Endymion (Dan Simmons), Hyperion Cantos book 3




For anyone who has NOT read the first two books of the Hyperion “Cantos”, self referencing Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, STOP HERE.
It’s not that i will give spoilers here, instead that you are doing yourself an injustice by continuing. Go pick up the first book and read it. This is one of those thought changing sci-fi series.
you will start thinking about its congruence with reality: start seeing the tech it describes in modern life (albeit in nearly unrecognizable forms). you will scan the news and see articles that will remind you of the story. Some people start spreading the viral thought of tattoos… thanks a lot Mongo..
For the genre, it has a lack of balance, spanning horror, sci-fi, fantasy, tech, erotica, and religious theory. This lack of balance makes it ACCESSIBLE, something nearly all sci-fi authors wish for. They want the ability to reach more than the core crowd of fan boys/girls and aficionados. Simmons does this with a silver tongue.
The remainder of this will not make sense to the n00b reader.
Endymion takes place nearly 300 years after The Fall.
The Shrike pilgrims of the first two novels are the stuff of legends, the legacy they left behind equally so. The newly formed PAX, a militaristic extension of the rekindled Catholic church, has taken up the reins of the galaxy. The Ousters are fighting for ground (or space as it were). The Farcaster network is dead, remnants of the highest pinnacle of human existence.
As with the original half of the series, this story is also told in a retrospective form. While circling a planet in a egg shaped prison cell, Endymion is logging his tale into a journal. No room for movement, any moment death could take him as his own breathing may be misconstrued as an “escape attempt” filling his 6 meter by 3 meter prison with cyanide.
Endymion, named after the Hyperion city of his ancestors, is given a list of achievements he must complete. Beginning with the nigh impossible collection of Brawn Lamia’s (as of yet unknown to us readers) daughter. Her 14 year old (yes, i did say 300 years later) daughter is referenced in The Fall by the second Keats cybrid as the “One who Teaches”. Endymion must endgame this (long and not written out here) laundry list of tasks with the saving of humanity by assisting this child, half human,the other half human with an essence of AI soul (do Artificial Intelligence's have souls?).
Like anything in a Dan Simmons book is ever that easy :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview: Q&A with Khaled Talib, 'Gun Kiss' author

Image
I recently had the opportunity to interview Crime/Thriller author Khaled Talib. He allowed me a few minutes of his time to pick his brain about both his upcoming Thriller Gun Kiss as well as to ask him about the writing and publishing process in general. I was pleased to get some insight into his upcoming novel and dig deeper into what makes Khaled tick. We also learned about some launch week giveaways and events that will be happening, so scroll to the end for details on how to participate and enter contest The launch window leading up to a book release is crunch time for many last minute details. I am grateful for the late night responses it likely took in order to answer my questions! Slated for release on 12/01/2017 Synopsis of Gun Kiss : When the Deringer pistol that shot Abraham Lincoln is stolen and ends up in the hands of a Russian military general, covert agent Blake Deco is tasked by the FBI to head to the Balkans to recover the historical weapon. Meanwhile, the ...
Read more

Death Plays Poker (Robin Spano)

Image
This is the second novel in the Clare Vengel Undercover series. This time around, Robin Spano puts Clare in another unusual environment, a world class poker circuit/tournament where players are being choked to death.? The Royal Canadian Mounties (RCMP) have pulled her in to attempt breaking the case. She is minimally experienced, and desperate to prove herself as a proficient undercover agent. The problem is that Clare Vengel, disguised as Tiffany, the pink clothed high heel wearing trust fund kid, doesn’t know a damn thing about poker. She has studied a couple books, and knows some limited basics, and lucks out on a couple big hands. She is by no means a poker savant, she can not count cards, and even a blind man could read her tells. This is kind of the same way she approaches undercover work in general. She has a good idea what she should be doing, but cant seem to do more than luck into things. I have become a big fan of Clare Vengel. When reading the first novel (Dead Politician S...
Read more

Plague Town (Dana Fredsti)

Image
EDIT 05/23/12:  It has come to my attention that I failed to note this book was well written. I would like to be clear that the author is descriptive and has no trouble putting sentences together. It was only my opinion of the the plot content that I had trouble with as outlined below, and as stated, each person should make their own decision. ~~ I hate giving bad reviews but it happens. My tolerance levels are pretty high for trash fiction. When I begin reading a book, I work hard to ensure instances when I am unable to finish it are as rare as possible. I reserve the right to stop and remove myself from a bad novel, but keep this right minimally acted upon. This novel is part of the fairly exclusive club called “Books I couldn’t reasonably spend more time on” also referred to as “I can never get those minutes of my life back”.. I made it eighty-three pages and just had to stop. It could get better later but I will never know. Dana Fredsti’s novel Plague Town is just ano...
Read more