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Book Reviews of Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1)

Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1)
Ilium - Ilium, Bk 1
Author: Dan Simmons
ISBN-13: 9780380817924
ISBN-10: 0380817926
Publication Date: 7/1/2005
Pages: 731
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 92

3.9 stars, based on 92 ratings
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

11 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 61 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
The first book in Dan Simmons Mars series. Every speculative fiction writer should have one (a Mars series)and there are few who do it better than Simmons.
seagoat avatar reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
If you like Scifi, Homer, gods and mortals, this will satisfy you.
GreytMama avatar reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 34 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This story will twist your brain in knots, blending ancient Earth history with futuristic interplanetary drama.
jeffp avatar reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 201 more book reviews
I really didn't like this book. I had a very hard time with the willing suspension of disbelief, and the characters were mostly so arbitrary they made no sense at all. Full review available here if desired: http://jrpbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/title-illium-and-olympos-author-dan.html
reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
Absolutely excellent. Any Sci-Fi fan with a decent knowledge of the Iliad will LOVE this book!!!!!!
reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 4 more book reviews
Wow! The sheer depth of Simmons's imagination is enough to keep you whirling through the pages. What will he think up next! He develops a pretty good character in Hockenberry, and also - surprisingly enough - in his Moravecs (partially sentient robots who have an affinity for Shakespeare and Proust!) The human race that he creates that is left on Earth is fascinating to read about (faxing everywhere with strange functions available to them).

This book is monumental in its ambition and a wild ride.
reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 5 more book reviews
This one sucked me right in. I don't think I could do the plot justice. Suffice to say that he holds together diverse plots excellently. There's both a lot of action and a lot of thought. The only problem I have is that it almost feels like women are added as afterthoughts. This isn't as obvious as it is in many other books, and you might not notice it if you're not looking for it.

I enjoyed Ilium so much that I wasn't able to wait for Olympos (the sequel) to become available and bought it yesterday for full price at Barnes & Noble. I'm 176 pages into that one as I write this review...
reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 458 more book reviews
The first book of a two-part epic concluded in "Olympos". Ilium is a breathtaking adventure, enormous in scope and imagination, sweeping across time and space to connect three seemingly disparate stories in fresh, thrilling, and totally unexpected ways.
reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 1450 more book reviews
A deceased 21st century classical scholar has been resurrected by the gods as to record events of the Trojan War. Will history as we know it change? Follow this story to see. The author has constructed a tale using classical history and literature based on Homer's The Iliad and William Shakespeare's The Tempest as a starting point. The slave, Dr.Thomas Hockenberry, finds himself on a terraformed Mars viewing the war.

Heroes include Achilles, Hector, Paris, Odysseus, Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite and other gods and heroes. So why are the gods reenacting The Iliad? Perhaps it's because they enjoy playing with humans. But remember this is sci-fi at its best with a master controlling events.

The plot is complex and the world building "out-of-this-world". Explaining how and why the Iliad occurs where it is, why Prospero and Caliban exist in a world including robo-organic AIs, post-humans and frail humans is just one task.
This is a wonderfully complex and fascinating read. If one has read other works by the author he/she knows why.
reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
There is simply no one better than Dan Simmons, though Gene Wolfe is his equal.
monamotz avatar reviewed Ilium (Ilium, Bk 1) on + 20 more book reviews
quite a thick book, enjoyable