Epic SF and Space Opera: Here's my giant list, what's missing?

**zakhrin** · April 12th, 2011, 04:42 AM

I would add :

Jack Vance - The Demon Princes Series:

The Star King
The Killing Machine
The Palace of Love
The Face
The Book of Dreams

Great read.

**psikeyhackr** · April 12th, 2011, 12:16 PM

I am working on Hyperion now.

I must admit it qualifies as EPIC.

psik

**Andols** · April 12th, 2011, 01:51 PM

i should give this thing an update.

on to robert j sawyer currently.

**psikeyhackr** · April 12th, 2011, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by Andols

i should give this thing an update.

on to robert j sawyer currently.

The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy should qualify as epic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintag...ension_Trilogy

http://www.sfwriter.com/scq1.htm

I don't know if the Neanderthal Parallax does.

psik

**nquixote** · April 13th, 2011, 01:42 AM

Originally Posted by psikeyhackr

I am working on Hyperion now.

I must admit it qualifies as EPIC.

psik

I would say that The Fall of Hyperion is the most epic sci-fi novel I have ever read. It makes A Fire Upon the Deep, Consider Phlebas, or even the Lensman Saga look like Aesop's fables.

**psikeyhackr** · April 13th, 2011, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by nquixote

Originally Posted by psikeyhackr

I am working on Hyperion now.

I must admit it qualifies as EPIC.

I would say that The Fall of Hyperion is the most epic sci-fi novel I have ever read. It makes A Fire Upon the Deep, Consider Phlebas, or even the Lensman Saga look like Aesop's fables.

–adjective Also, ep·i·cal.
1.
noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
2.
resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3.
heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4.
of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.

I said working on, I did not say reading.

I am listening to the audiobook. Last night I just listened to Dan Simmon's remake of my favorite scene from Shakespeare.

'Tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church door bit 'tis enough.

I have never read a review of Hyperion that mentioned that before. Just about everyone agrees that Hyperion is literary science fiction but it is not my kind of science fiction. If I was reading this I would have quit before 100 pages. But it does qualify as EPIC. But epic ain't necessarily good. It depends on what you want from science fiction.

psik

**Asimovking** · April 14th, 2011, 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by psikeyhackr

I said working on, I did not say reading.

I am listening to the audiobook. Last night I just listened to Dan Simmon's remake of my favorite scene from Shakespeare.

'Tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church door bit 'tis enough.

I have never read a review of Hyperion that mentioned that before. Just about everyone agrees that Hyperion is literary science fiction but it is not my kind of science fiction. If I was reading this I would have quit before 100 pages. But it does qualify as EPIC. But epic ain't necessarily good. It depends on what you want from science fiction.

psik

HYPERION AND FALL OF HYPERION ARE EPIC

I just finished them a few weeks ago and will move on to ENDYMION soon, just in case it sucks i havent bought its sequel yet, RISE OF ENDYMION. Definitely makes me excited to read Dan Simmons other books ILIUM and OLYMPOS, which are also supposed to be epic.

**nquixote** · April 14th, 2011, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by Asimovking

HYPERION AND FALL OF HYPERION ARE EPIC

I just finished them a few weeks ago and will move on to ENDYMION soon, just in case it sucks i havent bought its sequel yet, RISE OF ENDYMION. Definitely makes me excited to read Dan Simmons other books ILIUM and OLYMPOS, which are also supposed to be epic.

Warning: The Endymion books do suck. Simmons retcons a lot of the cool stuff from the first two books. (Sorry to all other members of the board who have heard me give this warning a trillion times...)

**psikeyhackr** · April 16th, 2011, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by psikeyhackr

I said working on, I did not say reading.

I am listening to the audiobook. Last night I just listened to Dan Simmon's remake of my favorite scene from Shakespeare.

'Tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church door bit 'tis enough.

I have never read a review of Hyperion that mentioned that before. Just about everyone agrees that Hyperion is literary science fiction but it is not my kind of science fiction. If I was reading this I would have quit before 100 pages. But it does qualify as EPIC. But epic ain't necessarily good. It depends on what you want from science fiction.

psik

OK, I have finished Hyperion.

