A couple of his books, namely The Terror and Drood sound interesting. I don’t read a lot of fiction, but I do like to just have a fast entertaining read every once in awhile.
So, if you’re a fan of his, or not, please let me know if you think it would be worth my time, and where you would rate him among other writers of his ilk.
The *Hyperian Cantos *(*Hyperion *and the Fall of Hyperion) are the best science fiction written since Dune.
The sequels (*Endymion *and the Rise of Endymion) are very good, but not as good.
The *Ilium/Olympos *cycle is excellently written and hugely imaginative, but also deeply flawed.
The rest of his stuff that I’ve read is hit-or-miss.
He’s prolly best known for Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion. They are works of genius. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
The two Edymion sequels are good, but disappointing in comparison. Even more so, I think, because they retcon the first two books. They’re fundamentally different ideas dressed up in the same universe.
I also read Ilium after that and was hit with the same disappointment again. New ideas mixed with convenient old ideas, with the book as whole not working. He’s got craft. He’s an incredibly skilled writer. But I haven’t wanted to try anything else by him. I didn’t even bother with Olympos, which is the sequel to Ilium.
I recently read his first published novel Song of Kali and I thought it was very good. It’s about a writer who goes to Calcutta in the mid-70’s in pursuit of a new manuscript that has emerged from a poet who mysteriously vanished a decade before. Once there he becomes entangled with a cult of Kali worshipers. It’s atmospheric and punches the reader in the gut repeatedly.
The first Hyperion book is also impressive but the fact that he didn’t resolve it without changing format and making a much worse novel undermines it.
Summer of Night is the best horror story I’ve read. Well worth your time if you like horror.
I loved Hyperion - as a literature major all the literary allusions made me want to squee. And it’s an amazing read. I wasn’t as impressed with the sequel, but it was still good.
I’ve read some of his stuff, including The Terror (fantastic buildup; not-so-great ending), and was impressed enough that I plan on picking up Drood.
I really enjoyed Summer of Night. It almost seemed like the creepy, evil mirror version of Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life.
Rate him? For me, he’s up there with King and Straub. They’re sort of a trinity, the Horror Kings of the 80’s. 
I liked The Terror a lot, but then I like novels about sailing and explorers. The supernatural element was a surprise but I think Simmons made it work. I haven’t read Drood yet but it’s in the stack by the bed.
I ordered a signed copy of Drood but have not yet received it. I agree that it looks good.
The Terror was the best book I read last year and I read a LOT of books. 
It’s…haunting, to say the least. It also inspired a keen interest in Arctic exploration in me which I found very surprising. I’ve read several nonfiction books on the subject, which is not a subject I’d ever given much thought to before.
I’ve got Drood sitting by my bed too. I’m reading a few faster, shorter and lighter books before I dive into it.
I’m reading Hyperion right now-it was recommended as one of the best sci-fi books ever written on Goodreads.
I’ve read a lot of Simmons’ work, at least his horror and sci-fi. Here’s my take:
Summer of Night: I enjoyed the hell out of it when I read it, but remember very little of it today - something about some kids and a bell. Worth reading.
Carrion Comfort: 2 members of a group/race of people who have the ability to control minds go to war against each other. This one was wordy but a lot of fun - worth a read.
Fires of Eden: Polynesian god gets pissed off, goes volcanic. So-so.
The Hollow Man: Some astronaut is having issues. Completely boring.
Hyperion: His classic. Big, grand space opera written with panache. A number of people going on a journey tells their tale of how they got to this point ala The Canterbury Tales. The neat thing about Hyperion, however, is that each tale is stylistically different: Simmons wrote them mimicking the writing styles of 6-7 different science fiction authors. One is Bradbury, another is Gene Wolfe, etc.
Fall of Hyperion: The conclusion of the story started in Hyperion. Standard narrative structure, nothing stylistically like its predecessor. Despite this, I enjoy FoH more than the original and still consider Meina Gladstone one of my favorite characters in all science fiction.
Endymion: With Endymion, Simmons violated one of my Cardinal Rules of Fiction: The story must be “real” in the context of the story. In other words, I don’t want to read two books and then be told, “Well, what you read isn’t really what happened.”
It’s like that episode of Buffy, where they raised the possibility that the previous six years were merely a figment of imagination inside an insane teenagers mind… I hated that show for it made me ask “So why did I waste the past years of my life watching this if the characters aren’t ‘real’ even within the context of the show?”
Endymion was like that. A character died in FoH, one that Simmons either (a) forgot he killed off, or (b) wanted to bring back to life. His solution was
:rolleyes:
I also read the Olympos books and found them to be mere warmed-over Hyperion.
I read The Terror and LOVED it! If you have the remotest interest in arctic exploration or horror I highly recommend it. It has a huge cast of well developed characters, some historical, extremely interesting story, very good ending I thought, I just couldn’t put it down.
Drood looks brilliant and I can’t wait to read it.
That’s Phases of Gravity; your assessment is correct, though.
*Hollow Man *is about mind-readers, I think.
Here is Louis Bayard’s review of Drood. It’s discouraging, but I’m gonna read the book anyway.
This is it. Thanks guys. A lot of the non-fiction I have been reading lately have been about high altitude climbing, a subject I had zero interest in before reading Into Thin Air a few years ago. I also count King as one of my favorite horror writers, so I think I’ve been sold. I’m picking The Terror and Drood up after work. I’m not a big sci-fi reader, but your love for Hyperion means the man can tell a story, at the very least.
Thanks guys.
Boy, do I read Simmons! I’ve loved the guy’s books ever since the Song of Kali and Carrion Comfort. He’s up there with Straub in my estimation, except not only does he write great horror he’s also a fantastic sf author. The Shrike from the Hyperion saga is one of the most brilliant and fearsome creations ever.
Good news (or bad if you’re distrustful of Hollywood’s treatment of good books) is that Warner have optioned the first two books of the Hyperion Cantos. It won’t be easy to film but there’s a possible classic scifi movie there if they do it right.
One of his early works, Carrion Comfort, is also in production or pre-production with a French studio.
Dan Simmons is one of the titans of both sf and horror. Last one I read of his was The Terror, a magnificent work, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Drood, especially as I love Dickens.
I’ve only read Hyperion and it’s sequels, but I really enjoyed them.
Never did figure out exactly what or who the Shrike was though
Agree with all that’s been said about the Hyperion books.
Darwin’s Blade was one of the worst novels I’d ever read. It put me off reading any other Simmons.
I loved both Hyperion and The Terror. These two novels are vastly different, but I think the enjoyment of each really depends on if you can “go with it.” In The Terror, you have to accept the supernatural resolution, for Hyperion the lack of resolution.
This thread is making me wonder why I haven’t read more Dan Simmons. Hmm, I do have that Barnes and Noble gift card…