate the post-humans to god status?
-If each universe is created by "singular genius," wouldn't the Greek gods already exist in the universe the Trojans and Achaens come from? In fact, why did the post-humans choose the Iliad to recreate at all?
-What the hell was the point of the Titan war at the end?
-Why did Zeus all of a sudden want to become the One God? There's no mention of this desire anywhere in the book.
-Who was the Quiet? It's mentioned for 1000+ pages, and then without showing up, everything is resolved when Setebos senses it coming and runs away.
-Why didn't Daeman and Caliban get to fight when they meet at the end?
-Why did Hephaestus put all of the humans into a blue tachyon beam on Ilium-Earth?
-Why were the voynix afraid of the Setebos egg?


I could go on. It seems like Simmons is okay with the explanation for any of these events being "for some reason." I guess it's deeper and more ambiguous that way. I don't think I'd be nearly this upset if the promise of Ilium/Olympos hadn't been so great. I gave the first book 5 stars, and I stand by that. The setup was incredible. The individual parts are amazing. But the whole is so utterly disappointing as to make me angry.

It's like Simmons wanted to write a sequel to Ilium but told himself he was going to make it the exact opposite in almost every way imaginable. This book was much darker in tone and much more violent then the first book but it still totally worked for me. None of what's in these pages should make any sense being an amalgamation of many different styles and influences as well as many characters, real and imagined, from history and literature but holy hell it is entertaining. Almost all the characters from Ilium are back with some taking on bigger roles while others have smaller but Simmons does a great job of explaining everything and tying up loose ends. Not EVERY single question is answered but the majority of them are, enough to satisfy me and help me "see" what was really going on, but since Simmons does not seem to be writing anymore (Omega Canyon has been in the works for years), I doubt there will be any sort of final book to wrap everything up nice and pretty. Regardless, these books both deserve five stars IMO.

Den Simons je lud lik.
Njegova dela su suv kvalitet.
Privilegija je citati ga.
Sekspir ili Prust? Kakvo je to pitanje, pa Den Simons naravno! :D :D :D

Sometimes, life gets in the way of reading, and it takes a month to read a 900 page book. It can be frustrating to not have the time to absorb long sections, and there is the possibility of forgetting what was happening, resulting in feeling completely lost. But other times, dragging out consumption of a novel can make a reader (or me, anyway) actually feel even more immersed in the story. Over the course of reading Ilium and Olympos, I've spent a fair amount of real time in the world Dan Simmons created. Now, it's going to be hard to move on.

These novels won't be for everyone (what book is?), yet they reached a special place for me. There is SO MUCH happening, and it's hard to follow some of it, but that's part of the brilliance, in watching it all come together. Time and again I wondered where the author came up with all of his ideas, because even the most outlandish were fascinating. The combination of quality literature, classic literature appreciation, science fiction, and mythology present here is wholly unique, and I loved it.

I'm not sure the ending was the best, but it would be nearly impossible to tie up all of the loose ends in a completely satisfactory way. I'll take it.

I was disappointed in this book. It's sad, because Ilium was so promising. But I found this a real let-down conclusion to a probably over-ambitious beginning. Perhaps I had too high of hopes, because if anybody could have pulled off a conclusion to such an ambitious start, it would have been Simmons.

This novel seemed like a jumble of cool ideas thrown in together and stirred. They were all individually fascinating, but they didn't come together into anything... Well, "story shaped" (to steal Neil Gaiman's turn of phrase). The disparate plot threads diverged into even more disparateness, the backplot was hinted at but not drawn into anything coherent, the characters didn't come to satisfactory conclusions, plot lines initiated in the first book were discarded, entities were multiplied without cause, and things that seemed like fascinating mysteries in the first book turned out to be merely blenders on legs. Subtlety gave way to bloodbaths.

That said, Simmons is a master, and even his off days are better than many people's best efforts. So I enjoyed it on a page to page basis. It's just the whole that left me feeling unfulfilled. A bit like dining exclusively on fois gras and creme mints. Lovely individually, but a bit discordant together. And definitely not a wholesome meal.

A disappointing, convoluted mess. It's difficult to believe that the same author who wrote the brilliant Ilium is responsible for this mangled pile of trash. Every time a character tries to explain the plot, a character will say something to the effect of "Wait, but that doesn't make any sense", and that's exactly what us readers felt while reading this book. I'm pretty sure, internally, the part of Dan Simmons that wrote Ilium was asking the same questions too. For example:

Olympos Simmons: And the old Odysseus meets Circe and the new Odysseus!
Ilium Simmons: Wait, but why?
Olympos Simmons: Because Quantum! QUANTUM!
Ilium Simmons: But that doesn't make any sense.
Olympos Simmons: QUAAAANTUMMM.

I gave up about 100 pages from the end, but I feel like I've gotten a good grip of where the story is going (nowhere). Online reviews have also confirmed that the story peters out into a weak, disappointing end with no real resolutions nor climaxes. Even the explanations are half-boiled and contrived. It's as if Simmons came up with this brilliant plot for Ilium, executed it like a master in the first book, then decided to shit all over his ideas in the second book.

