Лал...не знам откъде да започна. Тази книга е огромна...във всяко едно отношение.
За пореден път съм невероятно впечатлен от майсторството на Дан Симънс в изграждането на вълнуващи сюжети, в разказването на запомнящи се истории.

"Илион" е неговото любовно писмо към Омировата "Илиада", пренесено през призмата на научната фантастика. Случващото се в този роман е почти невъзможно да се обясни. Толкова много пластове от история, препратки и сравнения един върху друг като огромна торта, която точно когато започва да ви натъртва от сладост, разкрива сърцевината си пред вас.

"Илион" не е лека книга за четене. Има огромен шанс да я захвърлите още на страница сто...или на страница двеста...или още малко по-нататък. Но дайте й шанс. Защото накрая ще разберете, че държите научно фантастичен роман достоен да съперничи на най-големите, безсмъртни класики в жанра. С нетърпение обръщам втори том от тази двутомна сага, за да разбера какво ще се случи с постчовеците, старостилните човеци, олиймпийските богове на Марс и древногръцките герой пренесени стотици години напред в човешкото бъдеще.

A Stunning Blend of Mythology, Sci-Fi, and Classic Literature Woven into an Amazing Epic Adventure.

I first added Ilium to my Goodreads shelves in 2015 after decided that I wanted to collect and read Simmons' bibliography (starting with Hyperion). Eight years later, I finally decided it was time to pick Ilium off my bookshelf and I took the opportunity to start the book whilst on holiday in Rhodes.

It has been a while since I've read one of Dan's books - the last being Hard Freeze, the second book in his Joe Kurtz trilogy which I read in 2018. And I had almost forgotten how much Dan brings you into the worlds he creates, and the level of detail he puts into his writing.

I'd put this down as a classic Simmons slow burn book which picks up dramatic pace in the final third and does not slow down until the final chapter. What I found so clever with Ilium is how ambitious Dan is bringing Greek Mythology, Shakespeare and Science Fiction all together resulting in an entertaining story that truly makes you feel you've traveled the solar system.

Dan doesn't simplify much in Ilium - the scientific terminology is thrown at you from the first page (which is a positive for me, better to get stuck in from the get-go) and the characters from Homer's Iliad have minor introductions, but then names are thrown around at will. What I am trying to say is that the reader is not spoon fed, which is one of my favourite things about reading Dan's books. You have to think. You have to keep up and piece the story together.

Why isn't Ilium a 5 star for me? Because I have enjoyed other books by Dan more. In the likes of Hyperion (all four books) and Summer of Night, I had a strong connection to the main characters. I was routing for them all the way through, or hating the villains with every page. I didn't get that as much in Ilium. Hockenberry, Mahnmut and Orphu were fantastic and typical Simmons protagonists. Whereas, Harman and Daeman didn't connect with me as much, and as a result felt myself wishing their chapters along quickly so I can get back to the others.

That being said, the way the three story arcs come together is brilliant, and (once again) is classic Simmons, and I can say that after reading Olympus I doubt I'll read anything of it's like again.

Not much is tied up by the end of Ilium, which is to be expected in a duology, and I look forward to continuing with the story when I pick up Olympus that I aim to read in 2024.

Ni fu ni fa xD, piolita más me gusta "El terror".

Un-put-downable!!!

Spectacular. I loved the interplay between the robots, the literary references, and the reimagining of the Iliad. The lynchpin of the story is why would the post humans do such a thing is an unresolved question, but perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the ocean of human weakness and the temptations of absolute evil.

78 pages…. That’s all I could handle. I will hold onto it and maybe go back to it later… maybe

2.75⭐️

Je crois que j'ai encore plus apprécié ce roman à la 2e lecture. Je gardais un souvenir confus de certains passages (ou certaines destinées), mais des impressions très nettes d'autres scènes, que j'ai revisitées avec plaisir.
A moi Olympos maintenant !

Was für ein Buch!

