Ilium

By: Dan Simmons

Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau

Length: 29 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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 21st-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 for the wary scholic, one dictated by Aphrodite herself.

With the help of 40th-century technology, Hockenberry is to infiltrate Olympos, spy on its divine inhabitants...and ultimately destroy Aphrodite's sister and rival, the goddess Pallas Athena. On an Earth profoundly changed since the departure of the Post-Humans centuries earlier, the great events on the bloody plains of Ilium serve as mere entertainment.

Its scenes of unrivaled heroics and unequaled carnage add excitement to human lives devoid of courage, strife, labor, and purpose. But this eloi-like existence is not enough for Harman, a man in the last year of his last 20. That rarest of post-postmodern men - an "adventurer" - he intends to explore far beyond the boundaries of his world before his allotted time expires, in search of a lost past, a devastating truth, and an escape from his own inevitable "final fax." Meanwhile, from the radiation-swept reaches of Jovian space, four sentient machines race to investigate - and, perhaps, terminate - the potentially catastrophic emissions of unexplained quantum-flux emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of Mars.

©2003 Dan Simmons (P)2014 Audible Inc.

a great book if you're into books

this book is incredibly serious and linguistically dense. there are jokes and layers that I'm sure I've missed and I frankly wish I had a more classical education in early classical literature so that I could fully appreciate it. however even to a layman this book is loads of freaking fun I highly recommend indulging. and when it gets boring because they're talking about things that you don't understand just bear with it because it's almost the fact that you don't understand it that makes it relevant

very good time travel story

this is my favorite simmons story so far less snobby than hyperion and more fun its worth it just to hear Achilles throwing f bombs and what red blooded nerd boy hasn't wanted to fight in the Trojan war?

The war of Troy goes bananas

Amazing story that manages to hook you through ever more intriguing scenes. Reminds one of the TV series Lost, with the added privilege of offering satisfying explanations at the end, to most of what's going on in the background. This book is crazy, funny, complex, instructive. It comes from the author's clearly expressed love for literature, and one can see such love shining through in every chapter.
Dan Simmons goes crazy and spares nothing: AI's that feel more human than the humans, gods entangled in the mortals' dramas and mortals ordering gods around.
Sci-Fi allows you to write a story like this. That's why to me, this is the right way to do Sci-Fi. Bravo.

a book for sifi loving classical lit nerds

A bit of a slow burn that expects you to have at least a spark notes understanding of Homer, Shakespeare's poems and related works, and a philosophical overview of Proust.
If your classical literature nerd AND you want a Dune esk SiFi adventure you will not find anything better to scratch that itch, but it's a pretty niche itch

An abdsolutely awesome story!

A great read (or listen actually) if you liked the Hyperion series you will love this.

Confusing

I found this book terribly confusing. Just when I felt I had a sense of a character the author would wildly stagger off to another adventure with other characters and scenes that weren't well defined. I felt that the author threw lots of words and descriptions to try to convince the listener that the reality of the story had some substance. In believable fantasy and sci-fi the pseudo science is at least consistent or based on descriptions that make the story's world real. But it seemed transparent and flimsy. I could not finish the book having lost interest in it about half way through. The concept seemed interesting but the execution was not well done in my opinion.

Morvaks, LGM, Trojans and more...

At first I'm listening to this book and I'm, "What?" And then it's over.

I love this author, especially his great characters. I read Hyperion and listened to the rest of the series. This book was a great counter weight to the other works I've read and listened to so far.

Exceptional

Simmons manages to capture your attention and to entertain while he weaves multiple stories and improbable characters together. I’ve read hundreds of sci-if books, and many different renderings of Greek mythology; and I have to say that Ilium and Olympos are up there on my list of favorites.

Slow to start, but a fun world

The process of introducing all the characters is slow and confusing. But once you meet the old lady it starts getting fun.

Worthwhile listen

Not nearly as interesting as the Hyperion series but still good! It gets slow in a few places but picks up toward the end.