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Ilium
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| Author: |
Dan Simmons |
| Publisher: |
Eos, 2003 |
| Series: | The Ilium/Olympos Duology: Book 1 |
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1. Ilium |
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| Awards: |
2004 Locus SF Winner 2004 Hugo Nominated |
| Lists: | |
| Sub-Genre Tags: | Mythic Fiction (SF) Artificial Intelligence Nanotechnology |
| Member Rating: |
   (33 reads / 25 ratings)
|
Synopsis
From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing -- and often influencing -- the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy.
Thomas Hockenberry, former twenty-first-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead. But the muse he serves has a new assignment for the wary scholic, one dictated by Aphrodite herself. With the help of fortieth-century technology, Hockenberry is to infiltrate Olympos, spy on its divine inhabitants ... and ultimately destroy Aphrodite's sister and rival, the goddess Pallas Athena.
On an Earth profoundly changed since the departure of the Post-Humans centuries earlier, the great events on the bloody plains of Ilium serve as mere entertainment. Its scenes of unrivaled heroics and unequaled carnage add excitement to human lives devoid of courage, strife, labor, and purpose. But this eloi-like existence is not enough for Harman, a man in the last year of his last Twenty. That rarest of post-postmodern men -- an "adventurer" -- he intends to explore far beyond the boundaries of his world before his allotted time expires, in search of a lost past, a devastating truth, and an escape from his own inevitable "final fax." Meanwhile, from the radiation-swept reaches of Jovian space, four sentient machines race to investigate -- and, perhaps, terminate -- the potentially catastrophic emissions of unexplained quantum-flux emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of Mars ...
The first book in a remarkable two-part epic to be concluded in the upcoming Olympos, Dan Simmons's Ilium is a breathtaking adventure, enormous in scope and imagination, sweeping across time and space to connect three seemingly disparate stories in fresh, thrilling, and totally unexpected ways. A truly masterful work of speculative fiction, it is quite possibly Simmons's finest achievement to date in an already storied literary career.
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Ilium in Blogs
- Bookworm Blues: Ilium - Dan Simmons
Ilium - Dan Simmons. From Publishers Weekly: Many centuries in the future, Earth's small, more or less human population lives an enjoyable, if drone-like existence. Elsewhere, on some alternate Earth, or perhaps it's the distant past, ... - When Good Authors Write Bad Books - A Song of Ice and Fire
-Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons -Everything since the Fool Trilogy by Robin Hobb -Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman -Dracula Unbound by Brian Aldiss -Last of The Amazons by Steven Pressfield. Back to top of the page up there ^ ... - Dan Simmons' ILIUM
After a couple of years and several recommendations, I finally read Dan Simmon's Ilium. I've been a Homer aficionado for most of my life (thanks, Mrs. Farmer!), and an “expert” ever since I took my first class in graduate school on epic ... - Ilium
Genre-hopping Dan Simmons returns to science fiction with the vast and intricate masterpiece Ilium. Within, Simmons weaves three astounding story lines into one Earth-, Mars-, and Jupiter-shattering cliffhanger that will leave readers ... - Ilium by Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons (and I admit I'm much more familiar with his thrillers and horror than his SF as of this writing) exercises literally no restraints on his imagination; there are enough ideas here for a whole slew of novels. ... - ILIUM / OLYMPOS
If you love the works of Shakespeare (particularly The Tempest), Homer, Marcel Proust and science fiction in general, then there is a possibility you'll love Dan Simmons' ILIUM, the first in a two-part science fiction series where ... - Review: "Ilium" by Dan Simmons; Ice Cream
The intelligent opening to Dan Simmons' Ilium, an "elegant monster of an epic" (PW) that is literary sci-fi at its... almost best. You'll probably find nothing but praise for this work, and I agree, it's something that should be read, ... - Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / Better to ...
As another contrasting opinion I really loved Ilium, which was my introduction to Dan Simmons' work, I thought Olympos was just okay, and I found Hyperion not very interesting. Never read any others. Thinking back, this probably had ... - Olympos by Dan Simmons
If Ilium left you wondering whether it were possible for Dan Simmons to make this gargantuan far-future saga of crosstime war and posthuman hubris any bigger, any stranger, and any more spectacular — with Olympos you have your answer. ... - Ilium
Ilium by Dan Simmons. Author: Dan Simmons ISBN: 9780380817924 DDC: The first in the Ilium/Olympus duology. Author site ; Ilium sectionof the Ilium/Olympus wiki. Rage. Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles, of Peleus' son, murderous, ...