This is one of those books that can really piss you off. I promised myself and a couple of other people I would finish this. It was really slow and boring in a lot of places but VERY LITERARY. But you get to the end and you're not in Kansas anymore. You have the stories of all of these pilgrims about their motives for risking their lives with the Shrike and they are just about at the end of their bloody brick road and the story ends.

Hyperion is nothing but an introduction and teaser for The Fall of Hyperion.

They are one BIG book split into two pieces.

psik

**nquixote** · April 16th, 2011, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by psikeyhackr

Hyperion is nothing but an introduction and teaser for The Fall of Hyperion.

They are one BIG book split into two pieces.

Yup.

Which is why I can't understand the people who say "Stop after the first book."

**afireinside30x** · April 16th, 2011, 02:06 AM

Originally Posted by Asimovking

HYPERION AND FALL OF HYPERION ARE EPIC

I just finished them a few weeks ago and will move on to ENDYMION soon, just in case it sucks i havent bought its sequel yet, RISE OF ENDYMION. Definitely makes me excited to read Dan Simmons other books ILIUM and OLYMPOS, which are also supposed to be epic.

A lot of people will tell you differently, but I think Endymion was just as amazing as Hyperion, but in a very different way. When you finish them, you'll have to let us know what you thought.

I haven't read Olympos yet, but Ilium was freaking amazing. Epic in every sense of the word. As a matter of fact, it's hard to say which I liked better between the Hyperion books and Ilium.

**Asimovking** · April 16th, 2011, 02:29 AM

Originally Posted by afireinside30x

A lot of people will tell you differently, but I think Endymion was just as amazing as Hyperion, but in a very different way. When you finish them, you'll have to let us know what you thought.

I haven't read Olympos yet, but Ilium was freaking amazing. Epic in every sense of the word. As a matter of fact, it's hard to say which I liked better between the Hyperion books and Ilium.

I will definitely let you all know what i think of Endymion. Im doing the same with it that i did with books that begin a series (The Reality Dysfunction, Mutineer's Moon, Hidden Empire and several that i havent started yet) which is i only get the first book to test and the series and then go from there. Im glad i did this since that hack kevin j anderson only got me for 1 book! ( I was so psyched from reading the synopsis of the series i almost bought the first 3 books to start)

And that definitely makes me want to read Ilium and Olympos

**afireinside30x** · April 16th, 2011, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by Asimovking

I will definitely let you all know what i think of Endymion. Im doing the same with it that i did with books that begin a series (The Reality Dysfunction, Mutineer's Moon, Hidden Empire and several that i havent started yet) which is i only get the first book to test and the series and then go from there. Im glad i did this since that hack kevin j anderson only got me for 1 book! ( I was so psyched from reading the synopsis of the series i almost bought the first 3 books to start)

And that definitely makes me want to read Ilium and Olympos

Alrighty, then. Hurry up and finish! I'm curious about your thoughts.

Yeah, if you liked Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, you'll like Ilium. It's the same hard science fiction, but set (mostly) in ancient Greece. Zues, Achilles, an Allosaurus, far-future Earth, robots from Jupiter...doesn't it sound amazing?!

**psikeyhackr** · April 17th, 2011, 03:17 PM

Prepare to meet the Wizard, Dan Simmons

http://www.lunch.com/Reviews/d/Hyper...s-1483540.html

Yeah, if you liked Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, you'll like Ilium. It's the same hard science fiction, but set (mostly) in ancient Greece.

I have just started Fall of Hyperion after finishing Hyperion but it is definitely NOT Hard Science Fiction.

The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. Set in the far future, and focusing more on plot and story development than technical detail, it falls into the soft science fiction category, and has been described as a space opera. The title was originally used for the collection of the first pair of books in the series, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, and later came to refer to the overall storyline, including Endymion, The Rise of Endymion, and a number of short stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos

psik