Endymion

Šī grāmatiņa ir Hyperion cikla trešā grāmata. Darbība norisinās 274 gadus pēc Hyperion aprakstītajiem notikumiem. Galvenais varonis Raul Endymion nodarbojas ar medību organizēšanu uz planētas Hyperion. Pasaule pēc hipertelpas portālu krišanas ir mainījusies, Hegemonijas vietā ir nācis Ordenis jeb nākotnes Romas katoļu baznīcas tiešie pēcnācēji. Spēkus Ordenim dod krustaforma (Cruciform), kas ļauj jebkuram īsteni ticīgajam augšāmcelties pēc nāves burtiskā nozīmē. Galvenajam varonim sanāk saķerties ar kādu no jaunajiem ticīgajiem un, apstākļu vadīts, viņš nonāk situācijā, kad viņam jākļūst par jaunās mesijas vārdā Aenea pavadoni.

Grāmata sarakstīta vēstījuma formā, galvenais vēstītājs ir pats Raul Endymion (uzvārds starp citu grieķu mitoloģijā sakrīt ar kāda aitu gana vārdu, arī grāmatas varonis bērnībā bija gājis ganos), kurš kā tāds Jēzus māceklis stāsta par savu dzīvi kopā ar mesiju. Tomēr, atšķirībā no evaņģēlijiem, šī grāmata mums atklāj jaunizcepto mesiju kā cilvēku nevis kā Dieva sūtni. Patiesībā jau arī nav nemaz skaidrs, ko tad īsti Aenea pārstāv. Un lai grāmatai būtu arī filozofiskāka noskaņa, daudz un dikti tiek spriests par mīlestības būtību.

Šī grāmata man šķita vairāk kā kosmiskā opera. Ir liels ceļojums cauri visai galaktikai, viens cilvēks tiek nostādīts pret Galaktisko Impēriju, arī impērija šajā cilvēkā saskata ienaidnieku un mobilizē visus resursus viņa iznīcināšanā. Šis cilvēks ir meitene vārdā Aenea, kas ir kibrīda un cilvēka hibrīds. Viņai sevī nes vecās kārtības iznīcību. Tad nu šādā sliktie pret labajiem dekorācijā noris visa grāmatas darbība. Darbība mums tiek parādīta gan no labo puses, gan no ļauno Ordeņa vajātāju puses. Kā jau labā kosmiskā operā pienākas pat ļaunie (šajā gadījumā Tēvs de Soya) sāk apsvērt savu rīcības pamatotību un nosveras labo pusē. Lai arī sižets šķiet visai banāls, un varētu pat teikt nekas oriģināls, tomēr spilgtie personāži to atdzīvina un padara interesantu.

Lieku 9 no 10 ballēm. Iesaku lasīt visiem.

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!

I've really enjoyed this novel. I have no reservations in awarding it five stars. I can't find anything to criticise about the book. It's really well written, has excellent characters, has an excellent plot which is intricate and has exciting twists and turns. The Hyperion Cantos universe created by Dan Simmons is a place I never want to leave when I'm there. Reading these wonderful amazing books make me feel like I'm actually there which only the best fiction can do. For me, these books are absolutely unforgettable, the scope and imagination is staggering. The characters are three dimensional, they live and breathe within the novel.
I'll end by saying this, WOW!

Cóż, dla mnie zdecydowanie słabsze niż obie książki Hyperiona. Za to dalej rozbudowanie świata jest ciekawe.

Pretty big letdown after the first 2 books in this series. This book had none of the tension, mystery or brilliant world-building of the first one and none of the complex military and political shenanigans of the second. The first half to 2/3 of this book was especially slow and although it picked up a bit towards the end still wasn't enough to redeem it. Hoping that the fourth book picks the series up again in a big way.

The start of this book was really frustrating and slow with lots of bad stuff being piled on the protagonist (in fact it reminded a bit of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ngYA... ) who I didn't really care about. His reactions to such terrible and unexpected events seemed underwhelming. Having read the Riyria prequels just before starting this I had been hoping for some Royce style fucking people up on a revenge mission but he pretty much completely forgot about the whole thing. This was a recurring them with the central characters of this book: They just didn't capture my interest or even sympathy. Aenea was a typical precocious 12 year old, Bettik boring as fuck and De Soya was equally dull and his complete devotion to the obviously shady Catholic Church was really frustrating.

The secondary characters were quite a bit better fortunately. This would have been a much better read if they had been more prominent. Silenus from the first books returned and was as foul-mouthed and ridiculous as ever. Cardinal Lourdusamy was a menacing presence when he appeared. Father Glaucus was a warm and sympathetic and the swole tunnel-dwelling midgets (you read that right) had a really intriguing and unique culture established.

Which brings me to world-building. I had really been looking forward to the world in this one. The world-building in the first 2 was among the most vivid and unique I've read and I was really looking forward to seeing how the events of the second book would effect the inter-planetary society that humanity had built.  I expected a cool Dark Ages type of set up with pockets of civilization struggling to survive after being isolated by the downfall of the farcasters, instead the rise of the Pax had pretty much restored society to what it was in the first 2 books  The only main addition was the Cruciforms from the first books becoming a key part of society. While I found this really creepy I was interested to see how the impact on a society of people being granted immortality would be shown. Surely birth-rates would sore to unmanageable levels? And there would be power struggles between people who had been in power for 200 years and the younger generations. But none of this was really shown.

Overall this was a pretty mediocre read, especially given the high bar established by the first 2 books. Hoping the standard will be picked up again for the series' conclusion.

