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Endymion (Hyperion Cantos #3)

by Dan Simmons, Victor Bevine (Narrator)

4.01 · rating details · 5,971 ratings · 191 reviews

It is 274 years after the Fall and the universe is in chaos. Raul Endymion, onetime shepherd and convicted murderer, is chosen as a pawn in a cosmic game whose outcome will determine the fate of humanity. Selected as a bodyguard to the next messiah, Endymion will cross time, space, and the very fabric of reality as her protector, lover and finally disciple. At the same tim...more

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Published August 15th 2009 by Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged (first published 1995)

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Mar 15, 2011

Dan rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sf, 2011

Almost three centuries after the Fall of Hyperion, the Time Tombs open and Aenea, child of Brawne Lamia and Johnny Keats emerges. Along with a former hunting guide named Raul Endymion and android A. Bettik, Aenea goes on a journey to fulfill her destiny as the one who teaches. Only the Pax has other ideas. Can Aenea reach her goal without being captured by Father Captain de Soya of the Pax?

With all the two star reviews out there, I wasn't expecting magic from Endymion. Imagine my...moreAlmost three centuries after the Fall of Hyperion, the Time Tombs open and Aenea, child of Brawne Lamia and Johnny Keats emerges. Along with a former hunting guide named Raul Endymion and android A. Bettik, Aenea goes on a journey to fulfill her destiny as the one who teaches. Only the Pax has other ideas. Can Aenea reach her goal without being captured by Father Captain de Soya of the Pax?

With all the two star reviews out there, I wasn't expecting magic from Endymion. Imagine my surprise when I wound up enjoying it quite a bit. Endymion felt like rummaging through a box of old possessions you have fond memories of but have forgotten about. Only in this case, the memories are the hawking mat, the Consul's ship, the deactivated farcaster portals along the old river Tethys, and good old A. Bettik. And also The Shrike, but we won't say much about him other than to say he's still as efficient a killing machine as ever.

While not as pants-shittingly awesome as the first two books, Endymion was still an engaging read and doesn't tarnish the memory of the first two. The former Web has changed quite a bit in the 274 years since the Fall of Hyperion. Without giving too much away, the Catholic church and the cruciforms have melded in a pretty logical way into the Pax, and the Pax doesn't want Aenea fulfilling her destiny one bit. It makes for a good read. Endymion, Aenea, and A. Bettik visit some exotic former Web worlds, undergo quite a few harrowing experiences, and wind up in a good place to set up the next book, Rise of Endymion.

As engaging as I found Aenea and her people's travels on the raft, I somehow found the bad guys, de Soya and the rest, to be a more interesting cast. de Soya was efficient but conflicted and I almost found myself rooting for the poor cruciform-bearing bastard.

Don't let all the negative reviews steer you away. All franchises lose some steam by the third installment. At least there were no Ewoks in it. For fans of the first two books, Endymion is not to be missed!
(less)

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Jul 05, 2011

Kemper rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, sci-fi, space, time-travel, sky-cake

As I’ve written in my reviews of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons is trying to melt my brain.

After weeks of medical treatment and therapy I’ve recovered enough to be rolled out to a sunny spot in my wheel chair with a nurse to wipe the drool from my chin. Despite the doctors’ warnings about continued exposure to Hyperion, I’ve gone ahead and read the third book in the series, Endymion. While there are still monumentally big sci-fi ideas in this story, I think that my...moreAs I’ve written in my reviews of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons is trying to melt my brain.

After weeks of medical treatment and therapy I’ve recovered enough to be rolled out to a sunny spot in my wheel chair with a nurse to wipe the drool from my chin. Despite the doctors’ warnings about continued exposure to Hyperion, I’ve gone ahead and read the third book in the series, Endymion. While there are still monumentally big sci-fi ideas in this story, I think that my earlier encounters have allowed me to build up some resistance to Simmons. I got through this one and only went blind in my right eye and lost all sense of smell, but no coma this time.

It’s hard to summarize this without giving up too much away. It’s about 250 years after the events of the last book, and we’re introduced to Raul Endymion, a young man with a checkered job history who is saved from death by a familiar character. Raul is asked by this person to find and protect a young girl, Aenea, from the forces of the Catholic Church who want to capture her. Aenea had been sent forward in time via one of the Time Tombs on Hyperion and the Church wants her captured immediately for unknown reasons.

