Olympos

by Dan Simmons

Other authorsGary Ruddell (Cover artist), Ervin Serrano (Cover designer)
Hardcover, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

PS3569.I47292 O49

Publication

HarperCollins (New York, 2005). 1st edition, 1st printing. 704 pages. $25.95.

Description

Beneath the gaze of the gods, the mighty armies of Greece and Troy met in fierce and glorious combat, scrupulously following the text set forth in Homer's timeless narrative. But that was before twenty-first-century scholar Thomas Hockenberry stirred the bloody brew, causing an enraged Achilles to join forces with his archenemy Hector and turn his murderous wrath on Zeus and the entire pantheon of divine manipulators; before the swift and terrible mechanical creatures that catered for centuries to the pitiful idle remnants of Earth's human race began massing in the millions, to exterminate rather than serve. And now all bets are off.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Cecrow
I was struck beforehand by the number of surprisingly negative reviews for Olympos. It seemed almost as though the general opinion was that this duology comes off the rails in its second half. I thought the previous book (Ilium) was fantastic, admiring its craftsmanship, so I stubbornly forged
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ahead. But I decided to outline in advance the questions I would use to decide for myself whether this really was a sequel worth pursuing. Now that I've finished reading it, I can answer those (while trying to remain spoiler-free):

Does Olympos maintain the same pacing and style as Ilium?
Yes, very similar to Ilium. Once it gets moving, the cliff-hanger style for chapter endings kicks in again. Some of the Greek and Trojan characters get to tell their point-of-view, which they didn't in Ilium, and it serves the story. Dan Simmons primarily writes horror novels and this was evident in Ilium. It's evident again here, so be ready for that. One cautionary note is that Olympos is arguably more fantasy-esque than the first book; everything still develops very logically and remains consistent (the series doesn't suddenly become Alice in Wonderland), but if you're big on sci-fi while not so much on fantasy then you might find this a turn-off. There's the occasional scene that's rather surreal, yet it's always explicable.

Does it answer the questions left by Ilium?
Yes. It was clear to me in the first volume that there were more great beings than the Greek Gods at work in this universe, and that these would have to be further explored. You may recall in Ilium we met Prospero briefly, and heard of Setebos. This novel reveals considerably more about them. Along the way we get several minor revelations that tie together the different elements and answer the mysteries set up in Ilium. Just as I'd hoped for, Olympos reveals "the strings behind the puppet show". You'll end this duology with an excellent grasp on how this universe came to be and how it operates, who all these players are, and what they want.

Are Ilium's storylines resolved, with satisfying conclusions?
Yes. I'm thinking here of the three stories from Ilium: the old-style humans on Earth, the moravecs from Jupiter, and Hockenberry. When I say satisfying conclusions, I mean adequate coverage and wrap-up for each of them. You're made to wait a while at first regarding what the old-style humans have been up to, but things pick up right where they left off with Hockenberry and the moravecs. Then Hockenberry takes a back seat for a while. But when it's all said and done, you're provided an ending that will satisfy for each thread.

Does Olympos model itself on Homer's Odyssey, like the first book did with the Iliad?
I asked this one as a matter of curiosity. The answer is, yes and no; arguably not as directly. That's nothing that should determine whether you read it or not, unless you were especially looking forward to a closer retelling. Odysseus does play a very key role in the story.

Were there any unusual indications of prejudice on the part of the author?
No. This question was triggered by some particularly curious reviews decrying the author's portrayal of Muslims. This must stem from instances in Olympos where, as facts about this future Earth's history emerge [warning: a very small spoiler here], much wrongdoing and prejudice is attributed to a defunct political entity identified as the Global Caliphate. No where does Simmons' narrative paint all Muslims with one brush or attribute folly to their religion in a general way. Rather, the theme is that humanity is destined to travel dangerous paths in repetition under one religion, ideology, etc. or another, and that it might as easily occur in a given instance via any other.

My opinion: you should read Olympos if Ilium was a great ride for you and you liked its mix of sci-fi with fantasy overtones, nothing especially rubbed you the wrong way, and you want to see how things turn out. Doesn't that go for every series? I think a comparison with Steven Erikson's handling of fantasy is apt: Ilium/Olympos isn't something you'd use to introduce someone to sci-fi, but after you're comfortable with the genre and open to trying something unusual that reads a bit like fantasy, this is it. This was as good a ride as the first book, if not better: one wild cliff-hanger after another, several moments of horror, and a liberal sprinkling of 'stand up and cheer' episodes. I honestly can't find what's lacking that everyone else seems to be complaining about, unless it's that sense of the story drifting increasingly far from hard sci-fi. Maybe you need a fantasy-fan streak?

