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The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #4)

Questions About The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #4)

by Dan Simmons

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Answered Questions (2)

I really enjoyed the first two books of the Hyperion series. However, I disliked Endymion. Is book 4 worth reading?
JM Prescott I though the last book was the most satisfying. Will everyone catch that current? No.

It is metaphysical, sentimental, and definitely an epic romance..鈥辞谤别I though the last book was the most satisfying. Will everyone catch that current? No.

It is metaphysical, sentimental, and definitely an epic romance... whereas Hyperion is about the love (or animosity) between parent and child, Endymion is about romantic love, that primal force that creates children in the first place. It's also about death. As much as I love books with philosophy, this one always rides the razor's edge of "too much".

Ultimately I think it succeeds. You may not. Of course, as a previous reader pointed out... she read this book when she was 24 and hated it.... she read it again at 42 when love had beaten the hell out of her and she realized she knew nothing about anything at 24, and it was the most profound reading experience of her life. That's how literature works though... some books only resonate when you are young, others hit harder as you get older. This is a book definitely geared towards readers who've gone through the hell of intense love and loss... who've gone through hell and come out the other side.

As someone who's been surrounded by death... who's been on life support for a month of my life, and deals with horrible pain, and who watched my most beloved struggle through cancer, well, this book freaking resonated like no other sci-fi I ever read.

Had I read this as a young man, I would have hated it! So I can definitely understand why it won't work for some. And even if you get older, maybe this book is just too far flung for you, doesn't ride the right current?

I personally love Dan Simmons writing, but no doubt he is similar to Cormac McCarthy and John Steinbeck -- two other writers who seem to take pleasure in vividly depicting the "hard bits of life" - certainly that style is not for everyone.

Also, what is the extend of your focal length? These books will be hard to handle for some, because the author is trying to imagine a distant future. Just think how people a thousand years ago would view our society right now... flying machines, computers... video conferencing. They would say "RIDICULOUS! STUPID! NONSENSICAL! NOTHING LIKE THAT COULD EVER EXIST!"

Our most complex thinkers are unable to conceive of the commonplace 500 years in the future. The job of the sci-fi writer is to "take a stab at it" -- and I think Simmons succeeds more than most.

For those people that don't want to let go of their current paradigm, and aren't interested in stretching their neural neurons to imagine things way out of the box of a far flung reality, and would rather sit here in the present like some cave man sitting in his own poo, railing about someone else's imagination of the impossible, or feeling particularly morally condescending... well, all I can say is --

There's the Harry Potter books and all myriad of knockoffs geared towards that mindset. Those books are very safe, very coddling and gentle, are awash in a vast ocean of current lukewarm pop culture puritanism (so as to not offend your sensibilities), and provide ample amounts of simple escapism,

You will be happier over there.

Not every book is for everyone. (less)
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