The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #4)

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The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos #4)

4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 · rating details · 13,229 ratings · 393 reviews

The magnificent conclusion to one of the greatest science fiction sagas of our time

The time of reckoning has arrived. As a final genocidal Crusade threatens to enslave humanity forever, a new messiah has come of age. She is Aenea and she has undergone a strange apprenticeship to those known as the Others. Now her protector, Raul Endymion, one-time shepherd and convicted mu...more

Mass Market Paperback, 709 pages

Published July 1st 1998 by Spectra (first published 1997)

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Jan 22, 2012 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, space, time-travel, sci-fi, sky-cake

I survived!

As I’ve reported in my previous reviews of this series there were times where it seemed as if my gray matter was going to be permanently fried by this epic sci-fi story. I finally got through to the end with most of my marbles still in the bag they came in.

It’s almost impossible to give a summary of this without spoiling the previous book so I’ll just say that Aenea and Raul Endymion continue their interstellar journey to fulfill her ultimate destiny as the powerful forces of a corrup...more I survived!

As I’ve reported in my previous reviews of this series there were times where it seemed as if my gray matter was going to be permanently fried by this epic sci-fi story. I finally got through to the end with most of my marbles still in the bag they came in.

It’s almost impossible to give a summary of this without spoiling the previous book so I’ll just say that Aenea and Raul Endymion continue their interstellar journey to fulfill her ultimate destiny as the powerful forces of a corrupted Catholic Church and the artificial intelligences of the TechnoCore try to stop them by increasingly desperate means. Oh, and the mysterious and deadly time-traveling Shrike continues to pop up.

This isn’t just your standard sci-fi space opera about a chosen one saving the galaxy from the Death Star. What Simmons has done here is create a tale that spans time and space in which even Jesus was a player and the ultimate stakes are the fate of evolution of life in the entire universe. As with the other books, he’s done an incredible job of building multiple stories and fusing them all together into a rich and diverse whole. Any one of his concepts could have been the basis for an entire book or series like a planet where the cities have been built high onto the tops of mountain peaks due an acidic ocean at lower altitudes. That’s just one stop along the way for Aenea and Raul.

So how did I live through it? Dan Simmons finally revealed himself to be human and somewhat fallible here in the last book. Don’t get me wrong. It’s still an excellent series and one of the most ambitious sci-fi stories I’ve read. But there were a few things that irked me in this one that took it down from five stars to four and that probably kept my brain pan from overheating.

First is that Simmons goes back and alters some of what we’re previously told in the earlier books. I’m not sure if he originally planned to end it after two books but carried it to four and had to do some changing to fit an ending he came up with later, or if he just discarded some ideas late in the game, but I didn’t like that what we thought happened in the first two books turned out to be untrue. Simmons didn’t commit any crimes against his fans on a George Lucas scale, but it bothered me, particularly the revisions to the Shrike’s origin and ultimate fate.

I also don’t think that Simmons knew when to turn off the creative mode and shift into resolution mode. He kept adding elaborate new settings and characters and events right up until the end game, and it started reminding me of how Lost just kept piling new characters and mysteries into its final season and didn’t do nearly enough wrapping up. Simmons still managed to provide a mostly satisfy ending, but when he added yet another mind blowing new setting in the last quarter of the book, I found myself getting a little impatient.

Still, these are minor quibbles about a sci-fi story that swung for the fences and managed to deliver on almost all of it’s potential.(less)

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May 08, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf, 2011

After four years on Old Earth, Raul Endymion resumes the voyage on the river Tethys to find the Consul's ship. Meanwhile, Aenea leaves Old Earth behind to find her destiny. In addition to hunting for the One Who Teaches, The Pax launches a Crusade to wipe out the Ouster menace once and for all. Will Aenea fulfill her destiny and end the Pax's reign once and for all?

I have to admit, I was skeptical for the first half of this book. It wasn't urination-inducing good like the first two and I actuall...more

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Dec 20, 2011 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This book could have been half the length and I would have been thrilled.

Too much philosophizing. Too much useless description, too much exposition of the "science" behind why the characters were able to do what they did. The plot "twist," if it was meant to be one, was pretty damned obvious immediately.

