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Old 13-October-2005, 02:32 AM
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Default Anybody read Ilium by Dan Simmons yet? Is it any good?

Sounds interesting.
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Old 13-October-2005, 02:02 PM
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Haven't read it but it does look interesting. Didn't Zelazny do a book in which the main characters were living their lives as Hindu gods? Lord of Light, I believe.
I like Simmons in general, espcially Song of Kali, so I might pick this one up.
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Old 13-October-2005, 02:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by James_Digriz
Sounds interesting.
I read Ilium and Olympos.
Not bad. But I did not enjoy them as much as previous works, though I really love the moravecs.
The "science" behind the "fiction" is not particularly original.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gethen
I like Simmons in general, espcially Song of Kali, so I might pick this one up.
I liked this one, though it is not a happy reading.
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Old 13-October-2005, 02:34 PM
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I read and liked it, though it's the first book I've read by the guy so I can't really compare it to the others.
It's not really about anyone being gods, per se... there are gods, but they're in people's imaginations, or something... I have to read the sequel to get what's going on in that front. It's a very "science meets religion" book, kind of like "Angels and Demons" except "Ilium" is good.
"Ilium" is pretty much divided into three seperate storylines that don't start intersecting until close to the end: a hard sci-fi story (cyborgs living in the Jovian system), a utopia-dystopia story (GM humans slowly devolving) and a spy novel (a dead guy that the "gods" brought back to study the Trojan war).
It's a good book with some interesting plot twists and ideas from the author, so I'd read it if i were you.
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Old 13-October-2005, 06:44 PM
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Haven't read Ilium, but the Hyperion series is good, if a bit odd.
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Old 14-October-2005, 12:36 AM
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Thanks for the reviews guys. The best Sci-Fi series I have read recently is The Phoenix Exultant series by John Wright. Real wild stuff.

He's writing a fantasy series now which is real page turner also. I read the first one in three days.
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Old 14-October-2005, 10:05 AM
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I forgot to add:
reading Ilium will be more enjoyable if you know something about ancient Greek mythology and the Iliad.
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