Skip Olympos if Ilium was confusing or unsatisfying for you, or you're just plain tired of all the Greek/Trojan stuff, because this is more of the same. If the most compelling characters for you in Ilium were the old-style Earthlings, you may be frustrated with how long it takes to return to them here (although there's plenty enough about them, once returned to). If you were irritated by Ilium's cliff-hanger chapter endings that sent you off to pursue events in another storyline before returning to see how things turn out in this one, then beware because that same style is used here too. I guess you might also skip Olympos if you thought Ilium sufficiently 'resolved' the story (although I can't imagine why you would).

Bottom line: a consistent, logical, very satisfying 2nd half and conclusion to the story begun in Ilium.

PS: would love to read more about moravecs!
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LibraryThing member ub1707
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was quite surprised to read so many negative reactions to in after the fact. Did I miss something when reading it the first time? I don't know, all I can say it that I was not let down by second half of this duology.
LibraryThing member TimothyBurke
I like Simmons' big-scale SF work and loathe his horror writing, particularly Song of Kali.

This is the first time that I think he's done poorly in the former category. I really enjoyed Ilium, the first book in this series, but this one is a hugely disappointing conclusion. Very little is explained
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satisfactorily, the plot unravels into confusion, the sharpness of the characterization evaporates, and there's a lot of bloat. I can't help but have the feeling that Simmons wrote Ilium without a clear sense of the resolution of a lot of what he set in motion.
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LibraryThing member r00fus
Nice theme and characters, poor setup, poor development, and no explanation.
Random anti-muslim crap (I'm not muslim, but wtf?)
LibraryThing member maledei
disappointing. i scipped through about half of the book, some storylines are just totally boring and unnecessary. the whole ada-sideline bored me to death. in the end, everything goes back to the old capitalistic way we ought to live, what a fucking happy end that is.
LibraryThing member thelorelei
I thought Dan Simmons had written himself into a corner with "Ilium," his mind-bending, classic literature sampling, time hopping saga of future Earth and Mars, genetically improved humans, post-humans, cyborgs, and alternative universes.
Luckily, it turns out that Mr. Simmons is a nimble author,
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and he knew what he was doing when he spun himself a narrative web this complicated.
While "Olympos" was in itself an engaging read, with plenty of action, emotion, and tragedy, I was especially pleased to find that the story went beyond these surface pleasures, and the author had a deeper point to make about the power of human creativity and history and consciousness.
I will probably add these two books to my permanent collection.
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LibraryThing member jakobp
Being a huge fan of Hyperion and its sequls, this book was a total disappointment. If Simmons could stick to writing SF and stop making narrow-minded commentary on recent political events, expressing islamophobia as well as anti-European sentiments it could have been enjoyable. The book is sadly
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just a platform for Simmons's political views which seem to be characterized by judgmental mentality and ignorance.
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LibraryThing member FKarr
great concept-but somehow misses; resurrected 20th century scholar observes aliens reenacting Trojan War, while other related aliens try to exterminate remains of humanity
LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
By the end of Ilium, the first part of this book (as Simmons put it, imagine if they published War first and then waited a year or two for Peace), the Trojan War had gone completely off course, as the Greeks and the Trojans had formed an alliance in a war against the gods. The moravec expedition
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from the moons of Jupiter had joined forces with the Greeks/Trojans, and meanwhile the postliterate Eden of human Earth had fallen, with the robotic servants that had protected the humans turning against them and the technology that had guaranteed them exactly a century of life (for a price) destroyed.

In Olympos, the Mars/Ilium plot and the Earth plot come together, although the characters from the two halves do not interact until the last hundred pages. There is an odd development involving a submarine near the end of the book as well- a strange threat that does not seem to relate to any of the others, and which is introduced a comparatively short time before it is solved, given that we are talking about at least sixteen hundred pages for the entire story. Its function seems to be only to put one of the humans at risk of death, and to remove a moravec ship, and surely there would be a way to accomplish those things that would be more related to the rest of the book?