Again, de Soya was much more compelling than any of the major characters, and he's relegated to an even less important role in this book. SO DISAPPOINTING. He may be one of my favorite characters...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Rowena rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: unbelievablereads, worthy-of-re-reads

This is the last book of Simmons' Hyperion Cantos and arguably, the most moving. Raul, Aenea and A. Bettik have settled on Old Earth for the last four years but young Aenea knows it is time to leave and they must part ways. Raul is sent on a mission to retrieve the Consul's old spaceship (probably one of my favorite "characters" in the entire series) and Aenea and A. Bettik journey on so that the girl can spread her wisdom, so to speak, and to continue constructing her architectural wonders on a...more

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Dec 02, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I put off reading Endymion/Rise of for a long time (like several years) because a lot of people I knew seemed not to think much of them and I already wasn't quite as impressed with Fall of Hyperion as the Chaucerian original. If anything the events in this book are a huge payoff for what I remember as the sort of abstract and confusing bits of Fall of... and in a way having that huge time span in my own reading parallels nicely the elegant way in which Simmons manages this incredibly densely plo...more

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Jun 18, 2013 Otis Chandler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi, time-travel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 26, 2010 Radu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, cluj

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 05, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

12/8/04 - 6/10

Series: 12/8/04 - 6/10
The Hyperion Cantos started off very promising. The first book is like a sci-fi version of The Canterbury Tales, with detailed personal looks at each individual character, each with different tones. Some of the stories were better than others, but all were good - the Sol Weintraub / Rachel story in particular was very haunting. The story is a creative look at 700 years in the future with very detailed worlds and cultures, mostly touched on in passing in the ch...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you trudged through the first three novels in the Hyperion series, Rise of Endymion offers a beautifully crafted and satisfying conclusion. Just about all of the plot threads are finally woven together, major questions answered, and characters' stories wrapped up in a hopeful, but utterly bittersweet package.
This one is quite a page turner and the action is kept tight and consistent throughout the narrative, with the great majority of chapters focused on the development of Endymion and Anea's...more

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Jun 18, 2013 D.L. rated it 3 of 5 stars

A friend turned me on to the Hyperion novels by Dan Simmons and, as a result, I naturally wanted to read both Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. While Endymion was a great read, it did not quite live up the two Hyperion novels that came before it. Even so, Endymion engaging enough that I couldn't wait to read the next one. And so this brings me to my three star rating for The Rise of Endymion.

Dan Simmons can write. There is no doubt about that. But The Rise of Endymion did not seem to be Dan Sim...more A friend turned me on to the Hyperion novels by Dan Simmons and, as a result, I naturally wanted to read both Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. While Endymion was a great read, it did not quite live up the two Hyperion novels that came before it. Even so, Endymion engaging enough that I couldn't wait to read the next one. And so this brings me to my three star rating for The Rise of Endymion.

Dan Simmons can write. There is no doubt about that. But The Rise of Endymion did not seem to be Dan Simmons at his best. Frankly, there were times that I was bored with the book and other times where I just wanted to complete it so that all the story arcs (including those from the first two Hyperion books) could be closed. As I read this one I kept saying to myself, "It is time for this series to end!" And you should never really want to say that. A good book should so grip you that you don't want it to end, that you want the characters to keep on living, keep on going on adventures, so that you, as the reader, can keep on enjoying them. Not so here. I was done and had wished that Mr. Simmons had drawn it all to a close much earlier.

One issue I had with the novel is that the author kept introducing character after character, providing names and, in many cases, some background. And yet many of these characters played no real part in the story. We already knew that the 'messiah' figure in the story was gathering 'disciples' to send out. We were told how they were going to affect the planets that humans lived on. I really didn't need to know the myriad names of these disciples.

The first Endymion book was a lot of fun because of the world hopping that the characters did and, as a result, the adventures they found themselves in. The Rise of Endymion got bogged down on one planet for ages, it seemed. I felt trapped there. I wanted to move on. I felt like I was getting indoctrinated in to Zen Buddhism and I'd had enough. The huge story arc taking place on this particular planet served little purpose and took up so many pages of this novel.

