Ilium

, #1

752 pages

Langue : English

Publié 27 juin 2005 par HarperTorch.

ISBN :
978-0-380-81792-4
ISBN copié !

Voir sur OpenLibrary

4 étoiles (1 critique)

From the author of the Hyperion Cantos -- one of the most acclaimed popular series in contemporary science fiction -- comes a powerful epic of high-tech gods, human heroes, total war, and the extraordinary transcendence of ordinary beings. The first book in a two-part epic. "I am in awe of Dan Simmons." -- Stephen King. From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing -- and often influencing -- the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former twenty-first-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead. But the muse he serves has a new assignment …

10 éditions

a publié une critique de Ilium par Dan Simmons (Ilium, #1)

Like 3 novels in 1

4 étoiles

"Illium" is a good SF book, with some interesting concepts.

It's a bit difficult to give an excerpt, because the book has three separate storylines. Only two of them come together, and even that only happens at the end.

The first storyline is that of Thomas Hockenberry, Ph.D., and is told in a first-person perspective. He is a scholar of classical literature and the Greek gods have tasked him with recording the events of the Trojan War. The Greek gods know about Homer's poem but are not allowed to know the contents, hence they set humans to check if the war is unfolding like Homer said it would.

The second storyline is about a group of robot-like beings called moravecs. They live and work at the asteroid belt and beyond. Their leaders have learned that there is a lot of quantum activity going on around Mars, which represents a threat …