# Dan Simmons' new novel, Ilium **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289 "2003-09-18T02:53:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/1 "2003-09-18T02:53:20Z")
A new science fiction novel (two-parter) from Dan Simmons - what’s not to love? I just bought it tonight and am looking forward to diving into it. Ala _Hyperion_ it is based upon epic poetry, this time Homers _Illiad_ and _Odyssey_. Has anybody here read it yet? What do you think? Use spoiler tags, please - I’ll probably read them (for me its the journey, not the destination), but others tend to object to having plot points given away. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/2 "2003-09-18T02:54:54Z")
Oh, and if this book is too new to have many readers, this can be just a general Dan Simmons discussion thread. I’ve enjoyed everything of his that I read, with the exception-proving “Hollow Man.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/3 "2003-09-18T02:56:33Z")
Gah, that last sentence sure sucks, doesn’t it? "… _other than_ the exception-proving ‘Hollow Man.’ " ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/4 "2003-09-18T03:02:12Z")
Talk to yourself much? 😃 Seriously, I enjoyed the Hyperion/Endymion saga a lot. Hollow Man was okay. I’ll have to keep my eye out for the new novel. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/5 "2003-09-18T03:10:45Z")
Not really. 😃 But that third post was necessary to save my reputation as a well-written, eruditic Doper. At least, that’s how I view myself. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/6 "2003-09-18T03:10:45Z")
Liked (in order): Carrion Comfort Children of the Night Summer of Night Hyperon/Endymion Crook Factory Disliked[/U): Darwins Blade Song of Kali Hollow man When he is good – he is REALLY excellent, and/but when he is Bad he is Really, really bad. For me the the excellent has so far outweighed the horrible and I will read the new book – & look forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/7 "2003-09-18T03:26:49Z")
Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion were both excellent; at the top of my list of books to recommend to folks. The final two (Endymion and Rise of Endymion) were fairly flat, IMO. Being a bit of a literature and classics geek, I await with baited breath an oportunity to see Simmons do to Homer what he did to Keats. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/8 "2003-09-18T04:05:58Z")
I’m an avowed Simmons fan… I like almost everything he’s written. Though _Darwin’s Blade_ is definitely a change of gears from his usual work, I found it a really fun (if somewhat shallow) thriller. It didn’t have the depth I’ve come to expect from Simmons, but the genre he was writing in doesn’t really require depth. I’m looking forward to _Ilium_. I’ve even convinced the science fiction book club I recently joined to read it in a few months. I think it was the description of Shakespeare-quoting robots and the links to Homeric myth which did it. The book has the potential to be really good. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/9 "2003-09-18T12:12:13Z")
I’m about halfway through _Ilium_. He’s working on a truly epic scale this time. I’m liking it, but can’t really comment until I finish. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/10 "2003-09-18T13:12:35Z")
Ilium was great. It feels very well researched. I can’t honestly say I’ve ever ran across anything quite like it. There’s just something profoundly amusing about robots who spend most of their time arguing about Proust and Shakespeare. And that one-liner at the very end of the novel…I had to put down the novel, I was laughing so hard. You’ll know which one I mean when you get to it. There are a few parts that didn’t feel like Simmons went into enough depth about… The Gods’ origins, for example. …but then again, it feels like it’s going to be part of a series, so I’m pretty sure that’s not going to be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dan-simmons-new-novel-ilium/202289/11 "2003-09-18T13:13:56Z")
Wow… this is the first time ever I have _not_ looked in a spoiler box. I’m really excited for this book all of a sudden.