This may seem like a negative review, but I did give Rise of Endymion three stars. The writing is good and consistent with the other books in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos. Mr. Simmons does a good job of tying up loose ends and story arcs. And you do need to read this book to know what everything is all about.

Not a bad book. Just a little lost feeling at times. And, despite it's flaws, worth the read to understand the entirety of the Hyperion Cantos.(less)

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Jun 01, 2013 Nilesh rated it 4 of 5 stars

The explanations provided in Hyperion go a long way in completing a fascinating tale and that overrides all other flaws of the book.

Dan Simmons had in a way left a lot of things unexplained at the end of the second Hyperion - perhaps the intended original tale-length. The added complication in the last two books is often contrived and irrational. Yet, one only realizes while reading the last book how much was unresolved in Hyperion and how the entire story makes more sense because of the explana...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Smcleish rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally published on my blog here in October 2003.

Centuries after the events chronicled in Hyperion, the novel which began the series of which The Rise of Endymion is the fourth, human culture in the galaxy has changed dramatically, apparently returning to an archaic form. Through its monopoly of the cruciform, a parasitic, cross shaped piece of nanotechnology which makes it possible to reconstruct a person's personality and memory in a new body after death, the Catholic church has become the...more Originally published on my blog here in October 2003.

Centuries after the events chronicled in Hyperion, the novel which began the series of which The Rise of Endymion is the fourth, human culture in the galaxy has changed dramatically, apparently returning to an archaic form. Through its monopoly of the cruciform, a parasitic, cross shaped piece of nanotechnology which makes it possible to reconstruct a person's personality and memory in a new body after death, the Catholic church has become the dominant power in the majority of the human populated worlds. It has changed to, to an organisation more closely resembling the corrupt church of the early sixteenth century (complete with Inquisition) than the reformed religious movement we see today.

The plot of The Rise of Endymion is fairly hackneyed; it tells of a young girl, prophesied to be a new Messiah, who takes on the might of the Catholic church armed only with her blook, which when drunk by others passes on an extreme awareness of the universe while being incompatible with the cruciform. The Messianic figure is so common in science fiction and fantasy that it is the details which are important rather than the general plot idea, and Simmons is a good enough writer to create a whole series of fascinating environments in which his story can unfold, including a most unusual orbital grown as a giant tree rather than by the more mundane method of constructing it from rock. (An orbital is basically an alternative to a planet, a ring around a star rather than an orbiting ball.)

The most obvious influence on The Rise of Endymion, including the standardised plotline, is Frank Herbert's Dune series, especially the later novels. It is probably the galactic political manoeuvrings as well as the Messianic plot which make this top of the list of related fiction. Simmons includes details which are little nods of homage to other writers, ranging from Asimov (the android characters all have the title 'A.', like the 'R.' given to Asimov's humanoid robots) to Wolfe. It is not all derivative, of course; the vast majority of the details are Simmons' own and the style is all his too. In the end, the novel lacks the visceral impact and originality of Hyperion and could be described as good rather than great.(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Dave rated it 3 of 5 stars

Raul Endymion finishes his journey with Aenya. They spend time on creative worlds, like Tien Shan where the only habitable areas are high on mountain peaks, ridges, and valleys; and an Ouster sphere of asteroids surrounding a star where micron-thin wings let them catch the solar wind and fly. And the Catholic Church (under the control of the Techno Core) fights again to find and destroy her ability to commune with the Void Which Binds and share the ability with others.

(view spoiler)...more

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Oct 15, 2012 David Mcangus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

The Cantos ends with its most ambitious entry. It is due to this ambition however, that the book doesn't quite reach the potential that the previous novels hinted at. Nevertheless it's still a satisfying and rewarding tale that I would encourage readers of the previous books to pick up, as it does a remarkable job at finishing the story.

Throughout my time with Simmons's spectacular series, I couldn't help but mentally contrast it with Frank Herbert's much revered Dune series. I read the later e...more The Cantos ends with its most ambitious entry. It is due to this ambition however, that the book doesn't quite reach the potential that the previous novels hinted at. Nevertheless it's still a satisfying and rewarding tale that I would encourage readers of the previous books to pick up, as it does a remarkable job at finishing the story.

