[Asimovking]

Just finished Rise Of Endymion, the final book of his Hyperion Cantos. This guy is an AMAZING author.

[nquixote]

Just finished Rise Of Endymion, the final book of his Hyperion Cantos. This guy is an AMAZING author.

Yup, he's pretty awesome.

[afireinside30x]

I agree. I haven't read The Rise of Endymion yet because I'm wanting to do a read-through of the previous three before I do, but I can't wait to get to it.

Also, he has a dystopian sci fi book coming out July 1st called "Flashback" that I'm very much looking forward to.

Have you thought about reading Ilium and Olympos? If you liked the Hyperion novels, you'll like them too. They're just as brilliant. Dan Simmons rocks.

[Asimovking]

Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are amazing by themselves. Then he goes and writes Endymion and Rise of Endymion and those start out rather lame but end up being amazing books themselves.

I agree. I haven't read The Rise of Endymion yet because I'm wanting to do a read-through of the previous three before I do, but I can't wait to get to it.

Also, he has a dystopian sci fi book coming out July 1st called "Flashback" that I'm very much looking forward to.

Have you thought about reading Ilium and Olympos? If you liked the Hyperion novels, you'll like them too. They're just as brilliant. Dan Simmons rocks.

Yes, Ilium and Olympos will be the next books of his that I read. Unfortunately I have a TBR pile of 14 books that I am making myself read before I order any new books. So it will be 2 or 3 months before I order them.

[Westsiyeed]

The first Dan Simmons book I read was Hyperion and afterwards I would have though he is "God". Subsequent books in the Hyperion Cantos were also great but reduced his godly status.

I've also read Carrion Comfort which was quite good but a bit bloated, and The Terror which I couldn't get into at all.

So for me he seems a bit hit and miss, and has a tendency to write long, sprawling books that could be edited down. But I'm still keen to check out others of his and have heard Ilium is very good, and am looking forward to Flashback.

[PogiRunner]

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are indeed amazing!

I did not enjoy Endymion as much and believe not much happened throughout the entire novel. However, I loved The Rise of Endymion and despite some retcons as compared to the first two books, overall this one of my favorite series.

I just finished Olympos last night.

I love the writing style of Simmons and he is amazing at interweaving thought provoking ideas into his novels.

Except for about the last quarter of Olympos I really enjoyed the Ilium/Olympos duology.

I was very unsatisfied with events leading to the climax and the climax itself. I felt cheated comparing the quality of writing here to Ilium and most of Olympos. The ending felt very rushed and bolted on. Several characters took actions and made decisions completely unbelievable based on their prior development. Quite a few major plot lines remained unresolved and a mystery at the conclusion.

Granted, Olympos is a large book. However, I believe a trilogy would have been a better way to finish the series. I would rather read three excellent large books with a fascinating ending as compared to a duology with a terrible ending.

At times I believe Simmons is brilliant. His books are creative, unique, and different from the norm which I very much appreciate. Nevertheless, I believe his works also have some not so good moments and do not consider him to be 'God'.

The next Simmons book I plan to read is The Terror.

[nquixote]

Yeah, I definitely thought the Endymion books did not nearly rise to the standard of the Hyperion books, in terms of characters or of the sci-fi ideas. But had they been written by anyone but Simmons, I'd have thought they were great! ;)

[psikeyhackr]

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are indeed amazing!

I love the writing style of Simmons and he is amazing at interweaving thought provoking ideas into his novels.

So what are the thought provoking ideas? What is their application to reality?

psik

[Asimovking]

The first Dan Simmons book I read was Hyperion and afterwards I would have though he is "God". Subsequent books in the Hyperion Cantos were also great but reduced his godly status.

I've also read Carrion Comfort which was quite good but a bit bloated, and The Terror which I couldn't get into at all.

So for me he seems a bit hit and miss, and has a tendency to write long, sprawling books that could be edited down. But I'm still keen to check out others of his and have heard Ilium is very good, and am looking forward to Flashback.

I agree that they can be edited down. Endymion and Rise of Endymion could have been edited to one 700 page book.

Hyperion was the best book. Endymion was the worst. Fall of Hyperion was really good. And Rise of Endymion was ok but had an EPIC ending.

So what are the thought provoking ideas? What is their application to reality?

psik

And that's the problem. Fiction has to apply to reality for you to enjoy it. To each their own but still, there are alot of amazing ideas in Simmons Hyperion Cantos.

[psikeyhackr]

And that's the problem. Fiction has to apply to reality for you to enjoy it. To each their own but still, there are alot of amazing ideas in Simmons Hyperion Cantos.

No, you just choose to exaggerate what I am saying.

It can be enjoyable and not have an application to reality. But works that are enjoyable AND HAVE AN APPLICATION TO REALITY are superior and require another dimension on the part of the writer.

In Hyperion we are told the Earth is destroyed. That is no big deal as science fiction. But then in The Fall of Hyperion we are told the entire planet was teleported and humanity was tricked and yet everyone knew the "destruction" was coming and there must have been thousands of instruments observing this event but no one figured it out.

RIDICULOUS!

It is a matter of where a reader draws the line regarding the absurd and it is fantasy not science fiction.

A science fiction story is a story built around human beings, with a human problem and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its SCIENTIFIC CONTENT. Theodore Sturgeon

What is there to think about from Hyperion after you have finished it, rather than just enjoying it when you read it?

psik