The Church seized political and military power by using the parasitic cruciforms (handily shaped like crosses) that can resurrect a person from death to offer everlasting life to those who toe the Church’s line. Raul had refused to bow to Church authority and accept the cruciform so he’s an outcast and seems like a good candidate to keep the mysterious Aenea out of their hands. However, the Church has sent the devout Father Captain Fredrico de Soya to capture the girl. With the help of the android A. Bettik and the intervention from the deadly entity known as the Shrike, Raul and Aenea escape and begin a journey between worlds that is supposed to enable her to fulfill the destiny the Church is terrified of.

This book is an interstellar chase story with the dedicated de Soya hot on the heels of the fugitives as they run from planet to planet. De Soya was one of my favorite parts of this book. He’s dedicated and loyal to the Church, but he’s also very decent man. He’s so committed to the hunt that he makes Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive look like a crybaby quitter. De Soya has an incredibly fast pursuit ship but every jaunt between worlds kills him and turns his body to jelly leaving his cruciform to resurrect him. It’s an incredibly dangerous and horrible experience, but de Soya doesn’t blink as he repeatedly turns himself into paste to get closer to Aenea.

There’s enough gooey sci-fi goodness like space travel, time travel, alien monsters, and cyborg killers to keep the most demanding geek fan boy happy. And all of this moves the overarching story of Hyperion towards it’s ultimate conclusion. I just hope I can live through the next book.(less)

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Mar 03, 2008

Leif rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, terrible

Stop! If you've read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, stop there. The series does not continue. Pretend like these two books (endymion and rise of endymion) do not exist. On the other hand, if you haven't read hyperion, go read it. It's great. Really good. One of my favorite books. Amazing. But endymion takes a huge step down. After Fall of Hyperion, you're probably hungry for more, but trust me, it just has to stay that way. Some of the mysteries just have to be left as mysteries. E...more

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Apr 28, 2010

Jason (FNORDinc) rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, ebook, part-of-a-series, reviewed-on-fnordinc

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)...moreFor 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 Intelligences have souls?).

Like anything in a Dan Simmons book is ever that easy :)

- FNORDinc.com
http://www.fnordinc.com/2010/04-27/revie...(less)

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May 13, 2011

Nancy Schober rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: series-hyperion, science, fiction

The past few years have been one improbability after another, each more marvelous and seemingly inevitable than the last.[return][return] How could anyone stay sane with entire lifetimes stored in one human mind?[return][return] Meaning no disrespect, sir, says the other man, but there s no way in the Good Lord s ******* universe that anyone can bar accidents or the unexpected. [return][return] Why am I seeking logic or sanity here? I d asked myself at the moment. There hasn...more The past few years have been one improbability after another, each more marvelous and seemingly inevitable than the last.[return][return] How could anyone stay sane with entire lifetimes stored in one human mind?[return][return] Meaning no disrespect, sir, says the other man, but there s no way in the Good Lord s ******* universe that anyone can bar accidents or the unexpected. [return][return] Why am I seeking logic or sanity here? I d asked myself at the moment. There hasn t been any so far.[return][return][return][return]Sounds like and IPhone to me;[return][return] All were capable of being used as communicators, of storing massive amounts of data, of tapping into the local datasphere, and especially with the older ones of actually hooking into planetary fatline relays via remote so that the megasphere could be accessed.[return][return] "..What he wanted -- what he wanted his shepherd to learn -- was how exalted these things could be -- poetry, nature, wisdom, the voices of friends, brave deeds, the glory of strange places, the charm of the opposite sex. But he stopped before he got to the real essence."[return][return] "What real essence?" I asked. Our raft rose and fell on the sea's breathing.[return][return] "The meanings of all motions, shapes and sounds," whispered the girl. "...all forms and substances/ Straight homeward to their symbol-essences..."[return][return] The universe is indifferent to our fates. This was the crushing burden that the character took with him as he struggles through the surf toward survival or extinction. The universe just doesn t give a sh*t.[return][return][return][return]On the debate on whether Artificial Intelligence has a soul;[return][return] And what was our DNA designed to do for the first few hundred million years, my son? Eat? Kill? Procreate? Were we any less ignoble in our beginnings that the pre-Hegira silicon and DNA-based AI? As Teilhard would have it, it is consciousness which God has created to accelerate the universe s self-awareness as a means to understanding his will. [return][return][return][return]How Artificial Intelligence fits into evolution;[return][return] Father Glaucus turned his blind eyes in her direction. Precisely, my dear. But we are not the only avatars of humanity. Once our computing machines achieved self-consciousness, they became part of this design. They may resist it. They may try to undo it for their own complex purposes. But the universe continues to weave it s own design. [return][return] I attribute no definitive and absolute value to the various constructs of man. I believe that they will disappear, recast in a new whole that we cannot yet conceive. At the same time I admit that they have an essential provisional role that they are necessary, inevitable phases which we (we or the race) must pass through in the course of our metamorphosis. What I love in them is not their particular form, but their function, which is to build up, in some mysterious way, first something divinizable and then through the grace of Christ alighting on our effort, something divine. [return][return][return][return]Connectedness;[return][return] In the Cantos, I said, the scholar character seems to discover that the thing the AI Core had called the Void Which Binds is love. That love is a basic force of the universe, like gravity and electromagnetism, like strong and weak nuclear force. In the poem Sol sees that the Core Ultimate Intelligence will never be capable of understanding that empathy is inseparable from the source& from love. The old poet described love as the subquantum impossibility that carried information from photon to photon& [return][return] So you re saying that there needs to be another Isaac Newton to explain the physics of love? I said. To give us its laws of thermodynamics, its rules of entropy? To show us the calculus of love? [return][return][return][return]I was really disappointed when I finished this book. It was just like a chapter in a saga. I wanted to know WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! But when I reread the passages where I had turned down the page corners. I could see that it was a whole book on it's own. And a good one at that. Writing like this makes me think that Dan Simmons is really cool.(less)