Throughout my time with Simmons's spectacular series, I couldn't help but mentally contrast it with Frank Herbert's much revered Dune series. I read the later earlier in the year and loved it for its ambition to blend mysticism with science fiction - two of my loves in life. But with this ambition, I think it could also be argued that the plot and characters could be unapproachable for some readers. Lacking humanity because they don't experience time in the same way common perception dictates.

During the first three Cantos books, they read like a less ambitious version of Dune, but with better developed characters and a plot that rip roared along. This is not to say that the world was undeveloped or the themes behind the action weren't deep and intellectually stimulating. But it was clear that the primary thing the author was concerned about was telling a story and getting to know the characters as they struggle through it.

For me, this changed in Rise of Endymion. The focus shifts to religion and mysticism and how these interchange and divert. I appreciated Dan attempting this, especially his comments on the inevitable corruption of religious institutions when lead by uninitiated individuals. But the application is often peculiar, completely out of step with the previous book's style. This is particularly evident in Part Two of the novel. The author's prose becomes soaring and highly descriptive of landscapes, but continues on even after the image is well established. When he tackles spiritual enquiry, he incorporates a question and answer system, which while harbouring some great nuggets of contemplation, seem stifled and lacking the trademark believable character interactions. For example, during said discussions, there's never an opposing view to the philosophy being discussed. Only the absolute of the other side with who they are fighting. Ultimately, what Herbert did right was knowing exactly what he wanted to do and sticking with it to the end. Perhaps if Dan had incorporated the deep mysticism earlier on, he wouldn't have had to cover as much ground in a limited space, and had the opportunity to weave it into the story without putting the brakes on plot advancement.

Having said all this, the book is by no means a failure. I haven't read a book of this length in such a short space of time before. This is because Simmons's prose and ability to craft a well structured plot and believable characters remain from the earlier books. There are events that occur in Hyperion for example, that show up in Rise so effortlessly that I had to marvel at his ability to work out long plot structure. Further, the interaction between friends and lovers is some of the best I've read (this applies to the whole Cantos). I sincerely think these are the type of characters one will remember and hold dear for quite some time.

As a series, The Hyperion Cantos is some of the best space opera I've had to pleasure to experience of any medium. It's consistently well written, hugely imaginative and refreshingly well structured so most (if not all) plot points are tackled and resolved. While the final book seeks to rise to the sun and ultimately gets partially burned, it's still a hugely enjoyable adventure that takes the reader in, out and between universes, while following the plight of some much loved characters.
(less)

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Oct 07, 2012 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

Ok, finished the two novels of the second half of the Hyperion story last night. I enjoyed, overall, but not as much fun as the first two novels. As with most sequels these two suffer from the need to wrap all of the lose ends together and also, something I find very annoying, find it necessary to throw away part of the back story to move the plot along.

The story—three centuries later. A new chap enters the scene, his job is to bring a new messiah (a little girl, related to the first novels), i...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Benjamin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mild spoilers follow.

I was very disappointed by the end of the series. There was little of the adventure that made Endymion fun, there was significantly more of the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo that detracted from Fall, and what soul the book possessed was only a pale imitation of the depth that made Hyperion great.

I appreciate what Simmons was trying to do, and he is a phenomenal writer, but this falls short. Raul degenerates into a simple-minded plot device. Aenea's transition from a childish and...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Judi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-1999

"Choose again." Aenea's entire message...

If I learned anything with the first two Hyperion books, it is don't even think of this as a separate book. It is a continuation of Endymion, so I went ahead and picked up both books at the same time.

Obviously, the Shrodinger's box has not yet killed Raul Endymion, so he continues to document the events as they unfold from the last book. I won't give anything away, except to say that this book explains almost everything that might not have been clear in t...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Scott Rhee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dan Simmons's "The Rise of Endymion" is a superb conclusion to the four-book series started with "Hyperion". I love Simmons's use of literary references throughout the series ("Canterbury Tales", "Beowulf", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "The Wizard of Oz", the poetry of John Keats) and his clever but not-so-subtle criticism of topics as diverse as the Internet, the publishing industry, and organized religion, The Catholic Church in particular.

