I really like Dan Simmons writing. His “Hyperion/Endymion” books were wonderfully inventive, huge space operas that were a great deal of fun to explore. He likes big ideas, and he writes the kind of books that require a Dramatis Personae to keep track of. Simmons also does horror well, and his Carrion Comfort is really quite disturbing. Simmons is the kind of guy who could take notes on his own evisceration.

This book, which is continued in the recently-published Olympos, is a totally cool, literary geek-fest. You’ve got:

  • A pair of sentient robots on a mission to Mars who are obsessed with Proust and Shakespeare.
  • The seige of Troy taking place on the plains of a terraformed Mars.
  • A resurrected college literature professor who has to report on the seige, and how it deviates from the Iliad’s account.
  • The entire pantheon of Greek gods running the show.
  • A far-future earth where a pampered and dwindling humanity watches the events on Mars from afar.

Simmons combines ideas and literary material in exciting ways, and his books are more idea books than
character books. That said, he draws his characters in vivid, and sometimes satisfying ways. What I found
particularly effective here was his use of pacing — there is a central Big Idea in this book that drives the whole plot, and he does a great job of unwrapping this idea just enough to keep things moving and making sense.

A fun, stimulating, and satisfying read.