We knew from the first book that Hockenberry was severely opposed to the idea of homosexuality in the Iliad, saying that those who see it are looking from a modern perspective. That may be true, however it is as impossible to know that it was *not* there as it is to know for a fact that it was. I mention this again because at the end of Olympos, Hockenberry is just as hostile in emphasizing that he and a fellow scholic friend are partners in the business sense- not that anybody would expect Hockenberry to mean anything else, as he has shown no sign of being anything besides straight, but the passage suggests that the entire concept of male partners in the sexual sense is bizarre. A character being rather homophobic would be less unsettling if he weren't the only first-person narrator in the book.

Those things said, this is an epic work, about the great potential of humanity for good and evil, and the fact that it has flaws should not stop anybody from reading it.
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LibraryThing member webguy94301
Great follow-up to the first book and interesting way to blend history, mythology and science fiction into one story... great author
LibraryThing member anabellebf
Simmons' usual play with genres at its best. Who wouldn't like to think Prospero really existed, or that Proust's theories were real?
LibraryThing member Bbec
the editor of this should be sacked. terribly obvious mistakes. It's a boys book, but kept me reading none the less.
LibraryThing member Reysbro
A fantastic and satisfying end to the tale beginning in "Illium". Simmons' imagination never ceases to amaze in its complexity of plot and events inter-vined with a vision of the future that is set beyond any expectation of linearity.
LibraryThing member Ludi_Ling
Illium was a brilliant book, catering to every kind of reader on many different levels, in ways most of us could never even dream of. A book that manages to successfully combine science fiction, Greek mythology and Proust into its narrative just has to be a gem. And that was Illium, despite its
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flaws. A gem.

Olympos had a lot to live up to. Did it manage it?

Well, yes and no, depending on how you look at it. If you want more science fiction, more mythology, more epic battle scenes and more Proust, you will certainly find it here. But as a narrative, as a story as a whole, it is disappointing. Granted, Illium left many threads dangling, and these needed to be tied up. In Olympos, the result is a rambling, often incoherent, and sometimes just plain monotonous plot. By the last third of the book, I found myself skipping huge chunks that just seemed irrelevant and over-wrought. Much of the mystery of Illium is well... de-mystified in Olympos. And not in a necessarily good way. Some things are best left unsaid. The Star Wars prequels are an example of this. Olympos is of the same ilk. The mysteries of Illium were so mind-boggling and intriguing, that when you find them answered in Olympos, you end up wishing you had not discovered such inane and frankly implausible answers.

But I could have forgiven all of this if not for the fact that much of Olympos' content plain insulted and offended me. Simmons seems to have a frankly juvenile and adolescent obsession with sex. Some of his scenes verge on the pornographic, and his attitude towards the female characters is sometimes disturbing. For example, the one deed that the main character must perform in order to save the world is to have sex with an unconscious woman; this scene is described in minute, grandiose and unnecessary detail. Such scenes left me with the sense that Simmons clearly had something to get off his chest - and whatever it was was something also best left unsaid.

Those impressed with Illium will want to read this just to find some closure if nothing else. I suspect many of them will be disappointed. Fans of Simmons will probably like it despite all its deep and glaring flaws. As a fan of Illium but not of Simmons, I found this book disappointing, disturbing and offensive. It had its high points, and its intricacies of conception are to be admired. But as a novel as a whole, I would give only one piece of advice for the 'uninitiated' - tread with caution.
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LibraryThing member memccauley6
What started out as an addictive romp trough the Trojan War ended with a whimper. I may still need the Ilium Anonymous Zeus mentions - but it will not be a painful withdrawal.

In this sequel to the amazing Ilium, Simmons continues his delightful interweaving of Shakespeare, Proust, Homer, Virgil
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and Nabakov (just to name a few) with time travel, robots and genetically modified beings.

However, the abrupt changes in story arcs and subplots are unsettling, and the neat little bows tying up the tale are hard to swallow - even for fans of The Bard’s comedies.

Of special note: the author’s inclusion of the delightfully poignant poem by daughter Jane Simmons may just make up for the plot deficiencies.
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LibraryThing member publiusdb
Fascinating, creative, and epic. Got a bit racy at parts, and I found myself skipping pages...however, it was well worth the read. Long, drawn out, and complex, I enjoyed this novel.
LibraryThing member rphbamf
Ilium by Dan Simmons.