As an aside, I wouldn't brand Simmons an ant...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Sahil Raina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy

I read Endymion and Rise of Endymion together, so this review will cover both.

Overall, I liked books 3 and 4 but not nearly as much as 1 & 2. A major problem I had with them was the feeling I got that I was reading a fantasy/scifi book rather than a scifi book. The first 2 books had been straight-up space opera science fiction, and some of the best of that genre that I have read. So, reading this set with that expectation, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed.

Putting aside that criticis...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Donovan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Amazing!!! This is the fourth of 4 books. These are:
Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion
Endymion
The Rise of Endymion
(These are so good I will review them individually)
The writing is a mix of present and past tense and compiled as a collection of character stores that intermix throughout the over-arching story. It is an awesome feat of literary wonder site in the far future of humanity and will leave you breathless when the last page is turned. The environments, the technology, the wonders, the sociology...more Amazing!!! This is the fourth of 4 books. These are:
Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion
Endymion
The Rise of Endymion
(These are so good I will review them individually)
The writing is a mix of present and past tense and compiled as a collection of character stores that intermix throughout the over-arching story. It is an awesome feat of literary wonder site in the far future of humanity and will leave you breathless when the last page is turned. The environments, the technology, the wonders, the sociology and politic aspects throughout are genius.
To me, this is a work that is up there with the greats such as H.G. Wells, A.C. Clarke and Baxter.

Plot ***Spoilers***
The Rise of Endymion begins after the end of Endymion on the planet Pacem, in Vatican City, with the announcement of the death of the pope, Lenar Hoyt. Hoyt is then reborn, and when elected Pope again, takes a new Papal name: in this case, Urban XVI. Urban announces a new Crusade upon his conception as Pope, and with the development of the new "Archangel"-class starships, sends his fleets out to make war on the Ousters, still hiding along the edges of human-populated space. The focus then shifts to Raul Endymion and Aenea, still living on Earth (at Taliesin West) and learning architecture from the "Old Architect" (a cybrid Frank Lloyd Wright). Aenea reveals to Raul that he has to leave and travel via Farcaster portal along the River Tethys, but she will meet him at the end of his journey. Upon reaching the end of his perilous trip, Raul finds the starship they had abandoned in the previous book. The ship informs Raul that Aenea had programmed it to take him to T'ien Shan, a planet that Raul knows nothing about. He finds out that the time it will take to get there will create a 5-year time debt, and when he arrives, Aenea will be 21. During their time on T'ien Shan, Raul and Aenea's relationship shifts from protector and friend to lover and teacher, as Raul becomes a prominent member of Aenea's "congregation." Aenea takes on a nearly messianic persona at this point, preaching to her followers gathered on T'ien Shan about "the Void which Binds" and "the music of the spheres", the secrets of which are revealed later in the story. Unfortunately, the Pax discovers them, and Raul and Aenea, along with their close friends are forced to flee, taking refuge with the Ousters on the edge of civilized space. There, Raul learns just what secret it is that Aenea carries that makes the Pax so afraid of her, and their journey comes to a dramatic climax in the Vatican, where they confront the Pope, and seemingly meet their respective destinies.(less)

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Mar 26, 2012 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Dan Simmons’s novels are complex, abstract, and intricately woven in both form and style. His capstone novel for the Hyperion cantos, The Rise of Endymion, is no exception to this. Like its predecessor Endymion, The Rise of Endymion follows Raul Endymion, Aenea, and A. Bettik as they support Aenea in completing her mysterious mission. Despite his writing prowess, Dan Simmons has two problems: first, he is far too verbose in some areas and too scant in others. Second, his endings are often crude...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Христо Блажев rated it 5 of 5 stars

Изключителната сага “Хиперион” на Дан Симънс – величие без граници!
http://www.knigolandia.info/2011/03/b...