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Jan 05, 2011

Brian rated it

· review of another edition

11/26/04 - 7/10

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 th...more

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Dec 29, 2008

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

Endymion picks up 200 years after The Fall of Hyperion, which is either a good or bad thing depending on how much you liked the characters in the first two books. If, like me, you thought the multitude of characters and frequent plot thread switches were a bother, the focus on Aenea, Endymion, and A. Bettik on their journey will come as a relief.

Dan Simmons also managed to scale back the poetic voice in this outing, scattering in only a few Keats poems. However, Catholic church str...more

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Oct 30, 2011

Христо Блажев rated it

· review of another edition

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

Действието в третата част се развива близо три века след края на величественото поклонение и кървавата битка за Хиперион. 272 години, но всичко е толкова различно. Най-могъщата сила в галактиката е Католическата църква, която е успяла да използва кръстоидите, за да разпространи мощта си със сила, подобно на истинските действия на църквата през Ренесанса. Само че цената ...moreИзключителната сага “Хиперион” на Дан Симънс – величие без граници!
http://www.knigolandia.info/2011/03/blog...

Действието в третата част се развива близо три века след края на величественото поклонение и кървавата битка за Хиперион. 272 години, но всичко е толкова различно. Най-могъщата сила в галактиката е Католическата църква, която е успяла да използва кръстоидите, за да разпространи мощта си със сила, подобно на истинските действия на църквата през Ренесанса. Само че цената на това могъщество е жестока – кръстоидите са създадени и вече усъвършенствани от привидно унищожения в края на “Падането на Хиперион” Техноцентър. Възкресените вече връщат съзнанието и спомените си, а това е могъща тайна, от която църквата (наречена Мира) се възползва със замах. Телепортаторната мрежа е унищожена (е, не съвсем, но за това след малко), но нова технология, съчетана с възкресението, променя космическите уравнения. Кораби-архангели, които използват Празнотата, която обвързва (загадъчно пространство, което крие едни от най-големите загадки в сагата), за да се пренасят мигновено през огромни разстояния, отнемащи месеци и години време-дълг на обикновените кораби с хокингови двигатели. Естествено, при това пренасяне те убиват мигновено екипажите си, но какво толкова – три дни и те са възкресени наново, готови да сеят смърт сред космическите поселения на прокудените, които са преследвани като абоминация от църквата.(less)

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Jun 26, 2009

Tim rated it

· review of another edition

Finally took the plunge on Dan Simmons' third book in the series that started with "Hyperion." I was very afraid, having endured some brain freeze and head-scratching over some of the plot points in "Fall of Hyperion," but I'm glad I finally -- more than two years later -- dove into "Endymion." I was led to believe -- and some reviews here stubbornly assert this -- that the second pair of books are only vaguely related to the first two. I found that to be absolutely...more

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Nov 11, 2011

Tim rated it

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This third book of four in the Hyperion series starts out with a 274 year gap from the end of the second. Thanks to time travel among the stars, a few of the original characters remain, while new characters are added that have connections from the older ones.

