ALT.SF4M

  Endymion Review

   • s******j@**.com
     27/04/1996 00:00:000 UTC

     O.K. . . . I finished Simmon's latest opus, and am prepared to report.

     _Endymion_ is a "sort of" sequel to _Hyperion_ and _Fall of Hyperion_.
     It's

     set about 250 years after the apocalyptic goings-on in those books, in
     which

     it was revealed then that humanity was a pawn in a massive struggle
     between

     godlike intelligences battling in the far distant future. Humanity
     escaped

     enslavement and/or destruction, at the cost of the destruction of its

     interstellar civilization (the Hegemony). At the close of _Fall of

     Hyperion,_ it seeemed that the remnants of the Hegemony was on its way

     to merging with the deep-space "Ouster" civilization.

     Simmons seems to have pulled the "return of the bad guys" trick to

     justify _Endymion_. The Ousters are again on the outs, and a
     authoritarian

     and warped version of the Catholic church rules the worlds of humanity.

     The "Pax" uses cruciforms (parasitic life forms invented by the nasty

     AIs) to give its followers near-eternal life. Enter Anaea, daughter of

     one of the characters from _Hyperion_. She emerges from a time-warp from

     237 years in the past to fulfill some sort of quasi-religious destiny.

     With the help of Hyperion native Raul Endymion, she flees the clutches
     of

     the Pax and begins a journey through the supposedly-inert teleportation

     portals that once linked the River Tethys . . . a virtual river that ran

     accross the surface of many Hegemony worlds.

     _Endymion_ is well paced and well written, as one would expect of
     Simmons.

     It is not a complete book however. It doesn't mean much without having

     read the _Hyperion_ books, and there's still a lot more to Anaea's
     career

     as a sort of messiah to be told. Also, Anaea herself is a sort of
     cliche;

     a holy child wise before her time. The "bad guys" -- a trio of Pax

     soldiers and starmen sent to hunt her down -- are more interesting
     people.

     Worth reading, but tackle _Hyperion_ and _Fall of Hyperion_ first.

     Fun: ** 1/2

     Wonder: ** 1/2

     Technical: *** 1/2

     (Fun: A measure of enjoyment. Wonder: A measure of the imaginitive
     intensity

     and awe-full ness of the book. Technical: Literary merit. How well it
     was

     written.)

     --

     +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

     ***@***.com ~ s*****s@a*****.***u.edu ~ s******j@**.com

     http://www.ini.cmu.edu/~sjones/