“Триумфът на Ендимион” решително стъпва в посока разкриване на картината. Техноцентърът малко по малко излиза наяве, докато Мирът методично започва да избива прокудените с усъвършенствани архангелски кораби, чиито безсмъртни екипаж сеят смърт с невиждан размах. Енея и Рол се разделят, след като той трябва да поеме на важна мисия да върне кораба на Консула, оставен да се саморемонтира на нез...more

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May 01, 2010 Whitney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Boy does this book disappear up its own butthole halfway through. I've always said, if there's one thing I love its pages and pages worth of metaphysical explanation of imaginary science fiction macguffins that in case you were wondering, do not actually exist, and therefore lack any sort of educational value which the reader might obtain from a similarly dry lecture on a real scientific subject. Anyway.

This book starts out as a travelogue (and the places are even more otherworldly and evocative...more

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Sep 09, 2009 Daniel Burton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I was eager to finish the story started in Hyperion, and while I had to splurge to do it (the library did not carry it, so I actually had to pay for this one), I was somewhat disappointed with the finale.

Don't get me wrong: Dan Simmons did not fail to provide a great story. He filled in the blanks, answered the questions, and completed the circle. But unlike the previous three, which i enjoyed immensely, this one seemed to ramble. Information dumps were all over the place, and at times I felt b...more

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Jul 11, 2009 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Concluding the Hyperion books at last -- in shifts of two books each spread over a couple years -- was ultimately quite satisfying. I struggled with my star ratings on all but third book "Endymion," rounding down on both "Hyperion" and "Fall of Hyperion" just because, oh, I don't know, I'm an ass or something. So I rounded up the 3 1/2 stars this concluding volume normally would warrant. Can't say I'm a complete bastard.

"The Rise of Endymion" adequately answers most of the mysteries of the prece...more

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Jun 08, 2009 Donald rated it 5 of 5 stars

As the finale to the series, this book winds up the foursome in a whirlwind. And it unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes with the strength of the ending. The first 3 books were very good indeed but this one was the best.

Told as recollection by a prisoner in the ultimate prison (in a Schrödinger's cat capsule in orbit around an abandoned star) the story ranges from love story to religious corruption to art retreats (and their pitfalls) to the nature (and innate power) of information and life in

...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Alexandra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: re-read, read-in-2012

After reading Endymion I wavered as to whether to back it up with the concluding the series. On the one hand, so many other books to read! On the other hand, getting a conclusion (again)! On the gripping hand, I knew I had Issues with this book when I first read it, and I was worried...

Anyway, I did it. In fact, I stayed up rather late last night to finish it, because I really, really wanted to get to the end again.

Spoilers ahead for the first three books. Actually, spoilers for this book, too....more

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Jul 15, 2012 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: before-2002, bookcrossed-or-otherwise-set-free

The time of reckoning has arrived. As a final genocidal Crusade threatens to enslave humanity forever, a new messiah has come of age. She is Aenea and she has undergone a strange apprenticeship to those known as the Others. Now her protector, Raul Endymion, onetime shepherd and convicted murderer, must help her deliver her startling message to her growing army of disciples. But first they must embark on a final spectacular mission to discover the underlying meaning of the universe itself. They h...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Brian rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, in-full