New forces of humanity have taken charge, old enemies remain, and mysterious hybrids - cybrids - weave in and out behind the immediate.

Interestingly, a new version of the Catholic church has swept into the powerful g...more

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Dec 25, 2011

Kathryn rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

This science fiction novel is the third in the Hyperion Cantos, which starts with Hyperion and continues with The Fall of Hyperion. I had read those two books before (and the final book in the series, The Rise of Endymion), but had never read this third book. I am very glad I did so; it is a very good book, with lots of good hard science and a somewhat unwilling hero helping to guard a young girl who is a threat to the established order of the universe.

It is some 274 years after the ...moreThis science fiction novel is the third in the Hyperion Cantos, which starts with Hyperion and continues with The Fall of Hyperion. I had read those two books before (and the final book in the series, The Rise of Endymion), but had never read this third book. I am very glad I did so; it is a very good book, with lots of good hard science and a somewhat unwilling hero helping to guard a young girl who is a threat to the established order of the universe.

It is some 274 years after the events in the previous book; with the Farcasters non-operative, and contact between worlds cut off, the power that now controls most of the known Universe is the Roman Catholic Church, with its own military and spacegoing arm. Under Pope Julius VI, who has been Pope for something more than 250 years. The Church has introduced two new Sacraments: the Acceptance of the Cruciform and the Resurrection. Acceptance of the Cruciform means that one becomes effectively immortal; when one dies, after three days one is resurrected. This means that the Archangel class of spaceships can fly faster than hyperspace, killing its passengers, who are then resurrected upon arrival at the ship’s destination.

The one person who was on the Pilgrimage in the first two books and who is still alive is the poet Martin Silenus on the planet Hyperion. He rescues a 27-year old man named Raul Endymion from being executed and commissions him to rescue his niece Aenea (who stepped into a Time Tomb some 262 years before, and is due to be stepping out in several days) and to keep her from being taken by the Church. The Church as assigned Father Captain Federico de Soya, with absolute authority, to be the officer charged with apprehending the girl and bringing her to the Church planet of Pacem. The book then turns into a fascinating cat-and-mouse game; for some reason, the farcasters work for Aenea, Raul, and A. Bettik (a blue-skinned android), and Father Captain de Soya chases them through the universe.

This was a marvelously good book, and I am very glad to have read it; as reading the fourth book before reading the third book does create a certain amount of confusion in my mind. And in due time I will re-read The Rise of Endymion).(less)

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Mar 05, 2011

Laura rated it

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Shelves: scifi-fantasy

Boring. Seriously, how can someone write such an incredible first book and then go so horribly wrong from there? The pace is slow and bogged down and there is a ridiculous amount of time spent talking about packing and unpacking and preparing to go on a mission and preparing a trap. I think this is Simmons painful way of attempting to build suspense. It doesn't work. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of these characters, there was virtually no development. Revelations ocurred hapha...more

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Sep 05, 2008

Jeff rated it

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Not quite as interesting as Fall of Hyperion, but this sequel to the Hyperion series launches us 250 years into the future and continues to deal with the same issues presented in the orginal series. If you liked the Hyperion series, you like Endymion, even if it is a little slower paced.

Don't want to say too much without giving away info about Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion - if you haven't read those and you like sci-fi - get to it!

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Sep 11, 2011

Rafal Jasinski rated it

· review of another edition

Jeśli przymknąć oko na to, jak lekko poczyna sobie Simmons z konceptem wszechświata, jaki mu nadał w dwóch pierwszych tomach tego cyklu, i na to, że w zasadzie wywraca większość ukutych wcześniej teorii - dotyczy to głównie Chyżwara, Centrum i krzyżokształtów - na drugą stronę, to cieszyć się można odwołującą się do klasyki gatunku, powieścią przygodową: ot, drużyna wyrusza na quest, przeżywa masę ciekawych przygód, odwiedza egzotyczne planety, ucieka przed pogonią "tych złych" a nad w...more

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Dec 03, 2008

Rowena rated it

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Shelves: unbelievablereads

Endymion continues the story begun in Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion...however, it isn't a direct sequel. The "Fall" has occurred some two centuries ago and the Hegemony (a far-future conglomerate of multiple planets) is now run by the Pax, enforced by the "miraculous" resurrection symbiotes discovered by Father Lenar Hoyt in Hyperion. Farcasting (traveling instantaneously through portals) is now impossible. Raul Endymion lives on the planet of Hyperion and is hand selecte...more