Wow. This is a severely heavy book. Not only in size, but in depth. Greek mythology, time travel, physics, robots. Its all in there. Seriously. And connected to each other. And there’s a sequel, which I got from the library today.

Now, as heavy as this book is, I liked it.
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Didn’t love it. Not putting it on my “To Buy€? list. At least not yet. Have to wait until I finish that sequel.

But anyway, I really cant give a good summary without giving the book away. Here’s what Amazon said:

“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 aching for the sequel.
On Earth, a post-technological group of humans, pampered by servant machines and easy travel via "faxing," begins to question its beginnings. Meanwhile, a team of sentient and Shakespeare-quoting robots from Jupiter's lunar system embark on a mission to Mars to investigate an increase in dangerous quantum fluctuations. On the Red Planet, they'll find a race of metahumans living out existence as the pantheon of classic Greek gods. These "gods" have recreated the Trojan War with reconstituted Greeks and Trojans and staffed it with scholars from throughout Earth's history who observe the events and report on the accuracy of Homer's Iliad. One of these scholars, Thomas Hockenberry, finds himself tangled in the midst of interplay between the gods and their playthings and sends the war reeling in a direction the blind poet could have never imagined.
Simmons creates an exciting and thrilling tale set in the thick of the Trojan War as seen through Hockenberry's 20th-century eyes. At the same time, Simmons's robots study Shakespeare and Proust and the origin-seeking Earthlings find themselves caught in a murderous retelling of The Tempest. Reading this highly literate novel does take more than a passing familiarity with at least The Iliad but readers who can dive into these heady waters and swim with the current will be amply rewarded. --Jeremy Pugh --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.�

That covers about a quarter of what the book is actually about. I read that review, and realized very quickly that I was in over my head. But don’t let that scare you off. I really liked this book.

Three stars on LibraryThing
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LibraryThing member Karlstar
I found this book a bit confusing at times, seeing as it is some strange combination of Shakespeare and Greek mythology jammed together in the distant future, but it was still excellent. Complex and enthralling.
LibraryThing member expatscot
Ilium was weird, Olympos is even weirder.

It's a diverting romp though the Iliad and Aeneid but I have to say that if my scholarly Greek history was an awful lot better then I might have gotten more from this book. I'm not sure I would though as it's not written in a "knowing" way, although if you
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have no clue who the Greek and Trojan heroes were you might struggle.

The book is pretty hefty and that works against it a little as although the pace can be decent, the complexities are ever-present and the remaining pages can seem daunting. However, the tale is decent enough and although there are some aspects that seem unbelievable, such as Hockenberry and Helen, the Sci-Fi is decently constructed with a number of good ideas that I think will stay with the reader.
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LibraryThing member Audacity88
Rather weaker than its predecessor Ilium.
LibraryThing member santhony
This is the second and final installment of a very ambitious work, which encompasses multiple story threads, time frames, galaxies and life forms. We have the Trojan War, overseen by Greek Gods located on Mars, moraveks dispatched from Jovian moons, Shakespearean characters in real life (Prospero
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and Caliban) and a far future Earth, inhabited by the remnants of the human race, but controlled by post-human constructs.

This book cannot be read “stand alone”, and if you have read and enjoyed the first book, I would definitely finish the job. This book is actually just a straight-line continuation of Ilium. In effect, they act as a single enormous book, which, given the fact that Simmons wrote it, could have been several hundred pages shorter without losing anything.

As I said, it is very ambitious, and at times perhaps excessively so. Some of the action is irretrievably silly and absurd, but not to the extent of making the work unreadable. I’m not sure I would recommend starting the first book, but once you are 800 pages in, it is probably advisable to continue.
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LibraryThing member clstaff
Finishes the Ilium/Olympos duology perfectly. The duology is written as one big story as opposed to 2 separate ones, which means it is a seamless transition between them and half the second book isn't used to recount the first, which so often happens.
LibraryThing member burritapal
REALLY liked this book, the sequel to Ilium. I liked how it had Proust's Remembrance of things past, and In search of lost time, Shakespeare, the Greek and Trojan war, Mars (my favorite planet after Earth), Machu Picchu, . . . Wow. Next is Hyperion.

Awards

Locus Award (Nominee — Science Fiction Novel — 2006)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2005-06

Physical description

690 p.; 6.13 inches

ISBN

0380978946 / 9780380978946

Local notes

Significant damage to book block.
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