The scene where Corporal Bassin Kee is undergoing torture at the hands of the Grand Inquisitor , who uses a machine that simulates "crushed testicles" and "hot wire behind right eye" in the victim's brain ... that's a good approximation of the experience I had reading this book. There's Dan Simmons sitting at his desk, finger poised over a computer keyboard. In the place of letters, each key has a different literary torture: "moldy info dump forced down throat", "insufferable protagonist buzzes...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Chance rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Saving humanity has never been so tedious. I enjoyed Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, and I flew through Endymion despite putting it off for a long time. Not wanting to forget any details and eager to finish a story that spans almost 1,000 years, I started Rise of Endymion immediately after finishing its predecessor.
That was a mistake.
Maybe if I had taken a brief Dan Simmon hiatus, I wouldn't have felt I was slogging through world after world that bore little impact on the plot. This book seemed t...more Saving humanity has never been so tedious. I enjoyed Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, and I flew through Endymion despite putting it off for a long time. Not wanting to forget any details and eager to finish a story that spans almost 1,000 years, I started Rise of Endymion immediately after finishing its predecessor.
That was a mistake.
Maybe if I had taken a brief Dan Simmon hiatus, I wouldn't have felt I was slogging through world after world that bore little impact on the plot. This book seemed to have exceptionally long, long, long descriptions. Yes, Dan Simmons, you are a wonderful artist of words, but this just felt like showing off.
Also, the book suffers from a big problem that isn't its fault: the longer it takes to resolve a mystery, the more disappointing the resolution will be. (See: Lost) But Simmons's solution to tie up loose ends made things even more of a let down. In this book, we are treated to PAGES of monologue from characters explaining everything. Some of these monologues are even in transcript form, making them even more impersonal.
Example:
AENEA: So, even though you wouldn't be reading this book if you hadn't read the previous three in the series, bear with me while I recap the entire plot for you over the course of three or four pages. You might remember it, you might not. Either way, what you were told was a lie. That's right: anything of any mystery or importance in the previous books was a source of misinformation. What really happened is this: [insert two pages] and that is because AIs are bad, except for the ones who are good, because they were sent by a higher power that we never knew about until this very moment and will never explain to you. By the way, all you need is love. Group hug!
*SPOILER*
The whole "love is a fundamental force of the universe" is an interesting theory, but doesn't quite gel with the visceral horror that permeates the rest of the Cantos. Also, Raul Endymion's relationship with Aenea never became *not* creepy to me. He starts as a twelve-year-old girl's guardian, then becomes her lover and father of her child. One thing he did that kept him in the creeper category: calls her "kiddo" after sex.
One thing that did work for me was Aenea's quest for universal empathy. While also being a little creepy--anyone in the universe can no what anyone else in the universe is thinking, feeling, and doing at any particular time--but it's pretty much the only solution to humanity's problems I can think of: complete empathy. It's hard to hurt, oppress, cheat, lie, etc. to another person when you can feel the pain that will result from it. (less)

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About Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction,...more Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction, journalism and art.

Dan received his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971. He then worked in elementary education for 18 years -- 2 years in Missouri, 2 years in Buffalo, New York -- one year as a specially trained BOCES "resource teacher" and another as a sixth-grade teacher -- and 14 years in Colorado.

ABOUT DAN
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His last four years in teaching were spent creating, coordinating, and teaching in APEX, an extensive gifted/talented program serving 19 elementary schools and some 15,000 potential students. During his years of teaching, he won awards from the Colorado Education Association and was a finalist for the Colorado Teacher of the Year. He also worked as a national language-arts consultant, sharing his own "Writing Well" curriculum which he had created for his own classroom. Eleven and twelve-year-old students in Simmons' regular 6th-grade class averaged junior-year in high school writing ability according to annual standardized and holistic writing assessments. Whenever someone says "writing can't be taught," Dan begs to differ and has the track record to prove it. Since becoming a full-time writer, Dan likes to visit college writing classes, has taught in New Hampshire's Odyssey writing program for adults, and is considering hosting his own Windwalker Writers' Workshop.

Dan's first published story appeared on Feb. 15, 1982, the day his daughter, Jane Kathryn, was born. He's always attributed that coincidence to "helping in keeping things in perspective when it comes to the relative importance of writing and life."

Dan has been a full-time writer since 1987 and lives along the Front Range of Colorado -- in the same town where he taught for 14 years -- with his wife, Karen, his daughter, Jane, (when she's home from Hamilton College) and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Fergie. He does much of his writing at Windwalker -- their mountain property and cabin at 8,400 feet of altitude at the base of the Continental Divide, just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. An 8-ft.-tall sculpture of the Shrike -- a thorned and frightening character from the four Hyperion/Endymion novels -- was sculpted by an ex-student and friend, Clee Richeson, and the sculpture now stands guard near the isolated cabin.(less)

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The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2)

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Quotes from The Rise of Endymion

“To see and feel one's beloved naked for the first time is one of life's pure, irreducible epiphanies. If there is a true religion in the universe, it must include that truth of contact or be forever hollow. To make love to the one true person who deserves that love is one of the few absolute rewards of being a human being, balancing all of the pain, loss, awkwardness, loneliness, idiocy, compromise, and clumsiness that go with the human condition. To make love to the right person makes up for a lot of mistakes.” — 99 people liked it

“The young remember most deeply” — 3 people liked it

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The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos #4)

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