Finally took the plunge on Dan Simmons' third book in the series that started with "Hyperion." I was very afraid, having endured some brain freeze and head-scratching over some of the plot points in "Fall of Hyperion," but I'm glad I finally -- more than two years later -- dove into "Endymion." I was led to believe -- and some reviews here stubbornly assert this -- that the second pair of books are only vaguely related to the first two. I found that to be absolutely not the case. Sure, a few hundred years have elapsed, but "Endymion" and "Rise of Endymion" (I'm well into that one) build directly off what happened in the first two. In fact, many of mysteries of the first two that I sweated over are in fact explained (or, well, pretty much!) in the final two books.

I enjoyed "Endymion" immensely in part because the astonishing intricacies of "Fall of Hyperion" are lacking here, replaced by a more straightforward chase through farcaster portals/new worlds as condemned-to-die Raul Endymion and soon-to-be (apparently) messiah Aenea try to find Old Earth as incredibly sinister forces lust for their capture/death.

Don't get me wrong; Simmons' universe is still unbelievably intricate, but the straight adventure -- through a water world, ice world, you name it -- saves the day. I'd strongly advise reading all four books straight through and, well, frankly, taking notes. Or just plow on through the parts you don't understand; there are enough payoffs to make the journey worthwhile.

"If there is a God, I thought, it’s a painkiller."
- Dan Simmons, Endymion

Enjoyed it, just not as much as Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. This is the equivalent of the Return of the Jedi for me. Still buzzing from the first two, but not as good as the first two either. There are certain parts I enjoyed and somethings that just seemed a bit overdone. I'll review more later.

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are two books fans of science fiction literature should not miss. They are exciting, mind blowing, beautiful, lyrical and thought provoking. The first volume Hyperion is often ranked as one of the top ten greatest sci-fi books ever. That said, I read The Fall of Hyperion in November 2012 and only got around to reading Endymion almost two years later. I am too easily influenced by reviews or readers’ comments, and while Endymion tend to be more positively reviewed than negative it is clearly much less popular than the first two books of the Hyperion Cantos. I remember someone said that Endymion is like a bad fanfic of Hyperion (it is not) and that was very off-putting. Still, I never did remove it from my TBR and eventually I am in the mood for it and here we are. (I know, “who cares?” right? But I have to start the review somehow, and rambling is usually my launch pad of choice).

Endymion is set more than 200 years after the event of The Fall of Hyperion. By then the Cantos, written by the foulmouthed poet Martin Silenus, has already become the stuff of legend, and an infamous banned book. The book begins with a frame story of the semi-eponymous Raul Endymion writing from some kind of high tech solitary satellite prison. While he is awaiting his imminent demise by cyanide poisoning he is spending his last days regaling us lucky readers with the story of his adventures with a girl called Aenea who will one day become a messiah of some kind. Aenea is the daughter of the wonderful Brawne Lamia, the female detective from the first two volumes of the series and the John Keats “cybrid” (artificial human). The book basically concerns Aenea’s journey with Endymion and an android named A.Bettik via a series of farcasters (teleportation portals). There is also a parallel plot strand of a group of military agents hunting them down. Much adventure ensues.

Unlike the first two volumes of the Cantos, this book is fairly straightforward in structure and narrative style. It is basically a chase from beginning to end. I can understand why some people find it disappointing after having read the previous two books (the classic Hyperion especially). The tone is very different, less poetic and lyrical, the profundity is not there. One of the most remarkable things about the first Hyperion book is that Dan Simmons did a kind of virtuoso performance by writing in several different styles of sci-fi subgenres and other genres, including space opera, hard sf, soft sf, military sf, cyberpunk, hard-boiled crime fiction, and even literary fiction. The different narrative styles also combine beautifully into an excellent and cohesive story. Endymion is not so ambitious, the prose style in this book is much more utilitarian, apart from the odd snippets of poetry here and there; it is of course very well written, one thing you can count on from Simmons. Personally, I am fine with Endymion’s less literary style, as it means the author is not repeating himself.

The world building and sci-fi tech of Endymion is as great as the previous books. My personal favorite is the “archangel ships” which have faster than light capability but at a slight drawback of violently killing all the occupants of the ship who are later automatically resurrected in crèches with the aid of the Cruciform parasite (from the first Hyperion novel) in tandem with some mysterious technology. Unfortunately, for the humans farcasters are all disabled by the TechnoCore (a sort of AI overlords) so if you want FTL travel you would have to accept being flattened and squished into a paste then resurrected later (and also have a horrid parasite permanently attached to your chest).

Characterization is quite strong, again an expectation I have of Simmons’ books; though the characters here are not as colorful as those the from the previous Hyperion volumes. All the central characters here are believable and sympathetic and the dialogue rings true, with the occasional bits of humour. My favorite character being “A. Bettik”, an android who is humble, loyal, brave, and unfailingly polite of course. Even though an android is not a robot A. Bettik reminds me of Asimov's R. Daneel Olivaw from The Naked Sun and several other of his classic robot novels.

The plot and pacing are very good on the whole, though the chapters from the military agent Captain de Soya’s point of view tend to drag a little. The thrilling climax toward the end of the book is monumentally kickass, though; edge of the seat stuff featuring The Shrike who is as “sharp” as ever and an adversary who is worthy of going toe to toe with him.

The final volume of the Cantos The Rise of Endymion is generally very highly rated. Can’t wait.

4.5 stars (half a star knocked off for a few dull chapters).