Finished the Ilium/Olympos pair of books from Dan Simmons today. I had read Ilium originally several years ago on a plane flight back from Paris (we went to attend a friend’s wedding there) and then Olympos a year or two later when it came out. As often happens, I felt like re-reading them – and it was definitely worth it.

As with Simmons’ Hyperion series, besides the space opera elements, there are many literature-based themes and plot elements going on at the same time – including the Greek Gods from Homer’s Iliad and other Greek mythology, Shakespeare, and Proust, and poem-obsessed space-faring sentient robots to boot. It’s not anywhere the mish-mash it may sound like at first glance, the books are well tied together and offer excellent and entertaining reading.

I especially liked the moravecs (space-faring robots from out near Ganymede/Jupiter who end up coming to Mars/Earth because of the crazy Greek Gods’ quantum activity – read the books, it’s too hard to explain in a few sentences). The two main moravecs, Orphu (hard-vacuum mining robot from Io) and Mahnmut (submarine-driving robot from the seas of Europa) were the best developed and definitely the most interesting to watch, although it would have been cool to understand the ‘Belt moravecs a bit more (they appear late in the first book and have many appearances in the second). I also liked their very real attachment to humanity and willingness to save it when even the humans, Greek God/post-humans and other nefarious players seemed poised to make us otherwise extinct. Nice touch.

I could have done a bit less, however with some of the more risque plot activities – they really didn’t add anything for me save in a couple circumstances where that stuff is directly tied to the plot – otherwise I thought it was largely fluff or in at least one case, pretty lame. I would have much more enjoyed instead more explanation about the most enigmatic players in the second book (Setebos, Prospero, Ariel and ultimately, Moira, and the voynix) in addition to some major endpoints I felt were simply ignored or left to the imagination.

But whatever – it’s still a great pair of books and despite the pervasiveness of science throughout, still manages to often stay in a fantasy-type storyline – normally I’d not bother with such books but Simmons (again like th earlier Hyperion) can definitely integrate the two without alienating fans of either type, IMHO.

I’ve got some nonfiction to read next, as well as finish up the latest Clone story from Steven L. Kent – stay tuned. May have to read the latest Gibson trilogy also, I’ve been meaning to get back to that.