MASTERPIECE. ( )

Great second half to one of the more interesting sc-fi operas I've read. More classically sci-fi than Hyperion and very much more strident in it's approach to tackling relevant meta-issues of corruption, entropy and fundamentalism.

I recommend this book to everyone I meet, and even though it lacks the emotional impact (readers of Hyperion will understand who I mean!) of the Rachel storyline from Hyperion the characters are well drawn enough to keep you involved.

Not only is it intellectually and narratively deep, I could not put this book down. This series is a close second in my short list of Literary Crack, after the His Dark Materials trilogy...you have been warned!

Wow.

I loved the Hyperion Omnibus, the first two books in this series. Dan Simmons is a teacher of gifted children and it shows. They are massive books, and crammed full of the amount of information (most of it non-fictional information) that would take any average human being a lifetime to collect.

Set in the same universe as Hyperion, in our future, it follows on in a way I never predicted. Instead of trying to capture the same story as the first two books, he jumps ahead a couple of centuries to new heros and heroines trying to rid the world of the hypocritical and controllling religion that seems to have flourished.

It is a romance. It is an action. The heroine (she is NOT the messiah, she is a very naughty girl) is the clever insightful child of a human and an AI, who knows her probable future and leads her dumb hunk of a hero across countless worlds teaching others, and him, about how the humans need to expand their minds.

It is a very spiritual book, although it seems anti-Christian, it isn't. It fights the there being one dominant religion, and is anti-extremist, quite relevant in this day and age.

The difficulty I had were with the very obvious references to this century. Although Simmons' knowledge spans a lot of our history, he couldn't but help refer back to our time (the last 50 years) a little bit too much for my liking, although I can understand how hard it is not to when you are creating a universe based on our future.

The hero was also just a bit too stupid. I would have liked him to have a little bit of a clue, but it must be hard when the love of your life really does know everything ; ).

All in all, a fantastic series. It kept me absorbed for hours and hours, kept me up late, and found me discussing its themes with everyone I met. A lot of forward thinking stuff but ultimately idealistic - wouldn't it be great, huh? ( )

To long and boring ( )