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Aug 17, 2010

Tj777 rated it

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As a continuation of the Hyperion Cantos this book left me lacking. I could not connect with Raul's character & on re-reads I have always skipped the first part of the novel. I found Hyperion & The Fall Of Hyperion much more satisfying. Endymion seemed to be too focused on Raul's early life & less interested in the big picture. The first two novels were fantastic with their wide scope & brilliant character development, but Endymion overall lacks that same interest for me. I did however enjoy man...more

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May 18, 2011

Nathaniel rated it

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This book really held my attention while I was reading it. This may have been because the bulk of the time I was I was so sick that I couldn't focus on anything else, but I attribute it more to the quality of the book. The entire trilogy, Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, and Endymion, are very good reads, although they are rather filled with graphic descriptions of sex and people being maimed, or both at the same time (yes really). Much of what I enjoyed about this book was being able to just digest ...more

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Jan 18, 2012

Andrey rated it

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Shelves: favorites, science-fiction-epics, science-fiction

Well, the beginning of this book describes it well. You are not reading it for the right reason. And well, i was not. I was hoping for a sequel to the Hyperion Cantos. I got something else entirely. The first two books were far deeper, focusing on story less, and deeper thoughts and messages more. The stories were still incredible, they just were not the focus.

This book on the other hand, focuses on the story and on character development far more than the first. This book is a rollick...more

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Sep 06, 2008

Mick rated it

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Shelves: sci-fi

This is the begining of the second half of this 4 book series. The first two read as one tail and the second two do the same. Make sure you have The Rise of Endymion on hand as you will not want to stop after finishing this book. I can't tell you how glad I was that I didn't read this book when it was new. The wait for the sequel would have been painful.

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Jan 21, 2010

The W rated it

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W Rating : C+

Note This first paragraph has been edited onto this review after finishing the series
What to say? This just must be Simmons style of writing or starting a series. I cannot really understand the thinking, but I can imagine that many a reader has not read on. This is much to their disadvantage.

Endymion is the next in the Hyperion series and, very much like the original, is an Empire. This is a slow book dedicated to foundation building only it seems. I ha...more

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Aug 15, 2009

Jessica Harker (neé Halleck) rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Not unreadable, but a whole lot of dull after the depth, complexity, and scope of the first two books. Reads like 563 pages of largely uneventful prelude to the final installment. By the time Nemes enters the picture (a tantalizing yet ultimately under-used and anti-climatic inclusion), the book is all but over. And then it is over. And one wonders why about 500 extra pages were needed to set up the galaxy post-Fall, the role of the Church and it's connection to the TechnoCore (evident almost im...moreNot unreadable, but a whole lot of dull after the depth, complexity, and scope of the first two books. Reads like 563 pages of largely uneventful prelude to the final installment. By the time Nemes enters the picture (a tantalizing yet ultimately under-used and anti-climatic inclusion), the book is all but over. And then it is over. And one wonders why about 500 extra pages were needed to set up the galaxy post-Fall, the role of the Church and it's connection to the TechnoCore (evident almost immediately for anyone with half a brain who devoted even a quarter of their diminutive gray matter to the previous book), and the foundation of our protagonists' relationship.

Not to mention the ill-used Shrike, once such a formidable force, even in threat, reduced to a handful of clumsy deus ex machina cameos. At least Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion made clever and even conscious use of such convenient plot interruptions.

Another thing that finally began to wear on me was Simmons' penchant for jumping between character perspectives. Done right, it's a fabulous tactic. Done as it is in this book, it's overkill. I approached the eye-rolling, sigh-inducing point toward the end of the book as I realized again and again that I was starting a new chapter only to re-hash the scene from the trio's perspective, say, or to relive the moment as viewed in fasttime by Nemes.

Overall, I think Simmons' future post-Hyperion suffers from the sudden and conspicuous absence of the TechnoCore threat. Previously, the Miltonian weight of the issues at hand was palpable. Now, 247 years after the supposed triumph of humanity, in a universe where the Church has sold its soul in a massive, perverse bargain of Faustian proportion (which is so tantalizing a morsel I can't believe Simmons handled it so sloppily)...a reader is supposed to care about trip itineraries and how adept Aenea is at folding a microtent?

