"Events are fluid. The future is like smoke from a burning forest, waiting for the wind of specific events and personal courage to blow the sparks and embers of reality this way or that." Initial Thoughts Even though I'm not a die-hard sci-fi fan, I'll say without reservation that Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos series has been one of the most significant reading experiences of my life. Without a doubt, one of the best collections of books I've ever read. The first book blew me away like an a...

I'll never get over how perfect the Hyperion Cantos is.
I'm obsessed.
Speechless.
Confused.
But so deeply moved.
😭🤍 Dan Simmons truly crafted something unforgettable with *The Rise of Endymion*. If you're looking for epic science fiction, this series is a must-read. This book review doesn't even scratch the surface of how good it is!

When I first read *Hyperion*, I was a little worried that the rest of the series couldn't possibly live up to that incredible standard. But now, having finished **The Rise of Endymion**, the final installment, I'm just in awe. This is, by far, the best sci-fi series I’ve ever read! It's a rollercoaster of highs and lows, of laughter and tears, of beginnings and endings! A truly timeless book, as we follow the journeys and stories of Raoul Endymion, Aenea, their friends, the Crusade, and humanity...

Two sinister factions, one grounded in the physical world and the other headquartered in the ethereal interstellar clouds (with a major surprise twist), form the foundation of the explosive finale to this unforgettable sci-fi masterpiece. Dan Simmons continues his deconstruction of faith, ratchets up the plot's intensity, and leaves the reader grappling with profound questions about how much they might have missed:Is humanity misusing a gift, or was the gift inherently toxic, its purpose always ...

The Rise of Endymion, orThe Fall of Dan SimmonsI watch as Aenea, my darling, my love, the one I've had a nuclear warhead of a hard-on for since she was twelve, leans back from her computer, where she's logged into her Goodreads account."Why only 2 stars?" I ask."I'll explain later, Raul," she says with a sad smile."You keep saying that but never explain anything," I whine."You won't understand yet," she says with a sad shake of the head."See? Again. It's annoying. You're annoying. Why do you alw...

In a galaxy far, far away (not the Large Magellanic Cloud, 160,000 light years from Sol) and over 1,000 years in the future, there lived two fugitive lovers: Raul Endymion of Hyperion and the new messiah, Aenea, a product of human and nonhuman parents. The strange thing is they reside on Old Earth; somehow our planet has been poached there by AI, artificial intelligence (some are immensely evil). Still, the couple is happy, enjoying a quiet, peaceful existence after a titanic struggle for surviv...

I made it! I survived!As I mentioned in my previous reviews of this series, there were times when I thought my brain was going to be permanently frazzled by this epic sci-fi story. I finally reached the end of Dan Simmons' *The Rise of Endymion* with most of my marbles still intact.It's nearly impossible to summarize this book without spoiling the previous ones, so I'll just say that Aenea and Raul Endymion continue their interstellar journey to fulfill her ultimate destiny. Meanwhile, the power...

This book could have been half as long, and I would have been thrilled. Seriously.There's way too much philosophizing. Too much useless description, too much exposition on the "science" behind why the characters were able to do what they did. The plot "twist," if it was even meant to be one, was pretty damned obvious from the get-go.Again, de Soya was much more compelling than any of the major characters, and he's relegated to an even less important role in The Rise of Endymion. SO DISAPPOINTING...

The scene where Corporal Bassin Kee is undergoing torture at the hands of the Grand Inquisitor, who uses a machine that simulates "crushed testicles" and "hot wire behind right eye" in the victim's brain... that's a good approximation of the experience I had reading this book. There's Dan Simmons sitting at his desk, finger poised over a computer keyboard. In the place of letters, each key has a different literary torture: "moldy info dump forced down throat", "insufferable protagonist buzzes on...

"The Rise of Endymion" is the fourth and final volume of Dan Simmons' Hyperion saga and the conclusion of the storyline begun in "Endymion". I only plodded through that book because I wanted to reach the end, and with "The Rise of Endymion" even that motivation almost dried up. The problems are legion. The book is overlong, with huge sections that just serve no legitimate purpose, such as Raul's time in the Temple Hanging in Air. Simmons extends his work as much as he can to give it an "epic" f...