Book Review: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

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With The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons brings his four-book Hyperion Cantos to a satisfying close. While not quite reaching the same lofty heights as its predecessors, owing mostly to a sagging middle section that grinds the narrative to a halt, Simmons ultimately sticks the landing and fulfills the promise of Hyperion, solving most of the mysteries while leaving a few others up to the readers’ imagination.

We begin The Rise of Endymion four years after the previous book on Old Earth, where Raul Endymion, Aenea, and their android friend A. Bettik have fallen in with a commune at Taliesen West in the deserts of Arizona run by a cybrid recreation of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. After Wright’s death, the now sixteen-year-old Aenea informs all residents that they must leave Earth and travel to new worlds via farcaster–strange, given that all such technology was destroyed after the Hegemony’s fall as seen in The Fall of Hyperion. But Aenea, the One who Teaches, messiah and saviour of the universe, daughter of the human Brawne Lamia and the cybrid John Keates, has her ways. 

Raul is the last to leave, and his solo journey down the Mississippi river, through long-dormant farcasters to other worlds, echoes that of Endymion, but here there is added danger: not only is the Pax after him, but the TechnoCore’s newest killing machine Rhadamanth Nemes has been rescued from her prison of molten rock on the planet God’s Grove by three other such constructs, and they’re all after Raul. His journey through various worlds is exciting, as is his bout with a kidney stone that nearly derails his entire mission, and oh yeah, the Shrike pops up too. And Simmons keeps up his trend of exploring big ideas while maintaining that sci-fi sense of wonder we love about the genre, most notably when Raul teleports into the breathable atmosphere of a gas giant, where he must contend with planet-sized lightning storms and weird gasbag-like creatures. 

It’s excellent and eminently readable, which makes part two all the more disappointing. Raul reunites with his friends on the planet of T’ien Shan, and while that planet of mountains poking above a toxic atmosphere is interesting, not much happens save for a lot of talking. Theological discussions between Pax officials and the Dalai Lama devolve into “Ha ha Christinaity is silly” followed by some pseudo-deep pop Buddhism, but the feared sucker-punch never came. And then by the end of part two, the action once again ramps up into a bracing and ultimately rewarding part 3.

I like how Simmons maintains a respect for all religion, including Christinaity, despite the fact that the Catholic Church are one of the main villains, the other being the parasitic AIs of the TechnoCore. As Simmons telegraphed in the previous book, Christianity isn’t the villain–what the Pax, aided by the TechnoCore and their ability to effect bodily resurrection, has done to the Church is the villain. And Father Captain Federico de Soya remains one of the best antagonists–not villains (there’s a difference)–I’ve seen in fiction. 

Sure, some of Simmons’ theology and philosophy is New Agey and a bit jumbled. But it’s interesting, and it makes for a hell of a science fiction epic. Simmons wraps up plot threads that began in the first book, and while some are left unresolved, they did more to fire my imagination than leave me hanging. And though I called many of the twists and major plot points, there were some that honestly caught me by surprise, yet thinking back did not come out of the blue. You learn why the Pax and the TechnoCore fear Aenea so, what her mission truly is, and why she had to send Raul and all of those other denizens of Taliesin West on their world-hopping journeys. The Hyperion Cantos are a masterclass in plotting.

My biggest gripes with The Rise of Endymion are the same I had with Endymion: Raul and Aenea are pretty bland characters. Both have a whiff of Mary Sue about them. Raul’s “I’m just a dumb hick from a backwater planet” shtick wears thin, especially since he knows how to do everything based on a deep well of past experience, knows a lot about history and religion, and can recite vast reams of poetry at will. And Aenea is almost Deus ex machina personified–something or someone always pops up to save her in ways that sometimes stretch credibility. But both characters are still heroic and brave, and do the right thing even at great personal cost. I just found them compared to de Soya and especially when compared to Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion‘s rich casts of weirdos.

This series is great, and I recommend it to any sci-fi fan. If I had to rate each book, it would be as follows:

Hyperion : 10 out of 10. Having read the rest of the series makes me appreciate the mysteries of Hyperion more.
The Fall of Hyperion : 9.5 out of 10. There are some confusing aspects, but they in no way detract from the gripping narrative.
Endymion : 9.5 out of 10. Raul and Aenea’s relative blandness aside, this is a two-fisted action chase with high stakes and deep implications.
The Rise of Endymion: 8.5 out of 10. The sagging middle doesn’t totally sink The Rise of Endymion, coming between an exciting part one and part three’s race to the finish, it made getting through this book a bit of a slog.

That brings us to a numerical rating of 9.375 for the whole series. 

And check out another wonderful cover by Gary Ruddell:

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I don’t have much else to say save that I urge anyone into epic sci-fi but who wants something off the beaten path to at least give Hyperion a try. If you enjoy that book, I really think you’ll enjoy the entire series.

My own sci-fi saga has just gotten started. Get in on the ground floor now before book two comes out later this year.