If this is supposed to be the figurative and literal "calm before the storm", I don't think 563 pages needed to be devoted to it.

And I only hope The Rise of Endymion makes something of the potential squandered here.(less)

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Apr 03, 2011

Eleanor rated it

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I loved the first 2 Hyperion books. I couldn't wait to pick up Endymion and see what it could offer me. I had no idea what to expect honestly, but figured in th tradition of Hyperion and Drood that the world building would be rich and exciting.

So far though this is my least favorite of the Hyperion books. There was a lot of world building, which is expected, but I found myself getting bored for most of the book. I'm sure that the last book 'Rise of Endymion' will be a blast and th...more

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Jan 06, 2010

Collin rated it

· review of another edition

This is a completely different story from either of the first two books in the "Hyperion Cantos", yet Simmons manages to tell a story that gives the readers even more insight into this future universe.

About half of the book is written in the first person, while the other half is a known account of other events by the same narrator, Raul Endymion. Despite the first person narrative, Simmons keeps the dialogue and story moving.

What Simmons has done best here is ke...more

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Jan 28, 2010

Nude-fox rated it

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If taken at face value this book seems to pale in comparison to Hyperion however Simmons is much more constricted with Endymion than he was with Hyperion. Simmons is following the general plot line of the John Keats poem Endymion while expanding on its theme of love as the binding force of the universe. Just as the Hyperion canto’s follows the Keats poems of the same name while expanding on its themes so does Endymion. The Plot and themes of Keats Endymion lets say is a lot less easy to transfer...more

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Jan 28, 2010

Greg rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

I was really underwhelmed with this book. After the two Hyperion books I was expecting to love Endymion. Now yes, this book is completely different from the previous two. Everyone I know warned me it was different. The book itself warns you it's different on the first page. But it was all taking place in the same wonderful universe Simmons created, and I thought at least some of the aspects that I loved about the first two would be present. And they were, but it took 80% of the book to get to it...more

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Sep 25, 2011

Tommy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

As was the case with the first two novels in the Hyperion Cantos, Endymion appears to be just the first half of a much longer work (the fourth novel, The Rise of Endymion, is the last in the series). This picks up almost 300 years after The Fall of Hyperion, intertwining the stories of Raul Endymion, a Hyperionian (?) who, with the help of a dutiful blue android, must escort the daughter of a cyber-reincarnated John Keats to her destiny; and Federico DeSoya, the priest-military officer who must ...more

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Oct 02, 2011

Shane rated it

· review of another edition

Endymion is a darn good read. If you have read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion read this book. If you haven't read those, read them first.

Endymion is the story of a young man on a long journey. From that standpoint it is standard, even trite fictional fare. But the way that Dan Simmons tells his story is amazing. I've never read an author better at capturing the way that people and places work together to create great events. It's remarkable.

It's true that the whole b...more

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Sep 27, 2011

Robin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: space-opera, science-fiction, dark, engaging-prose, fun, great-ideas, page-turner, ramping-intensity, strong-opening, surprisingly-funny, worthy-sequel, 4-stars

Another evocative and frequently exciting entry in the Hyperion saga.

The characters are about as interesting as wet cardboard, there are some slow/unnecessary patches (as usual with Simmons, this book is about 100 pages too long) and you can tell that Simmons is holding a lot in reserve for the sequel, but the writing is so damned terrific you'd be hard-pressed not to be caught up in it all.

Finally getting to see the places mentioned in the previous entries is great, and the ...more

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Jan 15, 2009

WK rated it

· review of another edition

3.0/4.0

STOP!

You've read Hyperion, right? Fall of Hyperion? You've noticed how breathtakingly brilliant they are and you want more?

Don't read these books yet. They're not a continuation. They use the same names in ostensibly the same world, but the underlying structure of the place has been changed entirely.

In other words, you're walking into a marketing trap. It looks like you're getting an extrapolation of the same concept, when in reality the En...more

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Oct 29, 2009

Kira rated it

· review of another edition

Definitely the weakest of the four, although it might not be strictly fair to lump the tetralogy together that way -- Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are basically one book stretched over two, even though the writing style changes. Endymion is in some ways a sequel, if one is looking strictly for chronological continuance of the Universe these characters inhabit. It's less so when one considers how brilliant and creative the first two books were, chocked with plot and heavy on characterization, ...more

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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...moreDan 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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Endymion (Hyperion Cantos #3)

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