My disappointment is bordering on white-hot anger at this point. Ilium does not deserve a sequel like this.

I'm going to be honest: I found this book disappointing.

This is the second duology by Dan Simmons I've read and similar to Fall of Hyperion, Olympos manages to take all of the intriguing ideas, plot threads, and characters set up in its predecessor and turn them into something that feels very different, while introducing dozens of new storylines, concepts, and elements. However, unlike Fall of Hyperion, which I think handles these major shifts surprisingly well to create a unique and unforgettable story, Olympos misses the mark.

While I admire the scope of this duology and how many different ideas found their way into these two books, I ultimately feel the vast majority of the storylines fail to capitalize on any of them. When I was reading Ilium, I found myself engaged in each individual character's storyline and was very excited to see how everything was going to be tied up in the sequel. However, most of what I was looking forward to in Olympos is either completely glossed over, avoided, or substituted for new plot threads that come out of nowhere and are unnecessary.

With all this being said, I found Achilles' plotline to be fantastic and enjoyed all of the literary references (for example: Homer, Shakespeare, Proust, etc.) scattered throughout the book.

2.5/5

Oh, frack it. I’ve started and deleted and restarted this review too many times already. Dan Simmons’ n  Iliumn and n  Olymposn have left me speechless. (If you ask my wife, you’ll discover that’s a rare occurrence indeed.) I don’t think I can put together an entirely coherent review, much less something with any significant insight on the author’s ideas. So I’ll just share what I’m able to get out in a little solitary brainstorming session.

First of all, you have to realize that Olympos isn’t merely the sequel to Ilium; neither book is complete without the other and I must review them together. That bugs me insofar as I like the idea of a book standing on its own. Prequels and sequels and subsequesequels (that should be a word, yes?) are fine and dandy—indeed I encourage them so long as the author doesn’t screw it all up with some lazy cop-out—but each book, or at least the first book, should be able to stand on its own. Ian Tregillis’ n  Bitter Seedsn is a good example of a book that clearly leaves the door open to be part of a larger series but stands on its own as a satisfying story. I can see how Dan Simmons wanted Ilium to stand on its own, how he left the story at a good place to pause, but that’s all it was: a good place to pause. Ilium by itself simply is not a satisfying read. And it’s too bad, really, because Ilium is fucking brilliant—I was stunned by the breadth of imagination and creativity expressed while maintaining depth and quality of character—you’ll read nothing like it, I guarantee. But I give it four stars because it doesn’t stand on its own. Olympos gets three stars because it also doesn’t stand on its own and because it’s just not as good as Ilium, which seems to be the near-universal consensus if GR reviews are to be trusted.

(Admittedly, I gave five stars to Dan Simmons’ other epic work, n  Hyperionn, despite the fact that it doesn’t stand on its own. Hyperion, however, is different, and someday when I review Hyperion properly I’ll explain why.)

Second thing you have to realize is that Ilium and Olympos are long, grueling, complex, at times tedious ... oh, did I mention they’re long? Put together they are 1,664 pages in paperback or 1,296 in hardback. I read both books on the iPhone Kindle app and, let me tell you, it was A LOT of page turning. Still, I don’t have a problem with length if it’s needed and if the story is worth it. In this case, the main story arc is complex enough to justify a great deal of length by itself, but the author threw in sub-plots and side-plots that, although interesting, when all was said and done, served to lengthen the books without adding significantly adding to the books.

Now, having said all that, Ilium and Olympos were fascinating, original, creative, challenging, and, in the end, rewarding. I put a lot of time, and expended a good deal of mental energy, into reading and understanding these books and I’m glad I did. The author’s central idea around which he crafted the Ilium Universe is intriguing, to say the least, and presents some awesome opportunities for original world-building.

Okay, I'm trying out the new embeded spoiler function here. Dan Simmons' idea is that, when the mental energy of some super-genius writer, like Homer or Shakespeare, is focused sufficiently, that energy pops off into a new universe where the writer's imagined story comes true. So, when Homer wrote the Iliad, a universe popped into existence full of Greeks and Trojans fighting and killing each other. When Shakespeare wrote The Tempsest, that also came true in its own universe. The characters from Homer's Iliad and Shakespeare's Tempest play central roles in Dan Simmons' story.

So doesn’t that mean they’re good books? Isn’t that why we read books? To be challenged and rewarded? To learn new ideas? And if we’re glad we read something, then what’s the problem?

I’ll tell you the problem: I’m stuck in Dan Simmons’ goddamn self-indulgent head-trip of a universe. That’s the fucking problem. The books were so loooong and so complex that, now that I’m done, I don’t know what to do with myself. I was roommates with the main characters, whether they be ancient human, old-style human, post-human, moravec, or god (it’s hard to explain ... you just have to read it) and, now that I’ve moved out, I’m finding it difficult to make new friends. I need a literary pallet cleanser. I need a new best friend. I need to move on. Any recommendations?