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The level of coincidence plus the foreknowledge of the messiah in this story, coupled with the incompetence at the side of the authorities (not to speak of the near unlimited power of the Shrike) make this book of travelling an interplanetary river surprisingly dull
Once again we ignored common sense

Endymion nearly got me into a reading slump in terms of all the attention for inventory, fleets, troops, weapons and logistics Dan Simmons has. And titular Endymion is not only boring and not very observant/sharp, but most of the times clueless and kind of useless as well...

Basically the premise of the book, focussing on a messiah and with a narrator locked up (and so clearly alive despite all the adventures) already takes a lot of tension away. Overtones of Dune with the understanding of the future (not to speak of the fat is evil in chapter 2) are also clear.

The world itself is interesting, after the events of the Hyperion books the Church has taken over the role of great power in the interstellar human empire, powered by resurrection Cruciforms. Salvation is real and physical, and with that the Church has a near endless grasp on its subjects, since this sacrament can be withheld. Still I do wonder why you execute people if they can be resurrected anyways. Note that death is still a hassle, comparable to heavy jetlag, with resurrection also sometimes failing.
Technological development has basically stalled (I didn’t recognize the tune, but it sounded classical, maybe 26th century), with a centuries old flying carpet having a central role. Still there rages a war with genetically enhanced Ousters on the fringes of space.

All these workings of the Pax and Church were for me actually quite interesting, but couldn't save the overall story in my view. Maybe it is also because Simmons his writing in this book is not as tight as I remember it from Ilum and Hyperion, with him using the word gossamer every other chapter. Also the level of coincidence plus foreknowledge of Anea combined with the seeming total incompetence at the side of the Pax authorities (not to speak of the near unlimited power of the Shrike who just pops up at seemingly random) make it hard to be invested in the river Tethys journey of the motley crew.

Also the size difference fixation of Endymion in comparison with Aenea (not to speak of the fact that there is a 15 year age difference and that the girl is 12) is rather icky.
Endymion realization every few chapters that he is a hero is also tiring. This is further compounded by the many what ifs and plan explanations, before events unfold, whereby the reader sees some things from three different angles, and sometimes even an additional flashback.

Somewhere Endymion thinks to himself: It’s easy to do, to rush this tale but Simmons clearly disagrees.

Near the end the pope turns out to be psychic and has visions, which he conveniently could have had earlier? On the same note, why wasn’t the ultra killer not been released earlier?
This all builds up in a rather weak plot twist at the end of this volume, with an underutilized kind of terminator and A. Bettik the android who has more emotional depth than our narrator Endymion.

Sorely disappointing and a lack of usage of interesting settings and worlds.