Simmons scheint einer der wenigen Autoren zu sein, die ihr eigenes Ding machen und das auf intelligente und gelungene Art.

Simmons verlangt den Lesern einiges ab!
Homer, Shakespeare und Proust spielen eine starke Rolle in diesem Sci-Fi Werk. Das könnte jetzt den ein oder anderen abschrecken, aber keine Sorge, selbst ich als ungebildeter und unwissender Mensch bezüglich dieser drei Größen der klassischen Literaur, kam mit Ilium gut klar.

Anfangs war es etwas schwer hinein zu kommen - die ersten 150 Seiten verstand ich kaum was - aber mit jedem Kapitel mehr wurde meine Neugier gesteigert, bzw erwachte mein Interesse. Drei Erzählstränge nutzt Simmons in diesem Sci-Fi Werk, durch die er "das Ilias von Shakespeare" auf ganz andere Art erzählt. Und das ist auch nicht ganz korrekt, denn, wenngleich das Ilias *keine ahnung ob das korrekt ist* hier neu erzählt wird, erzählt Simmons doch eine ganz eigene, spacige Variante davon. Der Kampf Trojas gegen die Griechen - wie du ihn noch nie gehört/gelesen hast.

Simmons erklärt dabei nichts und das sorgt dafür dass es eher ein Buch ist dass für Leser geeignet ist, die bereit und fähig dazu sind zu Denken und eigene Schlüsse zu ziehen. Es ist wie ein Puzzle und nach dem ersten Band habe ich nur kleine Teile zusammensetzen können. Aber es ist einfach geil!!!

Außerdem ist es definitiv kein Buch für Sci-Fi Neulinge. Ich bin froh dass ich mich in das Genre langsam hineingelesen und nun dieses Werk gelesen habe, denn es ist einfach...

Hochintelligente Unterhaltungsliteratur

Masterly far-future sci-fi epicness from Dan Simmons. Thousands of years into Earth's future the human population has stagnated into a contented form of indulgent immortality; no-one dies and no-one goes hungry, but also no-one really does anything more interesting than take part in the occasional sex party or get eaten by a cloned Allosaur. Meanwhile a present-day historian has been resurrected on Mars, apparently at the whim of the ancient Greek gods in order to act as observer to the siege of Troy, a legendary event that has somehow been transformed into gruesome historical reality. Into this heady mix come two highly evolved 'Morivek', sentient descendants of robotic probes to the outer planets of the solar system grown curious about the fate of their human progenitors. Simmons mixes Greek myth and Shakespeare into a complex and often demanding story that nevertheless rewards the reader's commitment. You may need to read it twice though.

Just like Hyperion you're thrown into the middle of complex plot with no point of reference. There's unfamiliar words, odd sounding places and the live battle of Troy being overseen by a 21st Century teacher. Having prior knowledge of said battle isn't really a requirement. My only insight was the underrated Brad Pitt film, which did me just fine. (yes, i said underrated. I loved it!)

It took around 300-350 pages until i finally started to get into this book. Up until then it just felt clunky and a bit of a hash job. I could see where the story was going i just thought it could have arrived there more smoothly but by the end i couldn't part company. I read the last 240 pages in one day, which i rarely do.

Will definitely read Olympos.

To jsou věci, jak to, že mi něco takového uniklo? Nechápu, jak je možné. že to čtu až teď. Tenhle mix space opery a trojské války je naprosto unikátní, je to skvělá zábava. A to není zdaleka jediná příběhová linka téhle tlusté 700 stránkové bichle. Kromě Achilla, Agamemnóna, Odyssea a krásné Heleny tu ještě máme například roboty/kyborgy snažící se zachránit svět, skomírající lidstvo a jeho potomky, záhadné mimozemšťany voynixe, a dokonce i malé zelené mužíčky a Shakespeara s Proustem.
Vypadá to jako pořádný mišmaš, ale nebojte, je to vážně dobře vyladěný koktejl, ze kterého vás hlava bolet nebude.

Re-read 2025: furt dobrý :)